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rejarring/canning of tomato sauce

10 years ago

I jarred/cannned fresh tomato sauce, and then 6 days later realized I did not add lemon juice to the jars. I reheated the sauce and then reprocessed the sauce with the added lemon juice in the jars. Question, is the sauce going to spoil,still not be any good? Thanks all.

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Comments (4)

User
10 years ago
Should be just fine as long as when you reprocessed you stated as from scratch.

That is sterilized the jars, used new seals, hot water bath etc.....
morz8 - Washington Coast
10 years ago
Ray, the window of opportunity for reprocessing a product gone wrong that has been in the anaerobic environment of a vacuum sealed jar is 24 hours.

Would your tomatoes have been acidic enough first time around that they are OK? Maybe, but there is really no way of knowing.
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Her allergy is more of an intolerance, corn just makes her feel crappy, she's not going to die from it or anything. I'm not going to worry about trying to get some, the lemon juice will last for all of my tomatoes, but I will keep that in mind for next year. I just used this one: https://www.freshpreserving.com/homemade-tomato-sauce-%7C-how-to-make-tomato-sauce---ball-fresh-preserving-br1268.html Except I used vinegar at 2 tbsp per pint. I added a little sugar to my spaghetti sauce, and it helped a little, but still tasted like I blended a pickle into the sauce. I've heard it might mellow as it ages, we'll see.
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annie1992
10 years ago
I agree, there's no way of knowing for sure, some tomato products are sufficiently acidic to be safe on their own but some are hovering right at or above the 4.6 level, at which acidification is required.. It's one of those issues where you just have to decide what risk you wish to take.

If your sauce is 100% tomatoes, and they aren't some low acid variety, you could take the risk and use them, although I'd boil the product for 10 minutes for added safety before use if I decided to go in that direction.

So, bottom line is that there is a risk, albeit small bordering on miniscule. No one can make any guarantees as to the safety. I tend to be a risk taker and others follow the government's guidelines without question.

So, use them or not, your call.

Annie
ryseryse_2004
10 years ago
If the sauce is reduced by half (or even more depending on the consistency) you were probably fine without the lemon juice. When it is reduced, the acid is highly concentrated.

I don't use lemon juice and have been canning tomato sauce for 55 years ---- nobody died or even got sick and I have never seen mold in a freshly opened jar. I guess it is best to be cautious though.

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