Charcuterie, I've made this recipe many times and the amount I get varies from about six pints to about eight pints. I think it probably depends mostly on how watery the tomatoes are. Roma tomatoes are usually very meaty, and the fact that you got less than eight cups from 5 1/2 pounds suggests yours were quite meaty (I usually find about four pounds gives about eight cups). So my guess is that the liquid from the canned diced tomatoes is what made it have so much volume. If you had added more fresh tomatoes, they would have cooked down. Since the tomatoes you added were canned they were already cooked down, so they wouldn't have shrunk as much in cooking, if you see what I mean. I do think your salsa should be safe to eat. The added extra peppers is actually the one thing that goes against standard safety recommendations---peppers are a low-acid food, so if you have more peppers total compared to tomatoes than a recipe is tested for, you don't know for sure that it's acidic enough. But those cans of peppers in adobe are small, and you added extra acid, AND I know that Annie's recipe has a generous margin of error of extra acid. So while the standard answer is "you should never change anything in a tested recipe," I know that I, personally, would feel very happy eating your salsa. I'll be right over, in fact. ;-p Good luck, Zabby

Thanks, I ended up using about 30 habaneros and 20 jalapenos (this alone was 3.5 cups) and then used 2 cups of onions and green peppers. I added an extra cup and a half of 50-50 lime juice and apple cider vinegar (2.5 cups total). It did get a little runnier(not too bad though), but I thought I'd be safe rather than sorry. I thought it was nice, but my husband insists he still thinks that it just a medium heat salsa!!!!! So, since I seem to be falling further and further into canning, and because experimentation is fun for me I have another question. How is a recipe tested for safeness? I can easily get my hands on pH testing supplies. If the final recipe has a pH below 4.6, can I safely can using a 30 minute BWB? Is this something where I need to can and then test samples over a time period to test for botulism and microorganisms? Or is this something that I should be asking the area coop extension?

trsinc, I've never tried making my own pectin, but I started making jam with no added pectin, just all fruit spread or some artificial sweetener if my fruit wasn't quite sweet enough. Apples have a lot of pectin, and I often add the rinds and seeds of my lemons after adding the lemon juice to the jam. Thanks to a tip from readinglady, I wrap the "stuff" up in cheesecloth and add it to the jam pot while my fruit macerates, and remove it before it jells. It adds a lot of natural pectin. Dad was diabetic, Amanda and Elery are both hypoglycemic, Elery's Dad, BIL and stepmom are all diabetic, so I've been working on spreads with less sugar. The only way to do that, besides Pomona's Pectin, is no commercial pectin. I've found that if I do the long cooked jam I can cut the sugar down to half and still get a decent jell, but it has to be watched closely. and yes, jams and jellies are safer products to can at home than things like green beans, because the acidity level prevents them from harboring the deadly botulism spores. Things like pickles, jam, jelly, relishes, canned fruit, all those can be done in a boiling water bath and cannot harbor botulism. They're very safe. If they get moldy, they could make someone sick, but you can't kill someone with them if cooked and processed according to directions. Canning is easy, economical, and I think it's fun. Go for it. Ann, I'm sure we'll have another "camp" of sometype soon... Annie

Image by: Barnmom 8 cups tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained 2-1/2 cups onion, chopped 1-1/2 cups green pepper, chopped 3 - 5 jalapenos, chopped 6 cloves garlic 2 teaspoons cumin 2 teaspoons ground black pepper 1/8 cup canning salt 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped 1/3 cup sugar 1 cup 5% apple cider vinegar 2 cups (16 oz.) tomato sauce 2 cups (16 oz.) tomato paste Mix all ingredients, bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. Pour into hot pint jars leaving 1/2" headspace, seal and process in a boiling water canning bath for 15 minutes. Adjust for your altitude (see below). Makes about 6-7 pints. Additional Notes for Ingredients and Processing 8 cups tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained Any type or color of tomato may be used (paste, canning, beefsteak, a combination of different types, etc.) The paste types will be meatier, the canners such as Rutgers are somewhat juicier than paste types and the beefsteaks the juiciest of all. Some prefer, as Annie does, to remove the tomato seeds and gel sacks. Some don't remove the seeds - this is personal preference. Measure after peeling, chopping and draining. 2-1/2 cups onion, chopped Roughly a 1/4" chopped size (this is the size used in the NCHFP testing - a little larger won't matter, but try not to have the pieces larger than 1/2" maximum). 1-1/2 cups green pepper, chopped Roughly a 1/4" chopped size. 3 - 5 jalapenos, chopped Any combination of green, red, whatever color peppers is fine. 3-5 jalapenos equates to roughly 1/4 cup, so total peppers cannot exceed 1-3/4 cups. For a spicier salsa, you can decrease the sweet peppers and increase the hot peppers by the same amount. Or, you can use hotter peppers (such as habaneros or serranos) but the TOTAL amount of peppers cannot exceed 1-3/4 cups. 6 cloves garlic, minced or finely diced Do not increase. Small differences in size of cloves should not matter. 2 teaspoons cumin For taste only. Can be reduced or left out entirely. 2 teaspoons ground black pepper For taste only. Can be reduced or left out entirely. Any dried ground pepper such as cayenne may be substituted for a portion of or all of the black pepper. 2 tablespoons (same measurement as 1/8 cup) canning salt For taste only. Can be reduced or left out entirely. 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped Can be reduced or left out entirely. Do not increase. Dried cilantro or other dried herbs may be added, but not more fresh herbs (fresh herbs change the pH - dried herbs do not). Add additional fresh herbs only after you open the jar. 1/3 cup sugar For taste only. Can be reduced or left out entirely. 1 cup 5% apple cider vinegar Can use any flavor vinegar (white, cider, etc.) as long as acidity is at least 5%. However, you can substitute bottled lemon or lime juice in any proportions according to taste (for example, 1/3 cup vinegar, 1/3 cup lemon juice, 1/3 cup lime juice) as long as the total equals one cup. 2 cups (16 oz.) tomato sauce Can be reduced slightly. See "Canning & Processing" notes below. 2 cups (16 oz.) tomato paste For texture only. Can be reduced or left out entirely. JAR SIZES You may: Process in pint jars (either regular or wide mouth) or smaller (12 oz., 8 oz. half pints, or 4 oz. quarter pints). Process all smaller sizes at the same processing time for pints. You may NOT: Process in larger jars (24 oz., 32 oz. quarts or 1/2 gallon jars). Testing was done only in pint jars. 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: On safe acidification of salsa for home boiling water canning