Pressure canning sauce- need to acidify?
jonnyalvarez35
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
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jonnyalvarez35
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoRelated Discussions
Proper acidifying agent for canning tomatoes?
Comments (25)lakelifer - a pH of 4.6 is the cut point and the minimum pH goal is 4.1-4.3. Anything with a pH above 4.6 is considered a low-acid food and so must be pressure canned if used in its natural state. If pickled, then of course the acidity falls well below that level and can be safely BWB thanks to the vinegar. Any thing below 4.6 is considered acid food and can be BWB processed unless it is mixed with low-acid foods. But it isn't just the pH that determines the safety of a product. Other factors that must be computed into the type and time required for processing include: the consistency/density of the food, the presence of nutrients that are "protective" for bacteria (e.g., high protein and sugar levels), the shape and size of the jar, the size, shape and texture of food pieces, the solid to liquid ratio, the temperature of the food at the beginning of the process, and the temperature inside the canner. [NCHFP - "Heat Processing of Home Canned Foods"] Tomatoes fall on the line so as a borderline low-acid food that have to have acid added to them when canning to insure safety. Dave...See MorePressure Canning Chili Pepper Sauce
Comments (3)First and most important - WELCOME!!! :) What I'm trying to understand and differentiate is really why there are no "tested" pressure canned hot sauce recipes.. yet there's a tested pressure canned "tuna meat" recipe... Is this because there's something inherently dangerous with this combination of peppers, garlic, vinegar, and water?? No it isn't because it is 'inherently dangerous'. It is because of 1) a lack of interest/demand combined with 2) insufficient funding for such testing and 3) an underlying philosophy in what is the real purpose of home canning: long term safe preservation of the basics while they are in season for later use as opposed to testing combination niche' recipes and convenience items. As we often discuss here, it takes approximately $10,000 to $50,000 dollars and a year or more of testing to validate each recipe. So the money and time are spent on the 'common' or high demand foods, the basics. Things such as chili pepper sauce just aren't in high demand. :) OR they can easily be assembled for fresh and refrigerated use by having on hand all the basic components that were canned individually. So yes, you should be able to pressure can your recipe but you would just have to guess at the processing time needed. Some are content to do that. It's your choice, your risk to take. Hope this helps clarify. Dave...See MorePressure Canning Hot Sauces
Comments (8)When I assess a recipe for its "cannability" I consider more than safety. I also consider quality and economy. In this case I think both recipes fail on those counts. Both are easy to make year-round with commonly available ingredients (barring the habs) so in that regard the time and considerable expense of canning is a waste. Add to the waste the fact that such ingredients as peaches, molasses and mustard are already processed and preserved, so you're basically re-canning a mixture of preserved foods spiced up with habs. Secondly, the application of heat, particularly the heat of pressure-canning, is going to flatten the flavor. Peppers don't like excessive heat and neither do mustard and many spices. In the second recipe in particular you might be unpleasantly surprised at the flavor profile once that spiced mixture has sat on the shelf a while. My inclination would be to freeze or dehydrate the habs or can just habs in vinegar BWB (many recipes available on this forum for peppers in vinegar as well as at the NCHFP) then mix up the sauces "on demand." For gifting sauces like these could easily be made some weeks ahead and refrigerated. To answer the original question, the second sauce, Bob's, is probably fine for BWB and wouldn't require pressure canning. You have higher-acid peaches, yellow mustard and a good amount of vinegar. The problematic ingredients are the molasses and the peppers. But this is a guess and even if it were possible to can this I wouldn't for the reasons given. Canning stuff like this is a costly luxury. Carol...See MorePressure canning mixed fruit and veggies for sauce/salsa?
Comments (14)Jim writes: The other option is to use an approved recipe and substitute the vinegar, or a portion of it, with citric acid (which has no flavor). Didn't know could do that. Have any recipes? John, The rule is as follows: 2 Tbsp of bottled 5% vinegar is equivalent to, 1 Tbsp of bottled commercial lemon or lime juice, and that is equivalent to, 1/4 tsp food grade citric acid. So, if you are putting up quarts of tomatoes, and acidification is recommended, you can use any one of the following: 4 Tbsp of 5% vinegar, or 2 Tbsp of bottled lemon or lime juice, or 1/2 tsp citric acid. Citric acid is readily available, cheap, and in France it is called "sour salt". If you have a child that likes Gummy Bears or other such similar sweet/sour product, citric acid is what creates the "pucker response" in those candies. Hope this helps. I use citric acid where I don't want the flavor of the other things. If I want tomatoes for soup, I would never put either vinegar or lemon juice in the tomatoes. I would rather use the citric acid and then flavor the soup to my own sense of proper flavoring - rather than trying to cover the flavor of vinegar or lime juice. Jim in So Calif...See Morejonnyalvarez35
7 years agojonnyalvarez35
7 years agojonnyalvarez35
7 years ago
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