"George Shirley" > wrote in message
...
Clipped for brevity...
>>
>> Isabella
> Hokay, I'll chime in here. I've been pressure canning for more than 40
> years, most of it with the same eighteen-quart canner. Mine is the one
> with the gauge that reads the pressure but it also has a jiggler.
>
> Once I turn the heat off the pressure starts to drop and, within twenty
> minutes or less, the gauge reads zero. At that stage you can remove the
> top. At that point I do something our old home ec agent in Texas taught
> us, toss a tea towel over the top and let it sit five more minutes. Once
> that's done I lift the rack out, set the rack and jars on a folded towel
> and let them cook to room temperature. It is generally recommended that
> you let them sit for 24 hours before moving them around to ensure the
> entire mass is cool. I've never had a jar fail to seal in the pressure
> canner, never had the jar contents go bad (we eat it all up pretty quick
> anyway), and, for certain items I prefer canned to frozen. Ie, green
> beans, or shelled beans of any kind. Soups, soup stocks, broths, etc. all
> get canned to save freezer room for important stuff like vacuum sealed
> steaks, roasts, fish, etc.
>
> Sure, pressure canning is a PITA but you get a safer, more convenient food
> that will last up to a year or more in a cool place out of direct
> sunlight - my pantry.
>
> It's certainly no more difficult or lengthy than messing around with jam
> pots, boiling jars for 5, 10, 20 minutes, etc. I quite BWBing tomatoes
> twenty years ago when I became uncertain as to the acidity of the fruit.
> If I get enough to can I pressure can them.
>
> Oh yeah, none of the food I can has ever become mushy from the canning.
> YMMV
>
> George
> Father Inquisitor, HOSSPOJ

I'm glad to read of your experience George. I had the same questions. I've
canned a lot of salsa and not be perfectly content with the texture, but I'm
thinking it may have more to do with the varietal and the prep than anything
else. Salsa is a good place to use lime (which is a bit sourer than lemon
juice and more flavorsome than vinegar). (Generally speaking of course. My
auntie in California raised lemons so sweet one could nearly eatm' raw. And
my gawd, the fragrance.) I did find out that I like the peppers (and
tomatoes for that matter) roasted a bit, but a little of that smoke goes a
long way.
As for jars, I use tested recipes, except once. I put jam in pint jars and
added 10' bwb time. At 4,000 ft altitude.
Edrena
Edrena