Perhaps I should just let this thread die, but I always concerned about how people assess the information they find on the internet. desertmarcy, I am curious as to why you believe that Dr. Metcalf is a "qualified" individual? Because he is a professor of microbiology? I can assure you, that is NOT sufficient qualification. And the reason I can assure you of that is that I am also a professor of microbiology and I certainly do NOT know as much about food safety as many of the contributors to this forum, including Linda Lou and Carol. There are many areas of microbiology, food safety is a very specialized field. I was curious, so I went to the Cal State Sacramento web page and looked up Dr. Metcalf. His page describes his research with solar cooking. Wondering where he received his degree and what his previous research has been, I attempted to view his curriculum vitae - it was an inactive link. I then did a literature search to see if he has published his findings. He has only one peer reviewed publication on solar water purification and that was from 1999 - considered quite a long time ago in scientific research. On his web page, he states that most of the world believes that water must be boiled for 20 minutes to be safe, but that it can be pasteurized by heating to 65C (149°F). There is an important point here and that is the word pasteurization. It is very different than sterilization. Pasteurization only removes some of the microbes that are present, those that are thought to be most likely to cause illness. It certainly will not remove all microbes. His research appears to be mostly directed toward finding ways that people in developing countries can make their food safer. It is probably a powerful tool in those situations, people don't have money or resources to cook and prepare food the way we do here. Being able to pasteurize water is a huge accomplishment in those situations. However, appying those principles in countries that do have the ability to prepare food with more care seems unwise in my opinion. It is a proven fact that water must be boiled for 20 minutes to inactivate bacterial endospores, including those of Clostridium botulinum which causes botulism. The USDA has carried out extensive studies to determine safe methods for home canning of foods. While they may err on the side of excessive safety (I'm not saying they do, only that they may), they have used scientific experiments to support their findings. I understand the concern for diminishing energy resources, but compromising the safety of one's food seems a very high risk to take in order to conserve. This is, of course, only my opinion and, as stated above everyone has to decide what level of risk is acceptable. I did however wish to point out that one must evaluate information from the internet very carefully and know what the qualifications are of the person providing the information. Perhaps you know more about Dr. Metcalf than I could find. Sorry this is so long.

Here is the hot sauce recipe that I use...It is from Rick Bayless and it is fabulous... My husband has it with every meal...He says it not only tastes good, but he believes that it has medicinal qualities and has immensely helped his aches and pains... Habanero Hot Sauce Recipe from Season 5 of Mexico--One Plate at a Time Makes about 2 cups Ingredients 5 cloves garlic, unpeeled ½ cup peeled, roughly chopped carrot (youÂll need 1 medium carrot) ½ cup roughly chopped white onion (youÂll need about half of a small onion) 12 medium (about 5 ounces) orange habanero chiles, stemmed 1 cup apple cider vinegar About 2 teaspoons salt ¼ teaspoon sugar Directions Roast the garlic in a skillet over medium heat, turning regularly until soft and blackened in spots, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool and peel In a small saucepan, combine the carrot, onion and habanero chiles with the vinegar and 1 cup water. Partially cover and simmer over medium-low heat until the carrots are thoroughly tender, about 10 minutes. Pour into a blender jar, add the roasted garlic, salt and sugar. Blend until smooth. Thin with a little additional water if you think your hot sauce is too thick. Taste and season with additional salt if you think necessary. Pour into jars or bottles and store in the refrigerator until youÂre ready to add some dazzle to a dish.

goodness, it would be very vinegar-y if you substituted a cup and a half of the water for a cup and a half of vinegar! What I see here is only *two tablespoons* total of low acid ingredients, so that really seems like overkill!! I'm not sure why you'd want to go to the trouble of canning it, since it's made up pretty much totally of already dried & processed ingredients, except for the jalapeno. But if I were going to try to do it, I'd leave out all but a cup of the water --- whatever it took to get the consistency of the tomato paste down to more like tomatoe sauce --- and increase the vinegar to maybe half a cup (that's what the roasted red pepper spread uses, albeit slightly stronger vinegar, for a lot more non-acid stuff). I'd leave out the cornstarch (seems unnecessary to add all that water to thin it and then add sthg to thicken in!). I would use fresh onion (why not, since we're preserving the finished product. When I opened a jar, I could add back in more water to reacch the desired consistency. But probably instead if I wanted to eat this stuff often, I would mince some jalapeno & onion and put together little "batches" of all the solid ingredients, pre-measured, and put them in the freezer. When I wanted sauce I would open a can of tomato paste, add the 3 cups water and 2 tsp vinegar and an ingredient pack, cook for the 3 minutes, and bingo. Zabby

I've made several batches of sauce out of overripe tomatoes this season. Your description was good and sounds almost exactly like what i've been using. No ill effects, no complaints from anyone. Makes good sauce.