Sure you "can" but it isn't recommended or encouraged. The question comes up now and then and as a general guideline, re-canning any commercially canned product is not recommended. This is because they contain additives and stabilizers, because the double processing markedly reduces the flavor and quality, and it is a really inefficient use of your time and the energy used for processing given the end result. Your choice, but it would be far better to buy the large cans, parcel them up and freeze them. Dave

Assuming that there are no spores in the acidified food, why is underprocessing an issue? Because there is no way to make that assumption safely. You have no way of knowing if they are there or not. And given that spores are in the air and in foods and on surfaces all around us, the functioning assumption for safety is that they ARE there. Plus you are putting the cart before the horse. Under-processing is a safety issue period. It isn't acceptable. It can't be justified after the fact. It can only be dealt with either by reprocessing within 24 hours or refrigeration or freezing, or by pitching the food. This, regardless of what may or may not be in the food. 'm just trying to figure out why you recommended refrigerating the underprocessed (but sealed) jars. As I said above, In this particular case of under processing it is the air that remained in the food and in the jar because the water wasn't hot enough to bring the food inside the jar to a boil and force the air out. So while you have a seal, it is a compromised seal and there is still air and an incomplete vacuum inside the jar. Can't say it any plainer. Under-processed jars still have air in the jar. If there is bacteria in the jar that air allows it to grow. And the jars have compromised seals, that are easily broken. Refrigerating the jars retards the growth of any contaminants inside the jar and allows you a brief time to to consume them safely just like anything else you buy at the store and bring home to stick in the fridge. We are beating a dead horse here. It all comes down to do it right so it is safe or pitch it. Don't try to reason around mistakes or come up with compromises unless you are willing to accept the associated risks. I offered you what is considered by most to be an acceptable compromise - a short but safe life in the refrigerator for under-processed foods. If you aren't comfortable with it then just pitch the food. Also why rolling boil is required instead of gentle boil, etc. The simple answer would be because that is what the research shows is needed for the processing time allowed. But yes, NCHFP does explain it - so did basic high school chemistry class on the molecular action of boiling water. ;) A full rolling boil at 220 degrees is approximately 10 degrees higher than a gentle boil and all the extra molecular action, the increased friction between the molecules, within the water allows for faster heat transfer to the food inside the jar so that food is brought to 212 degrees in less time and for a longer amount of time than would happen with less activity in the water. In other words, when a gentle boil is used, food in the jar doesn't get as hot as quickly or remain hot for as long a period of time as it would at a full rolling boil. Since it is the heating of the food that forces the air out of the jar to create a vacuum you need it to get as hot as possible in as short a time as possible. Don't sell NCHFP short. There is months and months of reading and learning there both on the site itself and in it's many publications linked from the site. Dave

"But actually it isn't all that difficult to know the approved ones as there are so few of them for spaghetti sauce since it is a low acid product. NCHFP/USDA publications, which includes the ones in So Easy to Preserve, and those in the Ball/Bernardin books. That's it. There aren't any in Small Batch Preserving." Well, it may not call itself spaghetti sauce, but there is "Chunky Basil Pasta Sauce" with fresh herbs and veges in Small Batch Preserving, and also "Roasted Vegetable Pasta Sauce" with both veges and fresh herbs in Small Batch Preserving, and also "Seasoned Tomato Sauce" with veges and fresh herbs that Small Batch Preserving suggests using in "pasta sauces, soups, stews, pizza, or casseroles." So, although the OP did leave the door open to reasonable questions about recipe safety, it is also good to take care in making broad statements about recipes which include such phrases as "there are no recipes which. . .", or "all approved recipes for (pasta sauce, salsa, whatever) MUST be. . ." since there may well be a safe recipe which allows such processing. For example: you CAN use fresh herbs in the approved NCHFP spaghetti sauce recipe, as this email from Elizabeth Andress states: Thank you for visiting the National Center for Home Food Preservation. > question -> Spaghetti Sauce without Meat: > 1. Can I eliminate the celery/peppers completely? > 2. Can I use fresh herbs or only dried? > 3. Can I add basil (fresh or dried)? > 4. Can I eliminate the sugar? For our particular procedures: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_03/spaghetti_sauce.html You can leave out the celery and peppers completely, leaving everything else the same. (The mushrooms are already optional, also.) If you use fresh herbs, make sure they are very clean. I can only recommend using the equivalent volume measures, though, and that may not give you the flavor you desire. Eg., instead of 2 TBSP dried oregano, use 2 TBSP minced fresh oregano. I do not have enough information to know the upper limit on how much fresh to add, so that's all I can suggest without testing. (which we cannot do). You can use basil as a substitute for one of the other herbs (eg, you may not want the parsley with basil). Or, if you are leaving out the celery and peppers completely, you could add 2 to 4 TBSP of basil. Yes, you can eliminate the sugar in this recipe. The chopped celery and/or peppers and the sugar add a little moisture/liquid in many recipes. In this particular sauce, however, it is cooked down to thickened consistency anyway, so the amount of liquid that would be added by these ingredients would not be important as it might be in other types of food products/mixtures. Best wishes, Elizabeth Andress -------------------------------------- Elizabeth L. Andress, Ph.D. Project Director, National Center for HFP Professor and Extension Food Safety Specialist Department of Foods and Nutrition The University of Georgia 208 Hoke Smith Annex Athens, GA 30602-4356 Phone: (706) 542-3773 FAX: (706) 542-1979 -----------------------------------------------

Ann, that is the ONLY way I'll eat pasta with a tomato sauce. I do it simply, I just toss hot whole wheat pasta (no white stuff, it's too much like eating paste in first grade!) with diced tomatoes, fresh basil and some parmesan. Sometimes I get a wild streak and add julienned fresh fennel and green onions or shallots or leeks, whatever I have. For straining tomatoes, I use one of these. It's called a Squeezo, my old one is all stainless steel, the newer ones are more plastic and are called "food mills". Villaware makes a nice one but they are far more expensive than that $2.99 sieve. Mine was the right price, my mother gave it to me because she doesn't use it any more so it was free! I liked my Foley food mill, but gave it to Doucanoe when I got the Squeezo, I didn't need both. That looks more like a sauce pan, with a crank handle. It has feet so it sits on the side of a bowl, you crank it and the seeds and peels stay in the bowl and the juice and pulp goes through the bottom of the strainer and into your bowl. I don't have a picture but if you search for "Foley food mill" you'll find a bunch of them. Annie