Veggie Tales - July 2022
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Veggie Tales - July 2018
Comments (428)And the rest of it: CANNING & PROCESSING The recipe for pressure canning originally specified 1/3 cup vinegar and copies of that recipe are still available on the Internet. Pressure canning salsa has not been tested, therefore it is not officially recommended. If you wish to pressure can the salsa, you must include a full 1 cup of vinegar. Processing time that is currently used by some is 10 lbs. pressure for 30 minutes. Adjust for your altitude (see below). Because salsa is eaten out of the jar without heating and includes low acid vegetables such as garlic, onions and peppers, it is one of the riskier products to can at home due to two factors: the pH or acidity level (the normal cutoff point for boiling water bath vs. pressure canning is a pH of 4.6 and salsa can edge very close to that) and the density of the product. The salsa should be thin enough for the liquid portion to thoroughly suspend the chopped vegetables so the very center of the jar heats up to the same temperature as the outer portion next to the glass during processing. If you want it thicker, puree it AFTER you open the jar. DO NOT puree before processing - this would affect the density. Or, add a thickener such as Clear Jel or cornstarch AFTER you open the jar. DO NOT add other low acid vegetables before processing, such as corn or black beans. Only add them after you open the jar. ADJUSTMENTS If you live above 1000' in elevation, you need to calculate your altitude adjustments for both boiling water bath (BWB) and pressure canning (PC). As your altitude goes above 1000 feet the atmospheric pressure is reduced. This causes water to boil at temperatures lower than 212 degrees Fahrenheit. For safety in water bath canning, you must bring the contents of your jar to at least 212 degrees Fahrenheit. To compensate for the lower boiling temperature at altitude, you must increase processing time. For this salsa recipe, BWB times at altitudes of (per the Ball Blue Book): Up to 1000 ft. Processing time is 15 minutes. 1001 - 3000 ft. Increase processing time an extra 5 minutes to 20 minutes total. 3001 - 6000 ft. Increase processing time an extra 10 minutes to 25 minutes total. 6001 - 8000 ft. Increase processing time an extra 15 minutes to 30 minutes total. 8001 - 10,000 ft. Increase processing time an extra 20 minutes to 35 minutes total. Adjustments for pressure canning can be found in the Ball Blue Book or on their website. Do make sure you know the altitude where you do your canning. People that live in Denver know they are in the Mile High City and have to make adjustments, but portions of cities like Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and Oklahoma City are all above 1000' and it may be something you're not aware of and need to be compensating for. DO I HAVE TO USE BOTTLED LEMON JUICE? The pH scale runs from 0 (very acidic) to 14 (very alkaline). Each increment from 0 to 14 is 10 times more acidic/alkaline (remember the "magic" number of pH 4.6 for BWB vs. pressure canning). pH testing on fresh lemons ranged from 2.20 to 3.20, so one variety of lemon or even an individual lemon grown in a different orchard might be 10 times LESS acidic than another. Bottled lemon juice, which is processed to a standard acidity, is used for testing in recipes and is also pasteurized, therefore it also will not create any further enzyme reactions in your canned goods (per the folks at ReaLemon a couple of years ago). Note: Bottled lemon or lime juices are only called for when canning borderline pH foods (tomatoes and salsa usually). If you are making jams and jellies with high acid fruits (any fruit excluding Asian pears, bananas, mangoes, figs and melons), feel free to use fresh lemon or lime juice. Do I personally like using bottled lemon juice? Not particularly, but when a canning procedure SPECIFICALLY CALLS FOR IT, I use it without questioning it. A very good explanation is in this publication from North Dakota State University -"Why add lemon juice to tomatoes and salsa before canning?" Especially note the different pH values of individual varieties of tomatoes (and there are thousands more varieties). For the more science oriented, this 2004 paper from the NCHFP:...See MoreVeggie Tales - July 2020
Comments (525)Park Seed has teamed with Joe the Gardener to do a Podcast. I didn’t know he had a television show. It was 97 degrees at 10 am today, but only went up a degree since then. The weather channel is pretty lame as far as posting the actual temperature in this area. It always posts temperatures 4-10 degrees below the actual temperature. Even my weather station is 10 times more accurate. I have to watch the local news or an internet 10 day forecast to get the right temperature. The day it was 105 here, I didn’t find out until 9:00 o’clock that night when I watched the news....See MoreVeggie Tales - March 2022
Comments (71)Cindy - we had thunderstorms and high winds overnight but nothing nearly as severe as what they are predicting for the mid south today. I need to prep a bed for my broccoli this weekend so hopefully we will stay dry until I can get that done. I'll start hardening off the plants on Friday. I still have a dozen or so peppers to pot up and need to start my tomatoes this weekend too. I just counted 13 deer walking across the field behind my house. There seem to be more around than ever and it won't be long until they start having even more!...See MoreVeggie Tales - April 1, 2022
Comments (115)I finally got a break and got the cabbages, broccoli and cauliflower in and after planting 5 to 6 of each variety they added up to a lot of work. the Patterson and Walla Walla onions went in along with the copra I saved from seed. Put in a 70' row of Kennebec and burbanks before it rained and it was already 2 hours past due from the weather channel's forecast for rain. But I still had red pontiacs to plant and didn't want to get caught in the rain. I went shopping and still no rain so I checked Windy.com. they showed no rain coming for another hour! Got one row of red pontiacs in before the rain started and could of gotten the 2nd row in if I would of checked Windy first, but at least I got all the late potatoes in. I'm done with the weather channel and Windy is now my exclusive weather source. I've been comparing the two sources for 6 months and windy.com has been on the bullseye every time while the weather channel rarely hits the target. Windy shows it will stop raining Sunday at 5 PM....See Morekevin9408
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