Oh the joys of summer are coming to a close. The tomatoes are coming off in the garden. And the boiling water baths and pressure canners are busy. But are you using the correct recipes?
Plain tomatoes require acidification – adding an acid to each quart or pint jar: vinegar, bottled lemon juice, or citric acid - to each quart or pint jar. Salsa requires acidification. Spaghetti sauce requires acidification. All of the tomato products require acidification. Without acidification tomatoes are not put up properly and can be dangerous.
To be sure you are doing salsa safely, go to www.uga.edu/nchfp . Look on the left-hand side and click on “can”. Then from the list that comes up, click on “salsa”. As you will see there are 12 kinds of salsa – some with fruit and some plain. Choose and read the recipes carefully. One of them can be done in a boiling water bath. Do not add anything beyond what is called for in the recipes.
To be sure you are doing tomatoes safely, go to www.uga.edu/nchfp . Look on the left-hand side and click on “can”. Then from the list that comes up, click on “tomatoes and tomato products”. As you will see there are 17 recipes to choose from. There’s spaghetti sauce with meat, without meat. There’s BBQ sauce, ketchup, hot sauce, tomato juice, and tomatoes anyway you want them. Follow the recipes just like they say.
To be sure you are using the proper equipment, go to www.uga.edu/nchfp . Look on the left-hand side and click on “can”. Then from the list that comes up, click on “general information”. From the 18 choices that come up click on the third one, equipment and methods not recommended. In that paragraph the non-safety of steamers are explained. If you need more information, Utah State University Cooperative Extension has a handout with more information, USU Steam Canning – position statement, at http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/newsletter/No__002.pdf , or you can get one by calling 435.283-7596.
When canning, the people that you serve the canned product to, expect you to know the safe ways to can. They trust you. A man who trusted his wife, ate her tomatoes from the jar, and got botulism. He lived but not without a speech impediment and some other disabilities. A woman up in Indianola, took a taste of her spaghetti sauce before it was reheated, and she got botulism. Her doctor told her she only had to boil it for 10 minutes and it would have killed the botulism. These events were within the now; not in the ancient past.
The website www.uga.edu/nchfp is the best site for safe canning. University of Georgia has a license from USDA to test recipes for home food preservation. So use it. And if you have further questions, call Sanpete County Extension at 435.283-7596. I am Anita and I love to talk canning.
