Posted: 8/21/2011 11:28:57 AM EDT
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OK, the family is making a big batch of spaghetti sauce today. Bought a bushel of semi over ripe tomatoes yesterday at the farmers market and I really only needed about 70% of that. A few questions for you canning experts. We usually freeze the sauce.
1) I did water bath canning of some pickles last week for the first time. Never have done any canning ever. Is it true that you have to use a pressure cooker for tomatoes and that you cannot water bath them? 2) Since I don't have a pressure cooker, could I instead jar maybe 4 or 5 spaghetti sauces, water bath for maybe 15 minutes, and then after cooling, fridge them. Would I get maybe 6 months in a fridge if unopened and still be good? Thanks in advance for any help. |
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roof:
There are various 'bugs" that cause food to spoil. The worst of the bunch is a little critter that causes botulism. Cooking home canned food does not kill or otherwise render botulinin contaminated food safe. There are only two methods of preventing botulism for home canners. 1) create a highly acidic environment. Most (but not all) tomatoes are acid and thus safe to can in a water bath. Ditto for many fruits, jams and jellies. High temps are not needed and simple water bath canning works because the acidity prevents botulism. 2) use a pressure canner. Pressuer canners create heat levels that are significantly higher than simple boiling water baths. This higher temperature kills the botulism-forming bacteria. If you want to can low acid foods( veggies, meats, etc) you must pressure can. I recommend you spend $15 and buy Balls Blue Book of Canning. Read it, Water bath canning homemadee spaghetti sauce will likely not prevent botulism. Your plan is risky. I would not eat that sauce under those conditions. |
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Quoted:
OK, the family is making a big batch of spaghetti sauce today. Bought a bushel of semi over ripe tomatoes yesterday at the farmers market and I really only needed about 70% of that. A few questions for you canning experts. We usually freeze the sauce. 1) I did water bath canning of some pickles last week for the first time. Never have done any canning ever. Is it true that you have to use a pressure cooker for tomatoes and that you cannot water bath them? 2) Since I don't have a pressure cooker, could I instead jar maybe 4 or 5 spaghetti sauces, water bath for maybe 15 minutes, and then after cooling, fridge them. Would I get maybe 6 months in a fridge if unopened and still be good? Thanks in advance for any help. Link http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/usda/GUIDE%203%20Home%20Can.pdf The canners Bible Main Link http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html |
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Thanks for all the info. So since there is no meat, just spices and green peppers added, we water bathed for 45 minutes. All sealed.
We did quarts. The only possible screw up may be that I added 2 tablespoons of lemon juice on top of the sauce once it was in the jar, not in the bottom of the jar before putting the sauce in. |
| tomato is 4.6 on acidity scale, right at the point where the 2 groups of food split (those needing water bath vs. those needing presure cooking) I have also added lemon juice to the bath to make it A-OK for water bath. Just dont include meat in the sauce and you'll be ok |
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Quoted: Thanks for all the info. So since there is no meat, just spices and green peppers added, we water bathed for 45 minutes. All sealed. We did quarts. The only possible screw up may be that I added 2 tablespoons of lemon juice on top of the sauce once it was in the jar, not in the bottom of the jar before putting the sauce in. I have had problems with the lemon juice shocking the jars and cracking them sometimes if I add it first. I still do it, I just have to make sure my jars do not get too hot. I used to keep them in the oven on warm, now I cycle them in the dish washer and keep them in there on heated dry while I can. I do not think that since I started using the dish washer I had broken any. |
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Get this. So I spent all weekend canning tomato sauce. We add big hunks of green pepper to the batch and after 4 hours the peppers are soft. When we jarred, we added a 1/4 slice of a whole pepper to each jar and water canned.
I emailed Ball/Jerr Jars and here is what they said. We appreciate your home canning inquiry. Our company only recommends home canning recipes that have been tested under strict conditions to ensure safety. Jarden Home Brands does not have a tomato sauce recipe that contains green pepper and is processed in a boiling water canner. We regret we are unable to say the sauce you canned is safe. Thank you for contacting us. Sincerely, Consumer Affairs Jarden Home Brands So do I need to throw it all out? Could I put them in the fridge or has the damage been done? |
I just finished canning 45 large mouth jars of salsa using my homegrown Roma tomatoes. I water bath processed them for 20 min. Make sure your taking your jars out one at a time from the dish washer still hot, make sure you lids are hot and make sure your sauce or salsa is boiling. The acid in the tomatoes will kill off the botulism. To add, we just polished off the salsa from last year 8-2010 using the same process and didn't die a horrible botox fueled death...
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Quoted:
I just finished canning 45 large mouth jars of salsa using my homegrown Roma tomatoes. I water bath processed them for 20 min. Make sure your taking your jars out one at a time from the dish washer still hot, make sure you lids are hot and make sure your sauce or salsa is boiling. The acid in the tomatoes will kill off the botulism. To add, we just polished off the salsa from last year 8-2010 using the same process and didn't die a horrible botox fueled death... I'm with you. I posted the Jar company's response not only to help answer my question but also as an FYI from Ball. |
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it's just like the pansy's at the extension office (boil it until it's dead and has no flavor)
I've got 3 year old spaghetti sauce that we have every few weeks or so (last two years sucked for tomato's, whole point in canning) it's fine we use a LOT of onions, peppers, garlic, etc store it, eat it, enjoy it. |
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Quoted:
it's just like the pansy's at the extension office (boil it until it's dead and has no flavor) I've got 3 year old spaghetti sauce that we have every few weeks or so (last two years sucked for tomato's, whole point in canning) it's fine we use a LOT of onions, peppers, garlic, etc store it, eat it, enjoy it. Boze, the sauce above that has peppers and onions, did you water bath can them too? And I have failed at tomatoes this year too. We had some wicked heat here in MO. Most everday in July was mid 90s with high humidity. Tomatoes started great but then just didn't grow. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
it's just like the pansy's at the extension office (boil it until it's dead and has no flavor) I've got 3 year old spaghetti sauce that we have every few weeks or so (last two years sucked for tomato's, whole point in canning) it's fine we use a LOT of onions, peppers, garlic, etc store it, eat it, enjoy it. Boze, the sauce above that has peppers and onions, did you water bath can them too? And I have failed at tomatoes this year too. We had some wicked heat here in MO. Most everday in July was mid 90s with high humidity. Tomatoes started great but then just didn't grow. Acidity is measured on log based scale. You can't fit enough peppers, onions, and garlic into a jar and still call it sauce to affect the pH. The tomatoes are already on the pH scale where water canning is acceptable, albeit they are at the lowest point. Since you added additional acid by way of lemon juice it's added insurance. The Ball book of canning has a recipe in it with peppers, onions, and garlic and uses a water bath protocol. If you're really concerned you can buy a pressure canner and run it at 15lbs for 20 minutes with future batches. Just be sure to let the pressure canner slowly come down in temp. Don't just turn off the heat or the liquid can boil over as the pressure is dropped. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
it's just like the pansy's at the extension office (boil it until it's dead and has no flavor) I've got 3 year old spaghetti sauce that we have every few weeks or so (last two years sucked for tomato's, whole point in canning) it's fine we use a LOT of onions, peppers, garlic, etc store it, eat it, enjoy it. Boze, the sauce above that has peppers and onions, did you water bath can them too? And I have failed at tomatoes this year too. We had some wicked heat here in MO. Most everday in July was mid 90s with high humidity. Tomatoes started great but then just didn't grow. Acidity is measured on log based scale. You can't fit enough peppers, onions, and garlic into a jar and still call it sauce to affect the pH. The tomatoes are already on the pH scale where water canning is acceptable, albeit they are at the lowest point. Since you added additional acid by way of lemon juice it's added insurance. The Ball book of canning has a recipe in it with peppers, onions, and garlic and uses a water bath protocol. If you're really concerned you can buy a pressure canner and run it at 15lbs for 20 minutes with future batches. Just be sure to let the pressure canner slowly come down in temp. Don't just turn off the heat or the liquid can boil over as the pressure is dropped. what he said |