"Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Deidzoeb" > wrote in message
> ...
>> I've done some canning with pint and half pint jars. Haven't killed or
>> sickened anyone yet. Recently a friend gave me a dozen quart size jars
>> and I'd like to can some salsa in them. Is the jar size one of those
>> aspects of canning recipes that can be unsafe to change?
>
> Without adjusting the process time, yes.
>
>> Should I look
>> for a different salsa recipe that specifies quart jars in the end
>> step? I really don't want to give anyone botulism for Xmas.
>>
>
> Your going to have to correct me if your favorite salsa recipie is
> different, but most of them I've seen spec tomato chunks. In short,
> the finished product has significantly sized chunks of tomato in
> it. ANY of these recipies should be pressure canned regardless
> of any acidification that the recipie may specify or regardless of
> any boiling water canning that is specified. Tomatos are
> now known to be borderline low-acid, and the problem is that
> in a recipie where they survive intact, you can have regions within
> the tomato chunk that the acidification hasn't penetrated.
>
> There's a botulism story floating around on the Internet where
> 2 family members ended up in an Iron Lung for a week
> while their systems recovered, and the health department
> decanted and tested every one of their 50 quarts of spaghetti
> sauce they had boiling water canned, and found botulism
> toxin in only 3 of them. Their sauces had ground hamburger
> in them. The thought was that the toxin was created in
> meat chunks and migrated to the surrounding areas.
>
> With pressure canning, the process times are generally very,
> very long. Read the manual that came with your pressure canner.
> It will spec times for classifications of foods, these should
> always trump whatever the recipie specs.

Only where meat or garden greens are involved. All sauces with meat must be
pressure canned.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/harvest/

>
> The more important issue, though, is convenience of the
> recipient. You may like eating salsa a lot and could maybe
> eat up a quart jar in a week, around here we use salsa only
> for dipping potato chips into, and a pint is a 6 month supply
> for us.

And some of us don't eat it at all. :^)

>
> This is why I do most of my jam canning in 1/2
> pint jars. I have several jam varieties I can. If I put them in
> pints, I would get tired of that variety before finishing off the
> jar, so I would end up with multiple open jam jars in the
> refrigerator.
>
>> I realize the amount of air space or whatever you call it at top of
>> jar might need to be different for quart jars than for pints. Is there
>> a rule for that, or does it depend on exactly what kind of food you're
>> processing?
>>
>
> I have found it really doesen't make much difference. I can applesauce
> in quarts because when we open a quart of applesauce we eat it
> within a couple days, and I just leave the same headspace as in 1/2
> pint jars. However I do leave a lot more headspace in jars when I
> can turkey soup in the pressure canner.

I hope you have the canners bible known as the Ball Blue Book.

>
> Ted
>
>