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!
Hi, and Greetings from Germany. I know, it is not directly topic, but as meat was mentioned several times, I would like to add that they are really a lot of different sausages and meat stew recipies around here that are usually canned during home slaughtering at approx 72 °C (160 °F), this being done as long as my gramma can recall. As far as I know, there are no Botulism problems with that, but of course nobody would eat something that was visibly under pressure when opened, or the content of a bloated tin can. Sorry if I missed the subject completely – Alex
There is actually a great deal of trouble with that. Meat is low in acid and botulism spores require temperatures of 240F to be killed. There is no safe way to process meat in jars without a pressure canner.
Hi I am just wondering whether once the batch of sauce (does contain lots of white wine vinegar, tomatoes and has been preserved properly) has been refridgerated can it then be stored elsewhere or does it need to be pressure canned/heat treated again/ remain in the fridge or freezer until consumed?
I wasnt sure at the time of making it and didnt want it to spoil so i put it into the jars and into the fridge, its keeping well but it would be better to have my fridge space back!
Any hints you may have are greatly appreciated, even for next time i will remember to just heat treat and then store not in the fridge perhaps.
Thanks in advance 🙂
You made the sauce, canned it, and then refrigerated it? If the sauce was high enough in acid for boiling water bath processing, and the jars sealed properly, there’s no reason why you can’t take the jars out of the fridge and put them in the pantry. More information about canning tomatoes can be found here: http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can3_tomato.html
Hi,
I have a similar issue. I make a lot of sauces that I’d like to make in larger quantities and can for my big family. (Alfredo sauces, vegetable sauces, Asian brown sugar and soy sauce sauces, etc). Csn I water bath can these, or pressure can them? How long would I need to?
Unfortunately, most of the sauces you listed are not safe for canning.
It’s simpler and tastier to just make a nice thick tomato sauce (tomatoes only) and add one generous tablespoon of lemon juice to each quart jar and water bath can it. Then, make your spaghetti sauce from that, fresh, when you need it. Tastes much better. Water bath canning spaghetti or pasta sauce, or any other sauce using tomatoes WITH A MULTITUDE OF OTHER INGREDIENTS, and trying to manipulate the Ph is not safe. Pressure canning spaghetti or pasta sauce, or any other sauce using tomatoes WITH A MULTITUDE OF OTHER INGREDIENTS, while safe, changes the flavor. I’ve found it best to simply make plain tomato sauce and use that in the family recipe when you need it instead of trying to can the family recipe. Keep it simple people, and keep your awesome family recipes intact and awesome.
You actually need two tablespoons of lemon juice per quart of product.
Marisa,
You are right… my bad. I say “generous” tablespoon because I slosh it over a lot. But, two measured tablespoons is correct. Sorry.
Hi, I have been canning for several years and every summer I make a tomato basil sauce from the Blue Ball Book. This year in just one of my batches the oil separated after the hot water bath. (The recipe calls for one TBS of olive oil.) It is possible I used a generous TBS of olive oil, but otherwise I am not sure why this happened. I was wondering if you had any insight and most of all, is this safe?
My Roma plants are beginning to ripen, I am really trying to get them ripe on the vine,but I have been freezing then to make sauce later. I am asking if slightly under ripped is OK to use to can. Could I still use table ripened like vine ripe? I plan to pressure can? People are saying it’s fine if the fruit looks good. l
Can you re-jar pasta sauce that is store bought? I’ve been trying to find information on this with no luck. I always end up wasting store bought pasta sauce because it doesn’t get eaten before going bad. I’m wondering if I can buy a large jar and then re-jar into the smaller ones.
This is for times when I don’t just make my own sauce 🙂
It’s really not recommended that you recan store bought sauce. If you have sauce that you can’t use up fast enough, it’s better to freeze it.
I make my sauce from no. ten can’s of paste and sauce ,so is this considered recanning ? and something I shouldn’t do ? I do use a pressure canner.
That’s fine.
I have done this for years. I’ve used freezer bags or canning jars ,smaller amounts I use for pizza and others I add to stuff.
freeze it leaving head room for expansion.
Could you substitute 2 Tspns of red wine vinegar per quart instead of lemon juice?
No. Red wine vinegar doesn’t have the same concentration of acid that lemon juice does.
May I make a reply here? I have a recipe that my aunt and the lady from our local extension office helped me with several, several years ago. She knew that my recipe had oil in it. It makes 12-13 quarts and has 2 cups of oil in the whole recipe. I add 1 tbsp lemon juice to each jar (not important to what I am saying, but just in case someone mentions it, and yes that is the amount the lady from the NC State Extension Office told me to use). I just ran up on this website and now a couple more that all say do not use oil to can with. I’m honestly not sure why. Is the difference in the way you can your sauce? Most recipes I see call for a water bath, but I have always canned mine at 12 pounds of pressure for 10 minutes (per the instructions from our local extension office lady.) I am canned my spaghetti sauce this way for years without any trouble, and to now see that someone is saying we are not suppose to use oil has just floored me.
I forgot to add something. Even the recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation, http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/uga_can_tom.pdf, has a tomato sauce recipe that makes 9 pints and it has a 1/4 cup of vegetable oil in it.
And that should have read, spaghetti sauce recipe….
I never canned before last week and never knew of the dangers of canning your own tomato sauce. I canned 12 jars last week and put in cool basement I did a water bath not adding any lemon juice or wine vinegar. Should I throw out the entire batch or can I take it out of the jars and freeze it or re-can it with lemon juice in each jar or is one week too long?
You could open up the jars, bring the sauce back up to a boil, and reprocess appropriately.
I have a similar situation, my mother in law canned my tiny tomatoes that were roasted with peppers, onions, garlic and olive oil. She cleaned the jars in the dishwasher and the sanitize setting. She boiled them for 35 minutes. All the jars “popped”. They have been stored in the pantry. It’s been warm for the couple of weeks they have been stored, up to 80 degrees in the house. If there was no boiling of the jars and no lemon juice added, what should I do with them?
They’re probably not the safest thing.
I just made tomato sauce and salsa last night with one of the recipes on line. I boiled my my jars and put the sauces in the jar but for got to do a water bath. Is it still safe to use this boil it again and the jars and than do a water bath.
I never add meat to my canning sauces, and I start with 25 lbs of fresh frozen garden grown tomatoes from our yard,I add carrots onion basil thyme marjoram oregano rosemary sage and savory 1quart of olive oil 2 cups of organic cane sugar 1 cup of lemon juice 8 bay leaves and cook it down like my grandmothers did 24 to 30 hours on low heat stirring the pot about every 3 hrs, Its a long process but it is worth it in the end the sauce is dark red almost rust coloured and has a nice sheen on top when stirred.
The sauce you’ve described is not safe for canning in a boiling water bath canner.
Opinions swing like a pendulum. For generations people canned meat successfully because they had to but how many stories of food poisoning from home canning have you actually heard of. I think a lot of us would be more convinced if we heard real life stories.t he Amish can extensively because they don’t believe in using electricity
You don’t need electricity to can safely. And there were many instances of food poisoning in the past. The recommendations contained in this post are not opinions, they are science.
Is it safe to assume a lobster sauce is not safe??
Not safe at all!
My Aunt and Uncle were hospitalized 2.5 years ago with botulism. They were both in their mid 80’s and ultimately my Aunt wound up passing away. The CDC had to test everything in their kitchen to discover the cause. It turned out to be her jarred tomato sauce that she had been making and jarring annually for 60+ years. Seeing it firsthand we now know how important it is to follow food safety guidelines. My family doesn’t currently jar our sauce anymore, but have been working towards figuring out how to do it safely so we can keep the tradition alive for future generations.
So, I just made and water canned marinara sauce which included olive oil,carrots, 0nion, garlic, herbs, Roma tomatoes… I boiled in a water bath 45 min following a recipe on the internet yesterday and refrigerated after cooling after I found out you aren’t supposed to can sauces. What can I do if anything to re-can for gifts or at least to save for self use, such as freezing? Because it’s delicious.
You can’t can a sauce like that without a pressure canner. You could transfer it into freezer-safe containers and freeze it, though.
Being 75, let me say that the pioneers canned everything and there was no such thing as a pressure canner. I canned green beans, tomato sauces and ketchup, pickles, corn…LOTS of things with no pressure canner. First you shouldn’t do it if you don’t know what you are doing. You should be able to tell if the item has a good seal and also if the seal breaks. It’s like saying, if you don’t wash your hands you will get sick. No, you might! What are the odds?
We know a lot more about food safety than the pioneers did. Additionally, many of them died of unknown illnesses. Why put yourself at risk when we have such deeper understanding of the science of food safety now. To can green beans and corn (low acid foods) without additional acid or a pressure canner is gambling with your health. Why take that risk?
To be fair, the US has roughly 127 cases of botulism per year. Of that number, 15% is foodbourne. Assuming a population of 300 million, that amounts to 7 millionths of a percent. How many people are canning tomato sauce in a boiling water bath? Probably a lot. I’ve been doing it for 25 years, and my mother and grandmother before that. I can salsa the same way. I have a better chance of being struck by lightning or winning the lottery than contracting botulism. Of course anything is possible but this seems like a stretch…
Why would you want to roll the dice?
Hi! I’ve only canned a couple of times and the other day I used a recipe for salsa that called for store bought canned tomatoes (28oz) and 3 jalapeños, Cumin, salt, garlic powder and 4tsp lime juice. Well, I canned it in a water bath and am now seeing that maybe I should have used a “tested” recipe(?) is it safe to eat??
I wouldn’t trust that recipe. You typically need more acid for a canned tomato product.
I made a spaghetti sauce tonight and made way too much and was wondering if I could safely water bath can it if I add citric acid to it and how much citric acid should I use? I used 3 cans of canned tomato sauce, 1 can of canned tomato paste, water, 2 T minced garlic, 1/2 cup of chopped onion, dried herbs, 2 large tomatoes diced, 1 T olive oil, and 1/2 cup of red wine.
You cannot can an untested tomato sauce recipe. What’s more, I can never advise on the safety of a recipe for canning based on an ingredient list.
I canned several quarts (24) of spaghetti sauce in the last few weeks. I did a water bath (for 35 minutes) not adding any lemon juice or vinegar. I also added extra herbs. Should I throw it all out? Or can it be saved in any way? Maybe take it out of the jars and freeze it or re-can it with lemon juice?
The most conservative approach would be to discard it.
Hi there – slightly off-topic, but you mentioned that you are in the Philadelphia area. I am in Center City Philly and looking for a good place to buy several bushels of tomatoes in late summer. Do you have any recommendations in or near the city? (If I have to drive to Lancaster County, I will, but it’s always best to ask first.)
Hi Chase! I’m also in Center City. I am going to send you an email with a couple of options.
I put up several more jars of whole tomatoes last year than I actually needed. They were all processed according to the home preservations standards. I was wondering if I could add some (about 7 quarts) of these jars of whole tomatoes when I make my tomato sauce this year. I plan on putting up three to four boxes of fresh tomatoes for sauce. My tomato sauce and last years whole canned tomatoes contain nothing more than fresh tomatoes, canning salt, and lemon juice. For both the sauce and whole tomatoes I removed the skins. For the tomato sauce I also remove the seeds.
I don’t see why you don’t just keep the tomatoes as they are in the jars. They keep for several years. There’s no need to transform them if you’ll use them as-is at some point in the next year.
Can you test your recipe with a test strip?
It’s not a particularly reliable method of pH testing.
Do you have any recommendations for a very simple sauce (canning approved) that isn’t heavy on the spices? For example, below is a simple one I found online and really enjoy but based on your article I don’t think it would be canning approved even if I followed protocol of adding the citric acid.
14 oz can of European tomatoes
3 Tbslp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
a few pinches of dried oregano
2 or 3 leaves of fresh Italian basil
The basic one from Ball Canning sounds like it might work for you. https://www.freshpreserving.com/blog?cid=homemade-tomato-sauce
Can I use sugar instead of Lemon juice, when Jarring Tomato Sauce…??
No. Tomatoes need additional acid for safety. Sugar doesn’t play the same role.
Can you water bath spaghetti sauce with cooked onions and a little carrot juice in it? I heard that onions are slightly less acid than tomatoes..and add 2 T lemon juice?
No. You should only can sauces that are designed for the water bath.
HI – Most recipes call for canned tomatoes and don’t seem to speak to substituting with fresh. I’m pressure canning and using meat, but wondering if I need to change anything else if I’m swapping in tomatoes from my garden? (which I have been for years!) I’d love a safe recipe that uses beef, pork and fresh tomatoes and lotttttts of herbs. Any recommendations?
Thanks!
I recommend that you take a look at the meat sauce recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. It uses fresh tomatoes.
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/spaghetti_sauce_meat.html
I plan on pressure canning this sauce. my question is, in our recipe we add chicken broth and the spaghetti season packet along with meat and other veggies and would like to use my fresh garden tomatoes. Normally we freeze the sauce but I am running out of room. Would this be safe to can and how long should it be canned?
I suggest you look at the timing for meat sauces from National Center for Home Food Preservation and use those. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/spaghetti_sauce_meat.html
Hi! I have an old Italian recipe that’s very simple: tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, capers, red pepper flakes, white wine, basil, and salt. Can I use ph test strips to ensure proper acidity and then pressure can it? If not I guess just make plain tomato sauce and use that for when I want this phenomenal pasta sauce? Obviously the most important part is the fresh tomatoes. Truly there’s no other sauce out there like it, especially since it’s cooked WAY down to intensify the flavors!
If you’re okay with pressure canning the tomato sauce, there’s no need to test the acid. Use this as your guide. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/spaghetti_sauce.html
Hello, I have several jars of canned tomato sauces and stewed tomatoes that I canned last year. Upon opening, is there any way to tell if they are safe to eat? They all sealed at the time of canning
As long as the seals are still strong when you open the jars, the tomatoes are fine.
I was gifted a lovely jar of home canned marinara sauce. I have no idea what process was used. Is it possible for me to put it into my pressure canner snd reprocess it just to be safe?
If you can’t guarantee that it was processed safely, the only truly safe thing to do is discard it.
I pressure cooked meat sauce. There are some black circles on the insede of the jar walls where the sauce is. Is this bad? The lids are sealed.
When in doubt, throw it out.
I’m making a sauce – tomato based with garlic, ginger and onions cooked in olive oil, and then, after the sauce has been cooked, allow it to be cooled down to room temp, and then place in a food graded plastic container and flash freeze it, for another days’ cooking.
Would this be safe to do? or do I need to can this method.
It’s fine to freeze the sauce you’ve made. I would not recommend canning this recipe unless you have access to a pressure canner. It would be too low in acid to do safely in a boiling water bath canner.
I’m a first time canner. I purchased a pressure canner and have selected a canning approved recipe for spaghetti sauce. My question is I do not have a garden and do not want to purchase 25 lbs of tomato’s from the grocery store. It is much more cost effective to buy #10 can’s of whole, diced or crushed tomatoes from our warehouse store. Can I substitute commercially canned tomatoes and/or tomato sauce safely in the recipe? Thanks!!
You should be able to swap canned tomatoes in for fresh. I’d use whole peeled tomatoes to keep it as close to the fresh version as possible.
Is there anyway to can anything without using lemon juice or citric acid? I have an allergy to citric acid. Needless to say I usually only eat freshly cooked foods but I would like to can many things including tomato sauce.
You can use 5% acidity vinegar in place of the citric acid. You have to use a lot, though. Four tablespoons of vinegar gives you the same acidifying power as 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid. So there is some flavor change.
Wonderful article and great replies. We have been hot bathing our straight tomato sauce for years and adding citric acid. We have a family spaghetti recipe no meat but does use bacon fat to cook sauté the onions and peppers in the sauce. We plan on using a pressure cooker to preserve the spaghetti sauce. Any issues with our plan? I realize it’s not a “tested” recipe as has been mentioned but what does that really mean? Tested by whom?
Thanks
Canning recipes are typically tested by either the National Center for Home Food Preservation or a state land grant university with a food science department. For low acid recipes, they are able to determine how much time, heat and pressure is necessary to fully penetrate the food in order to kill off any botulism spores that might be present. With the spaghetti sauce that you plan on making, since it includes bacon fat, I recommend that you use the pressure canning instructions that were developed for a meat based sauce. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/spaghetti_sauce_meat.html
my question is this ,you go to the store and they have 10 pound cans on sale ,we have sour kraut ,grape jelly,tomato sauce and cheese sauce . i want to can everything that i bought in a 16 oz jar -except the cheese sauce ,i want to can that in a 8 oz jar -do i reheat everything and jar it ,debubble ,add 2 TBS of lemon juice for the sauce and follow the same time as in the books -or is it bad to re can these items ? even if they come from a 10 pound can? like why cant we just heat it up for a minute or 2 and just re can these items properly in jars for the same time as i would if it was done fresh ? what if i want to make a new sauce with different herbs and spices -can i recan the tomato sauce?
Do not recan store bought products. It is dangerous and you risk harming yourself and your family with food borne illness.
The question I have is asked over and over again and never answered.
Can you use canned tomatoes when you home can: pressure can/bottled homemade sauce???
My favorite recipe is basic sauce:
San Marzano tomatoes, salt & pepper
Olive oil,onions, rendered beef & pork bones.
Why? Because it’s the best basic sauce ever!
Yes I pressure canned it at 15psi, 90 full minutes.
It is not recommended that you reprocess store bought canned tomatoes. But I can’t control what you do in your own kitchen.
I simply wish to start “canning ” my home made marinara sauce, including veggies, and meat, without a pressure canner, only in a “water bath” intended to sterilize the ball jars of home made sauce that I make weekly. However, no methods seem to exist, under any category, 9n social media. I’m so sick of this internet. My cookbooks are in storage, after recently moving cross country, and remain there until finding my permanent residence. Can any chef help? Thx wish Julia was still around to ask about canning methods.
The reason you’re not finding the instructions you want is that there is no way to safely can something with meat in it in a water bath canner. No one is going to give you unsafe instructions.
Hi — I have always used a canned spaghetti sauce without meat (started using it when I was young and newly-married because it was economical, continued because we like it) — I add spices, browned ground beef and some sugar to make it the way my family enjoys. No added onions, peppers, etc. Would this be OK for pressure canning, provided there are no grain or dairy products in the ingredients? If it’s OK to re-can #10 cans of tomatoes, etc., would this also not be safe?
If I were you, I’d compare the sauce you’d like to can to the sauces available on the National Center for Home Food Preservation website. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can3_tomato.html#gsc.tab=0
I have a recipe for a knockoff Chef Boyardee Pizza Sauce. No vegies or meat – just tomatoes, paste, dried seasonings and parmesan cheese. I want to pressure can this recipe – not water bath it and I am happy enough to add citric acid or lemon juice to “help”. Is the parmesan a bad idea EVEN with the added acid and pressure canning method?? Thanks so much.!
I would leave the cheese out, even if you intend to pressure can. It could impact the shelf stability of the finished sauce.
I did a dumb thing and added citric acid to my sauce, jarred it up and then forgot to put it in a water bath to seal! How long would sauce last (if at all) in that case?
It will probably start to mold after a week or so. If this happened recently, I’d get those jars in the fridge immediately.
I like to make a roasted tomato sauce (delicious! link here: https://www.stephaniesdish.com/recipe/oven-roasted-garden-tomato-sauce) and canned several jars yesterday. The first time I did it I added citric acid, but forgot yesterday, which was how I found this article. I’ve read many comments but am still confused – should I:
1. Throw the jars in the freezer
2. Take sauce out of jars, bring it to a boil again for awhile, and then freeze it?
3. Cry and throw them all away?
The jars all sealed properly but from what I’m reading without the additional acid they are not safe. But my precious garden tomoatoes – I would hate to have wasted them!
You could open the jars, reheat the sauce, and then refill and reprocess with the appropriate amount of citric acid.
I made this recipe, trusting that Ball Mason Jars was a safe source, but it has a small proportion of onions and herbs, Do you think it’s a safe recipe?
https://www.ballmasonjars.com/blog?cid=basil-garlic-tomato-sauce
Also, I made a second batch of it but ran out of jars. I was hoping to buy more jars the next day, then reheat the sauce and can it. Is that safe?
Thanks for your help!
Ball carefully tests all their recipes. If they published it, it’s safe.
Hi, been reading through your comments and realize my question may seem repetitive, but figured I’d reach out anyway. I got a pressure canner for xmas and admit Ive been intimidated to use it! I have been reading a lot about safely pressure canning but Im still learning. I made some tomato sauce using fresh tomatoes from my garden along with onions, peppers, garlic , basil (part of my concern is i didn’t measure or follow a specific recipe) I did pressure can it at 11 psi for 20 minutes. I also was careful to boil my jars and lids and before canning i added 2 TBLSPN of cider vinegar (with tspn of sugar) to each pint sized jar. Does this sounds safe? Everything Ive read has had me nervous about the appropriate tomato to onion and pepper ratio? If i am pressure canning and adding acid should i still be concerned? Or am i over thinking it.? I was so excited to start canning but now im feeling reluctant and wishing i stuck with freezing my sauce.
The only thing I can really do is point you in the direction of the tomato sauce pressure canning instructions on the National Center for Home Food Preservation website. I can’t look at a list of ingredients and tell you whether something is safe or not.
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/spaghetti_sauce.html
I can tell you that you can’t use vinegar in place of bottled lemon juice or citric acid for acidification purposes.
Hi I this I see is old but still want to comment. I’ve been canning my own spaghetti sauce for years. It has sugar, onions, peppers, salt, oil and a few other ingredients. It’s been in the family for four generations. It’s never been bad and no one has ever gotten sick from it. Articles like this is what scare people away from canning.
Getting unnecessarily sick is what scares people away from canning. It is safe to do if you do it properly. I would not trust the sauce you make. The fact that no one has gotten sick is pure good luck.
This is my first time making tomato sauce but not my first time doing preserves and I see that all of the jars have seperated with Iquid on the bottom ad pulp o top.Some of the jars have a space between the pulpI put them in a water bath for 30 I minutes ,just finished making the sauce,so thought maybe I just need to let them cool Also I did not hear them pop although the seal is down.,Need to know if this is all ok.Thank you for your time and interest.
That separation is totally normal. Read about it here: https://foodinjars.com/blog/canning-101-tomato-float-sauce-separation-and-loss-of-liquid/
I reduced 11 gals of chopped tomatoes to 4 and then canned them using a water bath. I added a half teaspoon of citric acid per quart jar. My question: would the reduction itself not concentrate the TA enough so I could have left out the citric acid? I’m curious!
Perhaps, but it’s not reliable. It’s just safer and better to use the citric acid and ensure the pH is where it needs to be.
I’m so sorry, I feel like I’m gonna bother you again with a similar question but I really want to be sure I understand…
1. So, no I really shouldn’t do anything but freeze my traditional sugo (tomato, garlic, basil, red wine vinegar, sugar)
2. If I do want to store jars of any kind of sauce it has to literally be the kind you see nonnas prepare on Youtube that are purely tomato, a few basil leaves, the acid and that’s that. Right?
3. So if you want to can (mason jar) you’re making your own version of high quality cans of San Marzanos or Romas basically. And that’s all one can safely do?
Yes, yes, and yes.
I’m making lemon marinade and then changing it to a roasted habanero finishing sauce. I let it seal as I do jams in hot jars and lids. I’m sure it has enough acid from the lemons. To be sure it’s safe I’m going to pressure cook all the 1/2 pints. Most don’t have a 1/2 ” of head space. Can I stack them in the pressure canner?
I’d put a rack in between the layers to prevent the jars from tipping. Otherwise, your plan seems sound.
I fell in love with pressure canning this year snd would love to can my family recipe as follows
1 store bought cans tomato purée (plain) add 2 cans of water from
Puree cans
2 store bought canned tomato paste adding 4 cans of water from
Paste cans
In a pot simmer garlic in a bit of olive oil. Add tomato product and water, lemon juice for acid.
We do cook it with meat (pork and meatballs) but I would can the sauce separately
I would pressure can it. Is this safe and what processing time would it call for if it’s safe at 10 pounds pressure
I’m so sorry, but I can’t advise on specific recipes. I suggest you take a look at the National Center for Home Food Preservation website and see if they have something similar posted.
Can you can tomato sauce in half full jars in a pressure canner
No. The jars have to filled properly or you risk spoilage.
I have a recipe for enchilada sauce that I’d like to can. It has chicken broth, spices and tomato paste in it but I can’t find out how to pressure can it safely. The only canned enchilada sauce recipes start with dried peppers and/or tomatoes. My sauce is quite mild and not so complicated. I’d like to make a huge batch and can it in quart jars. Any advice? BTW I have some ph test strips for kombucha and beer making so they are food safe. Thanks
You could probably use the pressure canning times for chicken stock, since that’s probably the lowest acid ingredient present. But as always, it’s better to use a tested recipe rather than guestimate your way to a solution.
Hi. Regarding all these questions about recipes etc. and the addition of lemon or vinegar: Why not just test the pH of the finished sauce? There are general guidelines I follow, and the pH is always around 3.6. Never above 4, and 4.6 is the max. you’d want. Since published recipes can be all over the place regarding ratios of tomato/onion/peppers, I’ve found this to be much easier and pretty much worry free. And of course don’t include chunks of low pH fruits/vegetables/meats.
pH strips are cheap and take the mystery out of it.
thanks
Brian
There are a couple reasons why it’s not recommended that you just test the pH. The first is that pH testing strips aren’t always perfectly accurate. The second is that pH can change a bit over the life of the product.
I have a canning recipe foe tomato sauce but i make mine with beef bones. Can I still water bath?
No. The beef bones will lower the acidity and render it unsafe.
I forgot to add citric acid to 4 qurts of homemade spaghetti sauce, however, I made said sauce in my pressure cooker, but canned it using stove water bath. Will the sauce be okay if I store the 4 quarts in the fridge?
Yes. If you store them in the fridge, they will be fine.
I have learned so much from this post – thank you! But I have now realized I made a big mistake. I canned my family recipe of spaghetti sauce (full of lots of different veggies like onions, carrots, zucchini, peppers…) in a water bath and without any citric acid 3 days ago. It’s been sitting in the pantry. Should I discard it or would I be able to put it in the fridge or freezer?
You could open the jars, boil the contents hard for 20 minutes and then freeze the sauce. That would be the only way I’d recommend to salvage the product. If it’s very thick, add some water before boiling to ensure that it doesn’t burn.
I made a large batch of tomatoe sauce, added 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to each jar, HOWEVER, added veg oil (just enough to fry up) with onions and garlic. Processed 40 minutes. Should I waste this?
When it doubt, throw it out.
I canned marinara sauce for the first time this year. I went by the directions and water bathed the cans for the fire the appropriate time given.It’s lot of work to can home made sauce. My marinara now has the white film on top of the sauce. What has happened?
It sounds like it might be mold. When in doubt, throw it out.
Can i make my spaghetti sauce today and can tomorrow
You can, though know that tomato products can sometimes separate when you heat, cool, and then heat them again.
I want to can a low salt taco sauce that went over big in my family. I used commercial canned diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste, plus a couple of table spoons of vinegar and sugar and spices. Can I do this safelyusing my hot water canner?
Unfortunately, I can’t determine something’s safety for canning from a list of ingredients. I’d suggest you find a taco sauce that’s safe for canning and tweak it to meet your needs.
Hi there
. I use tomato sauce in cans and then add my own ingredient. I want to make a big batch and then can it in jars. If I pressure can them will it be safe to eat as long as I add a teaspoon of lemon juice to each quart?
I recommend consulting the National Center for Home Food Preservation to determine the steps for your product. Without knowing what you put it in, I cannot advise.
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can3_tomato.html#gsc.tab=0
hi, just found your article. And I’m just hoping you can clarify some questions for me. My family has been making tomato sauce for like 200 years. We still pretty much use the same recipe in the same process except now we have more modern equipment, our sauce, tomatoes olive oil, garlic and basil. Then after it’s cooked, put into a water bath to boil and then they covered them with blankets for days. maybe I misunderstood but what you’re saying is that this is not safe?
According to currently safety standards, that is not a safe approach at all. Our understanding of food safety has evolved quite a bit over the last 200 years.
I have a number 10 can of Ketchup , can I re can it in small jars?
Recanning commercially preserved products isn’t typically recommended.
Can I safely omit onions and garlic from a recipe for bbq pork, and still pressure can according to directions?
Yes. Leaving out those ingredients doesn’t change the safety of the recipe.
Best I can tell, there are literally zero 100% “safe” canning recipes for anything, there are only “statistically safe” recipes. Which are statistically safe is dependant on who is making the determination and setpoint. In other words, what’s considered safe in one country may not be in another. E.g. one piece lids are considered unsafe for canning in the usa, but are preferred in the EU. Really, it is about which techniques were tested and how, but the usa hasn’t done an update in like 60 years. Regardless, can enough of anything any which way some will be unsafe, it’s just a matter of how many. Could be 1/999999999999999999999999999999.the really tough part is that the recipes don’t tell you the actual danger measured, and we don’t even know their sample size… so a “safe” recipe unfortunately is still highly subjective… why trust the USA but not Japan or the UK guidelines? Doesn’t it matter?
I canned some tomatoes chicken soup and I ran out of water so the soup scorched. Can I open it …reheat and let it boil for 20 minutes and recant it or is it okay to eat as it is?
I could smell it burning so I slowed down the heat…. But did not open it or add water but brought the heat up again and finished the 1hr…15 min process
Did you use a pressure canner? This one sounds like a loss, at least to me.
I used freeze dried garlic in a tested canning pizza sauce recipe and used lemon juice in some jars and citric acid in others and processed the recomm ended time for my elevation are my jars safe?
That sounds okay to me.
I canned spaghetti sauce with store bought tomato sauce and hamburger. I used a pressure cooker. Will that be alright to eat?
It is only safe if you followed a recipe from a reliable source!
I made a spaghetti sauce that has oil in it.
I processed the sauce in my processor for 60 min like recipe called for.
However when it was done the water in the processor was red ,like some of the sauce leaked out Do you think this safe. The jars are sealed. I have 6 quarts
Did you follow a recipe from a reliable source? If so, it should be fine. Some siphoning is normal during processing.