About adding extra acid when canning tomatoes
HU-939938193
2 years ago
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HU-939938193
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoRelated Discussions
Adding acid to salsas
Comments (5)Thanks for your response. Yes, I only added extra acid to the one jar. The original recipe asked for 1/2 c. vinegar and 1/4 c. lime juice but I did 1/2 c. lime juice (bottled) and 1/4 c. vinegar. I filled 2 pint jars and only added the extra to the third pint. I do usually put extras in the fridge but I am running out of room in there! I guess my more general question is, is it unsafe to add more acid to a canning recipe? Is there any point where it becomes "too acidic" to be safe? I recently canned pickled onions and they were in a brine of pure vinegar, so it seems unlikely to me, but I am not a fan of taking my chances....See Morealternatives to acid for canning tomatoes
Comments (15)Zeuspaul, thanks for bringing the spaghetti sauce recipe from that site. I had overlooked their recipes since I was looking for the very simple processing of tomato pulp after passing it trough a mill and just adding a little salt. We would then flavor/season it right before using, depending on what we use it for. However, making sauce is a good option, and also, as you say, I can simply substitute the low acid ingredients (peppers, onions, garlic) with just more tomatoes, omit the oil and voila! it is even safer and I do not mind using the processing times of 25-30 minutes. After all, I would cook a pasta sauce on the stove top for a long time anyways. Doing this we still follow USDA recommendations and adjust for a potential lower acid tomato by using the pressure cooker. Thanks you Dave and Linda for your responses. After reading all your comments and going to the appropriate links I decided that I will follow the more stringent - Pressure cook for 25 or 30 minutes - rather than the U of M recommendation to just bring the pressure canner to pressure and turn it off. Processing for 25-30 minutes feels safer and will not hurt the product canned (sauce or soup). Also, as Zeuspaul points out, it is within the recommendations from the NCHFP! (it is just slightly hidden). TomNJ thanks for the report on pressure cooking salsa, glad it does not get mushy even with the PC. Now vinegar or lime/lemon juice does not bother me at all on salsa (I use it even for fresh salsa) so we will probably try Annie's salsa just like it is, changing only the scoville rating of the peppers (not the amount of peppers). That would be BWB though. No problem there. One type of tomato that gave us the most delicious pasta style sauce (and fresh gazpacho but I want to make hot soups too) was made with Kelloggs breakfast (large orange tomatoes). Unfortunately last year's were so sickly and weak it was not even worth saving seed so we are starting new orange tomatoes, to see what orange variety does well here. Persimmon is one we are trying this year (among others). Just from tasting these types of tomatoes my guess would be that they are the lower acid types. However, putting citric acid or lemon juice on them would not work for me. This is why I am so glad to have a pressure canning options just in case we get a good harvest of orange/yellows. Other orange/yellows we are trying are Golden Queen, Rainbow, Nebraska wedding and Azoyka (sp?). There are also two tomato soup recipes that do not require acid/lemon juice added and that I plan to try (both). I will bump that thread or copy/paste since this site seems to be loosing valuable old threads....See Morehigh acid tomato
Comments (2)What extras? Plain tomatoes only need a little lemon juice or citric acid added. Is that what you mean? There is a big chart in the post linked below (just scroll down to it) with the acidity level given for most common varieties. Hope it helps. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato acidity...See MoreAdding previously canned tomatoes to new batch
Comments (3)Complex question. First because the way you canned the tomato juice doesn't meet the guidelines. The guidelines call for 35-40 min of pressure canning when you add additional low acid vegetables to tomato juice. The added acid covers the tomatoes but not the added vegetables. So that's the answer to the question "Other than taste and texture, can anyone provide a chemical/biological reason why adding the juice would be unsafe?" Technically it was under-processed. Consequently adding it now to something else now only compounds the problem. Second, as you mentioned already even if it had been canned per the guidelines adding it still wouldn't be recommended by the guidelines for 2 reasons: (1) the quality decline that happens naturally as it is stored effects the quality of the current product it is added to. Whether that decline is in the form of higher pH (since it rises over time), color, texture, or flavor it is "less than ideal". And (2) the waste of energy the duplicate processing uses and the further decline in quality it causes. All that said, it is your choice depending on the level of risk you are comfortable with. I would want to know the pH of the 2015 jars before using and if it was still ok then I would boil it separately before adding it to anything new. Now add to all that are the issues with canning tomato soup in the first place. I don't know what recipe you have found to use but do keep in mind that tomato is one of the few soups which has only 1 tested and approved recipe. No milk, no fats or dairy, no thickeners, no pastas or rice, dried herbs only and like all soups it has to meet the 1/2 and 1/2 rule in the jar for BWB canning. That's almost impossible to do with tomato soup. Otherwise it is pressure canning only. The guidelines call for canning tomato sauce and then turning it into tomato soup only after the jars are opened. So it boils down to a do-at-your-own-risk issue. Hope this helps. Dave...See MoreHU-939938193
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoHU-939938193
2 years agolast modified: 2 years ago
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