Tomorrow is the first day of September, and with it comes all those traditional end-of-summer events, including tomato canning season (at least here in the mid-Atlantic where I live). Because the yearly tomato glut is finally beginning to arrive, I’ve been getting a number of questions about how to safely can tomatoes.
The most frequent question I get is from people wondering if they can boiling water bath process their favorite spaghetti sauce recipe. You know, the kind that has plenty of garlic, onions, basil, olive oil and sometimes even a few peppers.
Sadly, I always end up delivering disappointing news. You really can’t just can your family recipe. Anything canned in a boiling water bath needs to be high acid (for the science minded types, this means that it has to have a pH of 4.5 or below). This is because botulism cannot grow in high acid environments. However, tomatoes are in the grey zone, typically having a pH right around 4.5. Because of this, tomatoes need to be acidified when canned, so that the acid levels are pushed into the safe zone and the pH becomes something lower than 4.5. That’s why my instructions (and all other good ones you’ll find) for canning whole tomatoes includes two tablespoons of bottled lemon juice per jar (you can also use citric acid if you prefer).
When you make spaghetti sauce, one typically adds a slew of ingredients that, while delicious, lower the acid to seriously unsafe levels. Unless your family spaghetti sauce recipe contains several cups of red wine vinegar, it will be too low in acid to be canned in a boiling water bath.
Most canning information will repeatedly remind you that it’s incredibly important to follow tested recipes. While I will occasionally play around a bit with jams and pickles (and I only do this because I know which aspects can’t be monkeyed with), even I never deviate when it comes to acidifying my tomatoes. I always follow the instructions in either the Ball Blue Book or So Easy to Preserve when I want to preserve tomato sauce, soup and salsas.
The one caveat I have to offer is that if you have a pressure canner, you may be able to preserve your beloved sauce recipe (just so you know, any recipe that includes meat MUST be pressure canned). Pressure canners raise the internal temperature of your jars to temperatures in the neighborhood of 240 degrees, which is high enough to kill off any botulism spores that may exist in your food. However, you should still consult recipes that have been tested using a pressure canner to determine processing time and pressure.
The good news here is that there are plenty of safe, tested tomato recipes that are designed for canning. Let’s hear about your favorites!
This is the dumbest article about not canning your families tomato sauce recipe. Tomatoes are a high acid food on their own, don’t require ‘pickling’ with vinegar. I have been canning for over 25 years and I go against the grain sometimes and can things without canning recipes. Basic tomato sauce is perfect for a first canning experience and a water bath canner is fine.
BTW no one has ever gotten ill from my items including meat based things I have made in my pressure canner.
I have also won awards from my canned food including BBQ sauce.
Tomatoes are not a high acid food. Modern tomatoes do not have enough acid to be canned without adding something acidic.
I put red wine in my homemade sauce. I used canned tomatoe puree. So, was wondering is that safe to water bath and can???
Rosanne, I can’t determine that. You’d need to test the pH.
Bernardin just released a salsa mix where you add in fresh tomatoes and basically whatever you want with 1/4 of that mix added to it and then process it in a boiling water canner for 35 mins, so it seems like they are creating things that allow us to can grandma’s recipe. The salsa mix says on the bottle that the sauce will last sealed for a year. so maybe if we add some of this to our pasta sauces it would help to preserve our creations for sauce. If they are saying boiling water canner than that’s what I’m going to follow.
I have a salsa recipe that I’ve used for a long time and everyone loves it. I make a lot and eat some fresh and can the rest. But the recipe calls for vinegar even though it has some onions etc. Our entire church uses it without problems. We waterbath can them so that must raise the ph enough for it to be safe.
I don’t think Melissa is talking to be about being hostile. I think I put my comment in the wrong place.
There are excellent recipes for canned Spaghetti Sauce, both with and without Meat, at the website for the (US) National Center for Home Food Preservation. You may not be able to can the Old Family Recipe, but these are great recipes that can be preserved at home. Check it out–
http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can3_tomato.html
I think the USDA says that simply because there are a very few varieties of tomatoes that are not acidic enough. I’ve found that most varieties are in fact acidic enough, around PH 4.0. The only ones that are not are some very sweet heirloom varieties, but I don’t think those are suitable for sauce anyway.
I test my batches of sauce with some PH strips, and they are always well below 4.5 PH… I still add a very small amount of citric acid just in case, but I’m pretty sure it is not necessary unless you are canning those few varieties that lack the acidity. I have yet to find such a variety, and I’ve grown several different types of heirlooms.
I’ve learned so much from this article and comments and your (Marisa) reponses here. I was discouraged at first, but then realized I CAN jar my old family recipe. I was concerned that adding lemon juice would change the recipe, but read here it doesn’t really affect the taste. I also (just now) learned that tomatoes were not a high acid food… I always thought they were. I’ve always added a little sugar to my sauce (supposedly to counteract the acidity). So much for that theory. I did also research what sugar does to pH, and apparently adding it doesn’t contribute to lowering the pH. So I guess, if I’m at all concerned about the lemon juice affecting this 60+ year old recipe, I can add a little sugar (it’s probably more psychological than necessary). I’ve NEVER canned anything before. Now to research what I need besides a pressure canner.
Oh yes… and I learned about pH strips. Must get some of those.
I put 14 canning jars each time in the oven for 20 minutes at 250 F degrees after washing with hot water. I do not turn off the oven until finishing canning. I have usinf this method to can stawberry jams, peaches and tometoe sauce. I still have 2 tometoe sauce jars left from four years ago. I am still alive.
Be sure to verify the temp of your oven. . .ovens tend to not be highly calibrated
That’s a little hostile, don’t you think? Marisa is following the USDA standards for safe canning practices, which keeps inexperienced canners from getting sick, or worse, getting other people sick. Take a deep breath. No one was attacking you.
*like*
Thanks Marisa for always looking out for us while still embracing creativity in recipes. I always know I can trust your measured viewpoint on different preserving processes.
*double like* Thanks, Marisa!
You’d have to be CRAZY to can tomatoes using a water bath….oh wait…never mind:-)
I’d always rather be safe than sorry…adding lemon juice is a good way to increase the acid levels safely without having the alter the taste too much. I love this website and need to buy your book, soon!
Thank you crazy canner for the information regarding canning with meat in sauces…..I hate waste & have so many tomatoes to put away & we just don’t eat things up fast enough to freeze.
Totally agree. Grew up on a farm in SW PA and mom canned everything her three boys could pick. We lived and the canned food was always delicious. Well, maybe not all. I hated canned green beans.
There are a lot of comments here, but things are different now than 30 years ago. The change to acidize tomato or tomato sauce came about in 1994 when it was determined that new varieties of tomatoes were not acid enough to meet existing canning procedures. The problem with tomatoes is that they vary in acid depending on growing conditions, ripeness, variety, early or late season, and probably a few other things. Acidizing was applied to both water bath and pressure canning because as presented, the two processes do the same thing. Pressure canning is just a higher temperature and shorter time procedure, but with respect to tomatoes, it is not particularly different. Both procedures need tomatoes with a pH of less than 4.6 to be safe at the times and pressures listed.
Since I didn’t want to acidize my tomatoes, here is what I figured out. (1) According to the U of Arizona, new varieties of tomatoes had a pH of 5, so one better be acidizing those varieties or trouble is a-coming. (2) If you are canning a salsa recipe or something similar, it is not the same as canning plain tomatoes. Canning a mix of anything can get really complex, like how safe a particular recipe can be canned may depend on the amount of free water molecules in the mix. If the recipe has sugar, the sugar occupies the free water molecules and prevents bacterial growth. Reducing the sugar can significantly change the way the mix behaves. That’s why instructions are constantly yapping about following tested recipes exactly. (3) Can’t one just pressure can tomatoes as a low acid food like green beans and not acidize? Certainly, but we have no times or pressures for that procedure. It certainly seems like the USDA could have done the bacteriological studies by now and come up with canning procedures for low acid tomatoes, but it’s not happened yet.
My experiments – I grind tomatoes up and can them every year. This year I decided to do some testing and maybe avoid acidizing. The varieties I grow vary from heirlooms to new hybrids to paste types. When I grind tomatoes, everything that is ripe goes in the mix. So I ground and pressed 3 gallons of juice and did pH tests on the juice. My pH meter is a good unit that can be calibrated with standardized buffers of pH4, pH7, and pH9. I also have pH strips, the kind that has 4 color patches that each turn a different color and is compared to a 4 color, color-metric scale. I have never seen a pH strip that is a single color type that is even close to accurate. So if you are going to use pH strips make sure they are the type with 4 color patches. The results indicated that the pH of the mix was 4.5. For me that was too close for comfort and I acidized the batches. Maybe the USDA or some University will get a around to doing the studies, but for now we are stuck.
djh has covered this quite well. Just because no one has ever died from eating my (or your) canned foods is no reason to advocate reckless behavior! You might can food using unsafe techniques for a lifetime without ever growing botulism spores–just like you might routinely run red lights without having a collision. But Ms. McClellan is doing the right thing by advising people to pay attention to food safety.
If you read the article, it refers specifically to sauce with other (low-acid) ingredients added.
I have been looking for days on the internet for a tomato basil soup recipe to water bath can with. Thinking maybe garlic, peppers & onions too? Can you offer any suggestions? There are tons of more basic recipes, but I am really looking for a soup recipe. Thanks!!!
Out of curiousity, I’m going to have to ask this. I make a spaghetti sauce with sausage that simmers overnight. I want to can it because I don’t have the freezer space to store it this year. If it’s simmering for a minimum of 8 hours, canned in a pressure canner, and brought to a simmer again before consumption, how could the botulism possibly survive all that?
My recipe is somewhat similar to the version on the USDA website, minus the veggies (except for the mushrooms, sometimes we add them, sometimes we don’t). The main difference is that I don’t measure anything–I eyeball it, and adjust to taste/or to what I have on hand. The way I understand the USDA recipe is that there isn’t any room for adjustments of any kind.
This blog post was about canning tomato sauce in a boiling water bath canner. If you’re using a pressure canner, many of the restrictions go out the window.
I canned some tomato sauce and mistakenly used 1 teaspoon rather than 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice per pint. Would I be able to recook and reprocess this sauce so I don’t lose it entirely?
Yep, you can certainly do that.
Couldn’t you use Balsamic Vinegar instead of lemon juice to to reach proper acidity? It’s about 6% and I love it in my sauce… would that work?
Nope, you can’t sub in balsamic vinegar. It doesn’t have the same concentration of acid that lemon juice does. You’d have to use far, far more.
Ok-sorry- just read the last paragraph that I missed where you totally just answered my last question. 🙂 But how do I know how long and how much pressure for a family tomato sauce recipe for a pressure canner? Thanks!
Ok- so I understand that you cannot use a water bath for canning your family tomato sauce recipe, but why can’t you use a pressure canner? Isn’t there a maximum pressure and time for a pressure canner that would kill anything regardless of whether it is a scientifically tested recipe? Thanks!
I have been using a recipe for homemade tomato sauce since 1975. It doesn’t call for lemon juice or citric acid. The sauce is processed in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. It’s a delicious sauce and I’ve never had a problem. I use my own home-grown tomatoes and any other ingredients I have (parsley, oregano, basil). Delicious!
Linda, canning standards were drastically rewritten in 1988-89 and so what was considered safe in 1975 isn’t seen as such anymore. The National Center for Home Food Preservation recommends that you only follow recipes published in the last 25 years.
My husband makes his salsa using canned tomatoes from the grocery store, he then adds fresh jalapeno and banana peppers and cilantro. If we can the salsa using the water bath method do we need to worry about the ph level since the tomatoes were already canned?
It doesn’t matter that the tomatoes were previously canned. You’re still adding a bunch of low acid ingredients to the tomatoes, which will lower the pH of the finished product and could move it into an unsafe area.
I made hot sauce (salsa) yesterday but did not hot water bath them can that be done now?
I have 4 tomato plants and so far only one is producing tomato’s. I have about 15 tomatoes that are pretty ripe. I don’t know how people get so many pounds of tomatoes, but maybe later in the season they will all produce. I want to can some tomato sauce (my grandmother’s recipe), but it calls for using tomato puree in addition to fresh tomatoe’s. Can I use canned tomato puree with my fresh tomato sauce. I do have citric acid to add to my sauce and am planning on water bathing them since this is the first year I have canned (trying to see if it is worth it). Can someone tell me if I can do this?
I followed the Ball Book recipe for seasoned tomato sauce along with the lemon. I used quarts but processed for 35 minutes instead of 40; there was definately some added time with putting them all in (it was at a boil) as well as the 5 minute rest time. Are they ruined?
Jenny, I don’t know if they’re ruined or not. Did you follow the Ball recipe and processing time? Is so, you’re probably fine. If you made up your own recipe and shortened the time, they may not be safe. However, I can’t tell you one way or another.
So, I followed the recipe. The process time says 40 and then 5 minutes with the lid and heat off. They definately sat in the water 40 with maybe 5 minutes not boiling. I feel like it is fine – lids are all concave – lemon in. Thoughts?
Further explanation …. I used quarts instead of pints but read the quarts processing time.
Dear Marissa,
I am a veteran cook but have only canned jam in the past. Decided to go for it with tomatoes and then wondered “Why process twice when I can just make my heavenly sauce and can that?”. Ooops. 7 quarts later I read your post on why this is not a wise idea. I did however use a bottle of red wine and 1/4 of a second in the sauce. Would this be enough to raise the PH level sufficiently? If not can I simply let the jars cool for a few hours and then place them in the freezer? Help!
I can’t know whether your bottle and a 1/4 of wine is enough to sufficiently raise the acidity of your sauce to safe levels unless I know what else is in the sauce. However, you could just let it cool, pop the jars to remove the sauce to give the jars enough headspace and then freeze them. Make sure to leave at least 2 inches of headspace for quarts that are going into the freezer.
If I can my tomato sauce with meat in a pressure canner, do i need to add lemon juice or vinegar?
As long as you can it in a pressure canner and follow the prescribed time and pressure for that kind of product, you can skip the acidic ingredients.
I would like to learn about jarring my own homemade “Sunday Gravy” tomato sauce for resale in specialty stores. I know I will need to look into a commercial FDA approved kitchen but do you have other suggestions as to what to do? My desire is not to add preservatives or sugar. Please help steer me in the right direction.
I am new to canning and want to make paste, sauce ( spagehtti,tomatoe), salsa, juce, etc. Would it be better to can the tomatoes whole now and make these things later or should I do these now and bypass the whole tomatoe step? pls help.
My preference is to can whole tomatoes and then make those other products as needed. I do make salsa and can it. I’d recommend getting a good canning cookbook and trying some of the recipes for salsa, sauce, juice, etc. and find out if you like them. That’s the first step.
Hi…..can anyone confirm if his is indeed true:
the toxin of botulism is not thermoresistant… That mean, if you have the toxine in your jar of sauce (after long time storage) then you boil your sauce for at least 10 minutes before consum it, you destroy the toxin
(i just jarred sauce using boiling bath but no lemon juice, because i didn’t see this article until afterward. I put the jars in the refridgerator for now)
Thanks
Eric
I have to admit, Marissa, that your post is kind of a bummer. I was planning next summer to can a crap-load of spaghetti sauce for myself, family and friends so I was researching how to do that and found your blog (which is awesome, I must say). Now that I know I can’t do that, I’m pretty disappointed, but glad to not have botulism.
However, your bummer of a post has peaked my interest in pressure cookers/canners. Is there a brand you can recommend? Can you use a pressure cooker as a pressure canner and vice versa? What’s the differece?
Hi Ryan,
I just sent a reply to your question and it disappeared! I do not know if it’s going to post or not so I’ll re-type and hope it doesn’t show two times.
I’ve been using a pressure canner to can beef, pork, chicken, broth, beans, pumkin and beets for about two years. Tomatoes and tomatoe sauce is the next thing on my list, I’m just waiting for them to go on sale again.
I use the Presto brand pressure canners and have both the 16 and 23 quart versions. The 23 quart version will fit two ‘layers’ of pint jars or one ‘layer’ of quart jars. The 16 quart will only can one layer. I’ve been very happy with both canners (purchased on Amazon for about $80 each).
With regard to using a pressure cooker as a canner, there are a couple issues. First, you’d need a rack that would fit inside the cooker – jars should not be in direct contact with the heat source. Second, if you could fit jars in one, your batch would only produce a few 8oz. jars.
Most importantly, follow standard procedures and do your research. Follow pressures listed for your altitude and process times. A good (free) source is the USDA website:
http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=4&tax_level=3&tax_subject=358&topic_id=1610&level3_id=5942&level4_id=0&placement_default=0
The down-side is that (since the last time I was there) they do not give much of a ‘how-to’ or recipes. I started with a cold pack, but learned I prefer hot pack for all meats that are being canned. Just a side note, there is up-front time/effort involved but I’ve found it so beneficial. Meat is on the shelf with no preservatives all the time. We can have meat, mashed potatoes and gravy in the time it takes to make the potatoes (the juices in the jars make awesome gravy).
‘The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving’ is a source I’ve been very happy with. It discusses proper procedure for both water bath and pressure canning, has methods for canning single items (meats, vegetables, beans) but also has a lot of recipes. I purchased mine on Amazon, which was about half the cost of B&N.
Have a great day, and happy canning!
Rena
I have NEVER canned anything before. I currently have a huge pot of tomato sauce on the stove that I had intended on canning using the waterbath method (I do not have a pressure canner). After reading your blog I’m scared. I did not use fresh tomatos and I’m hoping that since I used cans of puree and paste it will be ok to proceed as planned. In addition to the cans of puree and paste I have added fresh onions and basil sauteed in olive oil, and dried oregano. Do I need to resort to freezing?
After the tomato sauce I also plan on canning our family sauer kraut recipe which uses jarred sauer kraut and fresh bacon.
After that my plan was to jar my apple pie filling using fresh granny smith apples.
I know this is long–I appreciate any help you can offer to this newbie.
Thanks in advance,
Linda
Linda, chances are that your sauce is not safe for canning. The use of previously canned tomatoes does not make a sauce made from them safe for canning. If you added onions, garlic and herbs without adding additional acid, my best guess would be that it’s too low in acid for safe canning.
I can tell you that it is never safe to anything containing meat without a pressure canner. You should not can your sauerkraut with bacon in a water bath canner.
When canning, it’s always recommended to follow tested recipes to ensure safety, particularly when you’re just getting started.
Well poop 😉 … but thank you for the quick response … I’m still deciding whether I should freeze or not … Am I correct in believing that if I add 2 tbsp. lemon juice to each 1 qt. jar it will be alright? Also, will that change the flavor drastically? (don’t think I want to serve a lemony spaghetti sauce.
Oh one more thing, I have pork neck bones in the sauce … they’ll be removed before canning, even though “technically” this is not a meat sauce, is it considered a meat sauce in the canning world?
Any amount of meat makes it a meat sauce. So the presence of those neck bones renders it absolutely unfit for boiling water bath canning. No amount of lemon juice will make it safe. That’s a sauce that can ONLY be frozen or pressure canned.
Hi I am looking to can olive oil. How is it done?
Kevin, I have no idea how you can olive oil.
yesterday i made some green tomato relish from a recipe i found online. after doing all the work and processing, i got to wondering about the vinegar content and whether or not the ratio of vinegar was high enough. also the recipe was fairly vague for amounts, but the result was only 250 ml over what they told me it would be so i must have got that part close! it called for 24 large green tomatoes (i used roma), 3 red bell peppers (i used 2 very large ones), 3 green bell peppers, 12 large onions (i used 10 because mine were huge), 3 tbsp celery seed and mustard seed, 1 tbsp salt, 5 cups sugar and 2 cups apple cider vinegar. i also had a break in canning, so after processing the first lot (30 minutes in a water bath), i left it on the stove and came back a couple hours later process the rest bringing the mixture back to a boil each time. do you see any problems in this?
a co-worker and I made some spaghetti sauce using tomatoes from our daycare garden. I have never caned before. She said it was ok to do it. Our sauce does contain garlic, onions, oil, green peppers, (which I see now that may not be good to can) we also added carrots, orgeno, sugar, tomato paste, fresh hot pepper. We let it simmer somwhere between 3-5 hrs. We left them out to seal and most jars did. Do we have to toss all jars out? or could we use them up now???
If I understand you right, you didn’t follow a tested recipe or process your jars. Does not sound safe to me.
i’m a bit confused on oil and herbs in the sauce for water bath canning. can i add either or both? i’ve seen recipes call for oil (1tbsp) and basil/garlic and then others that say just do the tomatoes (and lemon juice). what’s the best way to do it? thank you!
It’s best to follow a tested recipe. If it calls for oil and herbs, it’s safe to add them. If it doesn’t, then it’s not.
I am a total newbie and stupid stupid me read one online recipe for basic crushed tomaotoe sauce….and followed it. 3 busels later I am reading around and have read in SERVERAL places that 2 TBSP of lemon juice is needed per quart, I only added 1 TBSP….OMG have I wasted many many hours canning tomatoes that are not safe to eat?
HELP!!!!
I’m in a similar situation – I made my sauce and added the jars to a boil that I had going for an apple butter recipe (which did say to use the boil-water method), but then hopped online to check how long the bigger tomato sauce cans should be left in only to find this. I’ve pulled out my tomato sauce after 15 minutes. If I let the jars cool 24 hours, can I then add lemon juice and re-process (properly) safely?
Hmmmm…..I cooked down what was left of assorted hot peppers & tomatoes (overnight in the slow cooker) after pureeing them in the food processor, then put the hot mixture in my last three pint jars with a tablespoon of lemon juice in each jar. Then I did the boiling water bath for 35 minutes, figuring the combination of that long cooking time, acid, and processing would kill any botulism. I have no idea what the proportion of pepper/tomato/onion is. It’s thick & spicy!
So my question is: if there WOULD somehow be botulism in a jar, is the ‘boil for ten minutes’ rule going to kill it? My husband’s family cans tomatoes every year in the most incredibly rule-breaking ways and they generally do the boil-it-good-before-you-eat-it route. Is this what keeps them alive? He teases me a lot about my newfound canning desire & earnest rule-following. Ok, not so rule-following since I did the aforementioned pints of chili sauce without my pressure canner (3 pint jars in a 16-quart canner? Seems silly) but definitely earnest.
So if I used the lemon juice from the little yellow bottle with the green cap to can my tomatoes will they be ok if I will be cooking them when I use them or are they not good?
Using that lemon juice is just fine.
250 jars of tomato sauce canned by sterilizing the jars in the oven, boiling the tomato sauce, and letting the sauce seal on its own. no acid added. Just garlic, a little oil, salt, and a couple basil leaves per can. What to do? Please help.
I love the minnesota tomato mixture! It has onions, peppers, celery in it and can be hotwater bathed or it can be pressure canned it is put out by the University of Mn extension.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/foodsafety/components/handouts/tomatomixture.pdf
this is a nice chart for 1001 to 2000 ft
http://www.extension.umn.edu/foodsafety/components/handouts/QuickRefChart.pdf
Here is the new link to this canning recipe. You do tomatoes, celery, bell peppers and onions in A WATER BATH. It is an awesome recipe and so Yummmmy in the winter months. http://www1.extension.umn.edu/food-safety/preserving/tomatoes-salsa/minnesota-method/
Why bottled lemon juice, can’t you use real lemon juice?
https://foodinjars.com.s164546.gridserver.com/arugulapesto/2010/09/canning-101-why-recipes-call-for-bottled-lemon-juice/
thank you a million times over for the hard facts on this topic! I had been wondering and hadn’t found a good source to just, plain ole English, say what can be canned in a water bath 🙂 THANK YOU!
I just home canned tomato pints. I think I didn’t process them long enough. 45 minutes in the water bath. Should I throw them out?
Thanks.
I canned a ton of sauce and did a hot water bath about a month ago. A coworker just told me it isn’t safe to eat this way. If I pressure cook it now, would that kill any growth and make it safe to eat? I hate to throw it all away! Thanks
I have two questions: First, I made three quart-sized jars of pickles last weekend using a pressure canner. I think I may have not processed them quite long enough because I live at a high elevation. They are sealed and sitting in my cupboard. Do I need to toss them or is there anything I can to to be sure they are safe? Can I reboil them and recan them or is it too late? Secondly, I made some 8oz. and 12 oz. jars of salsa yesterday. I changed the recipe in the Ball book a bit before reading that you should never do this. I used green chiles instead of jalepenos, left out the teaspoon of ground cumin because I ran out, and I also added 2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice. Do you think these need to be thrown away? Also, one of the jars has more head room than it should. How will this affect the food storage? Thanks for your help!!!
Help! I just canned pizza sauce. It was boiling when i put it in the jars and it self sealed. i was told it was fine. am i at risk? i’m scared to eat it. thanks!!!
Jenn, I can’t tell you for sure if your sauce is safe, but I’m guessing it’s not. First, I don’t know what you put in it (tomatoes need additional acid to be safe for canning, and if you added such things as onions, garlic, peppers and herbs, you need even more acid to bring the pH of the sauce into a safe zone). Second, it doesn’t sound like you did a processing step. To be in accordance with USDA canning guidelines, you must process those jars, either in a boiling water canner or a pressure canner, depending on the recipe you used. When canning, always consult tested recipes, such as those in the Ball Blue Book or the University of Georgia’s So Easy to Preserve.
I canned with my mother-in-law (who has canned many times) and I have never canned before. We made salsa. We used a canning recipe but it called for 30 Medium tomotoes, and we had small yellow “pear” tomatoes, romas, and larger steak tomatoes. I am sure that we had more that the 30 called for and so we added more of all of the ingredients. After reading up on canning, I am a little nervous. So, the big thing is, I added about 3/4 cup vinegar and about 2 Tbs lemon juice to each 5 1/2 quart pot of salsa. What do you think? We water-bathed the pint jars for 35min after cooking the salsa for about 2 hours.
I made a recipe of salsa and my mother-in-law was helping. I have never canned before and so am now reading up on it. So, it called for 30 med tomatoes…which I had small yellow “pear” tomatoes, romas and steak tomatoes. We had more that what it called for, i am guessing. So, we added more of all of the other ingredients. But, I was not sure how much vinegar to add (called for 2 cups) I added 3/4 cups to each 5 1/2 quart pot, plus around 2 Tbs of lemon juice to each. I am a bit nervous not after reading the posts. One other thing. We cooked the salsa for about 2 hours and them water-bathed each pint jar for 35min. What do you think?
I canned today for the first time. I roasted tomatoes and garlic with olive oil in the oven, then used a food mill and simmered the sauce on the stove until ready for canning. I added 1 tbls. of lemon juice to each jar and left 1/2 in. space. I then did the hot water bath canning, but i accidently left the jars in the canner pot for 45 min. verses the 35 min. required. Also I simmered the sauce for about two hours. From what I have been reading, i’m thinking I wasn’t supposed to do that. makes for a lower acidity, not sure.
I am new to canning too, and just prepared a batch of tomato sauce (includes fresh onions, garlic and basil) for canning. If I want to substitute lemon juice with citric acid, what is the ratio per quart? Thank you so much for this great site!
I recently started canning and learned that figs, like tomatoes are low-acid. I used a recipe for fig strawberry balsamic jam from Yvonne Tromblay’s book, but it only called for 1T vinegar. I’m wondering if the acidity of the strawberries is enough to raise the Ph of the figs. Should I be worried?
Brenda, strawberries typically have a pH of between 3 and 3.9, making them quite acidic. I don’t know the amounts in the recipe you’re using, but I imagine that combination of the acidic strawberries with the balsamic vinegar makes for an acidic-enough jam.
I have an added tip or two for those of you looking into pressure canners….
A pressure canner is essentially no different than a pressure cooker except that a) It is much larger to accommodate the jars and; b) It usually has a way to regulate the pressure to different levels (PSI)…and the pressure directly relates to the temperature it reaches inside. Most canning recipes call for 10 psi while a standard pressure cooker is designed to stay at 15 psi. It’d probably work but you’d overcook your food and you can’t really get even a single pint jar into a 5 qt pot. Not recommended.
The least expensive pressure canners on the market are the two sizes made by Presto. In fact, Walmart and Walmart.com usually sell them for less than the MSRP. The large one comes with a jiggler weighted for 15 psi and a pressure gauge. The smaller one comes with a two-part jiggler that you can separate to do either 10 or 15 psi and NO gauge.
Here’s the tip… While it’s nice to be able to see the actual pressure in the pot, I wish I had the smaller pot because a) It comes up to pressure much faster for small batches; and b) You don’t have to stand there and tinker with the heat because the 10 psi jiggler will make sure you never go over 10 psi. For these reasons, I’d recommend the smaller pot if you can find it. If you really want more space or the pressure gauge, go with the big pot but order the replacement two-part jiggler from Presto. I’m thinking I may do that myself soon.
Incidentally, I wrote a letter to Presto telling them how dumb it is that both pots don’t come with the a 10 psi jiggler. They told me to use the gauge…kind of missed the point. 🙂
Oh, and thank you for bringing this up! I’ve known a lot of people who do not think that proper canning technique is important because, you know, it was good enough for grandma. Ugh.
Well, I just went ahead and pressure canned my spaghetti/pizza sauce. It is worth it to me. The ones suited for water bath canning are nasty sour. I’d rather freeze it or take the time to pressure can.
Hello everyone!
Yesterday I pressure canned a tomato sauce with ground beef, onions garlic, olive oil and herbs. 1st try it took me 20 min to get the seal on right (my top is a bit tempormental and this is the first time this season I have used it) so I lost alot of water before I got going thus the canner ran dry after 30 min.
So I reprocessed and that went well got the seal right but it still ran dry after 47 min. I have never canned meat before so had no idea I needed to add extra water to go for an hour.
If I try again will I ruin the sauce? I was thinking of giving up and freezing but I really wanted this self stable.
The National Center for Home Food Preservation is your source for current research-based recommendations for most methods of home food preservation.
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/
Answers to canning, freezing, curing questions for every food you can think of.
Thanks Marisa. That’s kind of what I thought. Can I freeze these jars or should I just plan to use it all right away? Should I store them in the fridge? I’m kind of new to this and she says she’s never had any problems, but I do remember my mom boiling everything.
Scott, a pressure cooker is different from a pressure canner. Pressure canners either have gauges or numbered weights that let you know what the amount of pressure is that your food in under. Pressure canning recipes should always give you the amount of pressure you need to apply – typically either 10 or 15 pounds.
so then a pressure cooker is the same as a pressure canner?
Has anyone canned pesto sauce?
Pesto freezes beautifully. The garlic, oil, cheese nuts and basil are all low-acid and canning it would definitely require a pressure canner. By the time you put it through enough processing to make it safely shelf stable, it would be a cooked, brown mess and would taste nasty. Stick with freezing.
Shelley, it’s not safe to skip the boiling water bath step. Though the jars sealed, the processing ensures that any bacteria or yeast that floated into the jars during canning are killed.
A friend of mine invited me over yesterday to can homemade salsa. She followed an ingredient recipe but did not process them at all-just sealed them. Within an hour all of the jars did seal. Is it safe to keep on the shelf? I didn’t think they’d seal. The recipe called for a 2 cups of vinegar and some lemon juice. Also, it’s very thin and runny. Is there anything a person can do to thicken it up once you open it?