I bought her book but haven't looked seriously at it barring the introduction and the oven method. I see the risk of the oven method with full-sugar traditional preserves as one of jar breakage, not safety. Jams are inherently safe; processing is meant to extend shelf life and prevent mold, not because they're prone to risky forms of spoilage. The exceptions would be such low-acid fruits as figs, mangoes and cantaloupe. And while there is risk with those if the levels of added acid are insufficient, I'm guessing it's quite low because to set a preserve you have to cook to about 68% sugar; at that level any remaining water is pretty well bound up by the sugar, which discourages the growth of micro-organisms. In the case of peaches and cherries, I see no risk unless a preserver is really really determined to make peach-cherry slop. Both fruits are naturally low in pectin at the firm-ripe level. At its optimum this will be a loosely set preserve. With dead-ripe fruit it won't set; you could firm it up by cooking it to death, essentially boiling out the water and evaporating into a viscous taffy, but it wouldn't be a gel. So purely hypothetically if you used dead-ripe windfall fruit (i.e. bruised - which also raises pH) you might have a risk, but it would be miniscule. If it disturbs your comfort level, though, you could always add a pinch or two of powdered citric acid, ascorbic acid (which would assist in preservation of the light color), or some of the acid blend wineshops sell. That wouldn't change the liquid ratio and could also be beneficial to cut some of the sweetness. The best resource I know of to explore issues of pH and the properties of preserves of all types is The Jamlady Cookbook. She has a scientific bent and tells you everything the layperson might want to know about the art of jam-making. Carol

No way, not with all that butter (with a couple of tested exceptions no fats/oils allowed) and definitely not with the flour, thickeners aren't allowed either. What is the source of that recipe? There are only a couple of tomato soup recipes approved because of the fats and dairy products and thickeners so many recipes include. One is Katie C's Roasted Tomato and Garlic soup and the recipe for it is in many threads here. Otherwise it is canning tomato sauce and turning it into soup after opening the jar. There is also the one in Ellie Topp's Small Batch Preserving pg. 316. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: tomato soup discussions

I wish i'd get e-mail notices Check your junk email box for them. Your mail program sends them there unless you tell it otherwise. Would this recipe be in any better shape if the tomato paste was added after canning, during preparation? Sure, much better. You'd still need a minimum of 20-25 min. in the PC (based on the Stewed Tomatoes recipe in BBB). Is the ph not so much a concern because of the lemon juice added? In part but also the pressure canning makes a big difference. No way this is safe for BWB caning.. But pH is still a concern because the ratio of tomatoes to onions/peppers is so low. Tomatoes are at least borderline acidic, the onions and peppers are very low acid and there is no way to know if the lemon juice is enough to off-set their pH. Bottom line it is a personal recipe so using it or trying to modify it for safety is all guesswork. As for testing and sources of approved recipes - tons of discussions here about all that. There have always been accepted and tested sources for canning and personal recipes have never been one of those sources. Ball books and NCHFP are the foundation sources that all reputable canning recipes are based on - all tested repeatedly. We have lists of additional books here too. The only thing hand-me-down and personal recipes have going for them is that no one has died from them yet - that we know of. For some folks that is enough. For most of us it isn't nearly enough. :) Think of it this way. The purpose of canning foods is safely preserving the basic foods while in season. It is NOT having ready-to-eat meals. You sauce recipe can easily and quickly be made fresh by canning plain tomatoes and tomato paste and having frozen or dried onions, peppers, and garlic on hand. But trying to mix all those things together and then add oil and then seal it in a vacuum jar, an anaerobic environment, without first insuring the proper density, pH, and processing time is an accident just waiting to happen. But the choice is always yours to make. Dave

Thanks guy/gals! That pepper relish and the cantaloup sounds yummy! Here's what I have, now mind these are OLD recipes so they aren't written in cookbook format: Yellow cantaloupes or musk- Sugar melonsWater Select the large yellow variety of cantaloupe or the old-fashioned muskmelons when they are beginning to turn a little yellow in ripening. Peel the thin outer rind, and cut a very thin slice next the seeds; cut the sections in pieces one inch thick, and put them into a preserving pan with six pounds of sugar to ten pounds of fruit. Add one-half gallon of water, cover and boil until the melon becomes clear and transparent. Remove the cover and boil until the syrup is thick. Seal in jars. ====================================== Spiced Fruits: To eight pounds of fruit allow four pounds of sugar, one pint of good vinegar, one table-spoonful of ground cinnamon, one tablespoonful of ground allspice, one tablespoonful of ground ginger, one teaspoonful of ground mace, one teaspoonful of ground cloves, one tablespoonful of grated nutmeg and six crushed bay leaves; mix the spices, put them in four muslin bags and tie them loosely. Boil the sugar and the vinegar for five minutes, add the spices and the fruit and cook until the fruit is tender. Soft fruit must not remain long on the fire. Remove from the fire and cool. Next morning lift the fruit with a skimmer and put it into glass or stone jars. Boil the syrup, pour it over the fruit and let cool; do this for nine mornings. This recipe will answer for pears, peaches, apples, currants, apricots, watermelon rind, citron melon and cantaloupes. Rather than doing it for nine mornings, I would process it hot in the waterbath for whatever time your cookbook says to do the particular fruits, LOL! ====================================== Here's one that sounds more modern! CANTALOUPE OR MUSKMELON PRESERVES The melons should be ripe but firm. The rind is removed and the firm pulp is cut into pieces of desired size and shape. The prepared material is weighed and ~ pound of sugar is allowed for each pound of melon. The melon and sugar are packed in alternate layers and allowed to stand for 24 hours. At the end of this period the juice from one small lemon per pound of melon is added and the materials are set over a slow fire. Slow boiling is maintained until the syrup sheets or flakes from the stirring spoon. The hot preserve is filled into clean jars and is processed in the water bath for 2 or 3 minutes. Steph