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? 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.

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?

Thanks for your help!

"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.

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.

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.

Ted

Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:

(excellent post about saftey....)

> 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.

Even for we who are realtively heavy salsa eaters, a jar of commerical salsa
(probably a pint) is about a week's supply. But we "cycle", some weeks
the chips get eaten with salsa, sometimes my kids just snack them plain.

Occasionaly the jars mirgrate to the back of the refigerator and are not found
for weeks. They loose flavor and eventually become "biology experiments".

> 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.

That is signifcantly different. Unless it's low sugar jam, it will not
mold or develop any other problems if left closed in the refrigerator.
I would not say the same for salsa.

I think Ted's right. Unless the people you are going to give the salsa
are really into it, or have a very large family, I would stick to the
small jars.

There's also a matter of taste, while people who for example like strawberry
jam will eat almost any strawberry jam you give them, individual taste in
salsa varries. In my own family one likes mild, one likes medium and two
like hot. You can always "tollerate" mild, or add tabasco to it if you
are a hot eater, but you can't "unheat" it if you are not.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM

"Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote in message
...
>
> 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.
>

I'm going to disagree with you here, Ted. There are salsa recipes that are
safe for BWB canning at the NCHFP website, some (most) of which call for
chopped tomatoes. I can't imagine those folks would leave any recipes up at
their site if they weren't sure they were safe.

Think of the tomatoes in salsa as being similar to the cucumber chunks or
slices in pickles. One-day recipes for pickles call for a significant
amount of vinegar. So do safe for BWB salsas.

Anny

"Anny Middon" > wrote in message
...
> "Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > 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.
> >
>
> I'm going to disagree with you here, Ted. There are salsa recipes that
are
> safe for BWB canning at the NCHFP website, some (most) of which call for
> chopped tomatoes. I can't imagine those folks would leave any recipes up
at
> their site if they weren't sure they were safe.
>

I did not want to get into this but I see that I will have to. The
following
tomato varieties are known to be low acid: Ace, Ace 55VF, Beefmaster Hybrid,
Big Early Hybrid, Big Girl, Big Set, Burpee VF Hybrid, Cal Ace, Delicious,
Fireball, Garden State, Royal Chico, and San Marzano. There are others
as well. The majority of the more traditional home-garden raised tomatos
are not low acid, however.

The USDA recommends pressure canning for tomato products. Their
published recipies ALSO recommend acidification of tomato products
EVEN IF pressure canned. See the following:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...n_guide_03.pdf

"...Recommendation: Use of a pressure canner will result in a higher
quality and more nutritious canned tomato products..."

Note that the USDA guide does not recommend -against- BWB
canning of tomato products (like Salsa). They merely recommend
pressure canning instead of BWB canning of tomato products.

In other words, they are going to wait until the jury is in, you might
say.

The entire guide is up he

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...ions_usda.html

> Think of the tomatoes in salsa as being similar to the cucumber chunks or
> slices in pickles. One-day recipes for pickles call for a significant
> amount of vinegar. So do safe for BWB salsas.

USDA recommends citric acid or lemon juice specifically, instead of
vinegar, because of taste.

The NCHFP site does have a specific blurb about Salsa, they explicitly
exclude low-acid pressure-canned Salsa recipies from their list, and
they also mention that there are other ingredients that must be tested.
Basically they are saying that if your going to go the acidification route,
then while you can reduce Ph with adding acid, not all ingredients are
permeable to the acid that you add, that is why they recommend against
any Salsa recipies they haven't tested the ingredients list on.

Personally I don't understand what the fuss is all about. Pressure canners
are cheap and easy to operate, I have 2 of them both of which cost
less than $10 from Goodwill. (granted, I kept an eye out for them and
it took a while before they showed up) If you pressure can your Salsa
you can use whatever recipie you like, acid or no acid, just as long as
you pressure can it for the time called for, for the longest time ingredient
in it.

Ted

Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:

> Personally I don't understand what the fuss is all about. Pressure canners
> are cheap and easy to operate, I have 2 of them both of which cost
> less than $10 from Goodwill. (granted, I kept an eye out for them and
> it took a while before they showed up) If you pressure can your Salsa
> you can use whatever recipie you like, acid or no acid, just as long as
> you pressure can it for the time called for, for the longest time ingredient
> in it.

Not everywhere. Outside of the U.S. they are hard to find and expensive
to import. Replacment parts are impossible to get except if ordered
from the U.S. which often costs 2 to 3 times the price.

If you happen to be in the U.S. and have the time, money and space, I suggest
that you follow Ted's advice and keep an eye out for pressure canners and
jars at thrift shops. While you are at it, stock on replacement parts if
needed (rings, weights, etc) and single use items such as lids and bands.

While almost all single use jars such as mayo or peanut butter sold here
have gone to plastic bottles, the lids still fit the narrow mouth Mason
type jars. If you remove the paper liners they make great covers. They fit
nicely over the sealed jars protecting the lids from prying fingers
and accidents. If you ask around, you probably can get them for free. :-)

While you are at it, look for Sunbeam mixmasters. They are IMHO still good
mixers and are so cheap that if they break you can throw them out if you
can't get them fixed. The trick is to find bowls, which are often seperated
from the mixers at thrift stores and yard sales.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM

"Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> I did not want to get into this but I see that I will have to. The
> following
> tomato varieties are known to be low acid: Ace, Ace 55VF, Beefmaster
> Hybrid,
> Big Early Hybrid, Big Girl, Big Set, Burpee VF Hybrid, Cal Ace, Delicious,
> Fireball, Garden State, Royal Chico, and San Marzano. There are others
> as well. The majority of the more traditional home-garden raised tomatos
> are not low acid, however.
>
> The USDA recommends pressure canning for tomato products. Their
> published recipies ALSO recommend acidification of tomato products
> EVEN IF pressure canned. See the following:
>
> http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...n_guide_03.pdf
>
> "...Recommendation: Use of a pressure canner will result in a higher
> quality and more nutritious canned tomato products..."
>

I have seen the publication -- which is available from the NCHFP which I
mentioned in my post.

Note that the reason the publication suggest pressure canning is not a food
safety issue, but based on the quality of the finished product.

> Note that the USDA guide does not recommend -against- BWB
> canning of tomato products (like Salsa). They merely recommend
> pressure canning instead of BWB canning of tomato products.
>
> In other words, they are going to wait until the jury is in, you might
> say.

I don't thing that's what is going on. I think they have found that
pressure canned tomato items are of a higher quality and vitamin content
than BWB processed ones -- not that they are waiting to see if there are
safety problems with the BWB salsa.

>
> The entire guide is up he
>
> http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...ions_usda.html
>
>
> USDA recommends citric acid or lemon juice specifically, instead of
> vinegar, because of taste.

Look at the salsa recipe on page 3-16 of the publication. You will see that
it specifically calls for vinegar.

>
> The NCHFP site does have a specific blurb about Salsa, they explicitly
> exclude low-acid pressure-canned Salsa recipies from their list, and
> they also mention that there are other ingredients that must be tested.
> Basically they are saying that if your going to go the acidification
> route,
> then while you can reduce Ph with adding acid, not all ingredients are
> permeable to the acid that you add, that is why they recommend against
> any Salsa recipies they haven't tested the ingredients list on.

Yes -- but that doesn't mean that the salsa recipes they include are in any
way unsafe.

> Personally I don't understand what the fuss is all about. Pressure
> canners
> are cheap and easy to operate, I have 2 of them both of which cost
> less than $10 from Goodwill. (granted, I kept an eye out for them and
> it took a while before they showed up) If you pressure can your Salsa
> you can use whatever recipie you like, acid or no acid, just as long as
> you pressure can it for the time called for, for the longest time
> ingredient
> in it.

I have a pressure canner, and I use it for low-acid items I can, not
including salsa -- for which I use tested recipes and BWB processing. I
find it so much more of a hassle to use, and the BWB processing so much
easier, that I do BWB whenever it's safe to do so.

In case you are wondering why I find pressure canning to be more of a
hassle, it's primarily related to the amount of time it takes. I fill the
jars, put them in the pressure canner and put on the lid. It takes at least
five minutes (and I'm betting it's more like 10) for the water in the canner
to come to a boil. Then steam has to be expelled -- for my canner, for 7
minutes. The the pressure thingie goes on. Then I have to wait for the
pressure to reach the right level -- another 5 or 10 minutes. Then it's 10
minutes of processing (for tomatoes). Then at least an hour for the canner
to cool down so I can remove the jars.

Total time -- at least an hour and 22 minutes.

I tend to do canning marathon session where I can 3 or 4 products at a time.
When I BWB can I prepare the next item while jars are being processed.
Frequently it's less than half an hour between removing the first set of
jars from the BWB and putting the next set in.

Anny

In article >,
"Anny Middon" > wrote:

> "Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > I did not want to get into this but I see that I will have to. The
> > following tomato varieties are known to be low acid: Ace, Ace 55VF,
> > Beefmaster Hybrid, Big Early Hybrid, Big Girl, Big Set, Burpee VF
> > Hybrid, Cal Ace, Delicious, Fireball, Garden State, Royal Chico,
> > and San Marzano. There are others as well. The majority of the
> > more traditional home-garden raised tomatos are not low acid,
> > however.
> >
> > The USDA recommends pressure canning for tomato products. Their
> > published recipies ALSO recommend acidification of tomato products
> > EVEN IF pressure canned. See the following:
> >
> > http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...n_guide_03.pdf
> >
> > "...Recommendation: Use of a pressure canner will result in a higher
> > quality and more nutritious canned tomato products..."
>
> I have seen the publication -- which is available from the NCHFP which I
> mentioned in my post.
>
> Note that the reason the publication suggest pressure canning is not a food
> safety issue, but based on the quality of the finished product.

And here's an abstract from a journal article that suggests there is no
significant difference in any of the quality measures of home-canned
tomatoes:

<http://fcs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/7/2/108>

Of course, not having seen the entire article, I have no idea how they
define "significant". Frankly, I'm a bit dubious. I have always heard
that pressure canning often results in overcooked, mushy product. So
that is an old wives tale? When you prepare beans, for freezing for
instance, you blanch and then cool them rapidly in ice water. That is
done to improve the quality of the end product. If you let them keep
cooking, they will get mushy. So it's kind of hard to believe that the
quality is going to be the same before and after a 30-60 minute
cool-down time in a hot canner.

> > Note that the USDA guide does not recommend -against- BWB
> > canning of tomato products (like Salsa). They merely recommend
> > pressure canning instead of BWB canning of tomato products.
> >
> > In other words, they are going to wait until the jury is in, you might
> > say.
>
> I don't thing that's what is going on. I think they have found that
> pressure canned tomato items are of a higher quality and vitamin content
> than BWB processed ones -- not that they are waiting to see if there are
> safety problems with the BWB salsa.
>
> > The entire guide is up he
> >
> > http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...ions_usda.html
> >
> > USDA recommends citric acid or lemon juice specifically, instead of
> > vinegar, because of taste.
>
> Look at the salsa recipe on page 3-16 of the publication. You will see that
> it specifically calls for vinegar.
> >
> > The NCHFP site does have a specific blurb about Salsa, they
> > explicitly exclude low-acid pressure-canned Salsa recipies from
> > their list, and they also mention that there are other ingredients
> > that must be tested. Basically they are saying that if your going
> > to go the acidification route, then while you can reduce Ph with
> > adding acid, not all ingredients are permeable to the acid that you
> > add, that is why they recommend against any Salsa recipies they
> > haven't tested the ingredients list on.
>
> Yes -- but that doesn't mean that the salsa recipes they include are in any
> way unsafe.
>
> > Personally I don't understand what the fuss is all about. Pressure
> > canners are cheap and easy to operate, I have 2 of them both of
> > which cost less than $10 from Goodwill. (granted, I kept an eye
> > out for them and it took a while before they showed up) If you
> > pressure can your Salsa you can use whatever recipie you like, acid
> > or no acid, just as long as you pressure can it for the time called
> > for, for the longest time ingredient in it.
>
> I have a pressure canner, and I use it for low-acid items I can, not
> including salsa -- for which I use tested recipes and BWB processing. I
> find it so much more of a hassle to use, and the BWB processing so much
> easier, that I do BWB whenever it's safe to do so.
>
> In case you are wondering why I find pressure canning to be more of a
> hassle, it's primarily related to the amount of time it takes. I fill the
> jars, put them in the pressure canner and put on the lid. It takes at least
> five minutes (and I'm betting it's more like 10) for the water in the canner
> to come to a boil. Then steam has to be expelled -- for my canner, for 7
> minutes. The the pressure thingie goes on. Then I have to wait for the
> pressure to reach the right level -- another 5 or 10 minutes. Then it's 10
> minutes of processing (for tomatoes). Then at least an hour for the canner
> to cool down so I can remove the jars.
>
> Total time -- at least an hour and 22 minutes.
>
> I tend to do canning marathon session where I can 3 or 4 products at a time.
> When I BWB can I prepare the next item while jars are being processed.
> Frequently it's less than half an hour between removing the first set of
> jars from the BWB and putting the next set in.

Though I have done very little pressure canning, my experience, for the
few times I've done it, is similar to yours. When pressure canning, you
can't use a quick release mechanism or hold the pot under cold water
like you do for pressure cooking. It just has to sit there until the
pressure comes down on its own. That is a lot of time all right---
unless you have 2 or 3 pressure canners, a huge kitchen, and don't mind
fooling with multiple gauges or weights, not to speak of all the storage
room required. I don't think the people who wrote the article I cited
included this cool-down time in their calculations.

OTOH, it does take more energy to boil the huge amount of water
necessary for a BWB canner. But, if you are going to be processing
sequential batches, that would save some of that energy.

Isabella
--
"I will show you fear in a handful of dust"
-T.S. Eliot

On Jul 17, 4:44*am, "Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote:
> "Anny Middon" > wrote in message
>
> ...
>
>
>
>
>
> > "Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote in message
> ...
>
> > > 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.
>
> > I'm going to disagree with you here, Ted. *There are salsa recipes that
> are
> > safe for BWB canning at the NCHFP website, some (most) of which call for
> > chopped tomatoes. *I can't imagine those folks would leave any recipes up
> at
> > their site if they weren't sure they were safe.
>
> I did not want to get into this but I see that I will have to. *The
> following
> tomato varieties are known to be low acid: Ace, Ace 55VF, Beefmaster Hybrid,
> Big Early Hybrid, Big Girl, Big Set, Burpee VF Hybrid, Cal Ace, Delicious,
> Fireball, Garden State, Royal Chico, and San Marzano. There are others
> as well. *The majority of the more traditional home-garden raised tomatos
> are not low acid, however.
>
> The USDA recommends pressure canning for tomato products. *Their
> published recipies ALSO recommend acidification of tomato products
> EVEN IF pressure canned. *See the following:
>
> http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...n_guide_03.pdf
>
> "...Recommendation: *Use of a pressure canner will result in a higher
> quality and more nutritious canned tomato products..."
>
> Note that the USDA guide does not recommend -against- BWB
> canning of tomato products (like Salsa). *They merely recommend
> pressure canning instead of BWB canning of tomato products.
>
> In other words, they are going to wait until the jury is in, you might
> say.
>
> The entire guide is up he
>
> http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...ions_usda.html
>
> > Think of the tomatoes in salsa as being similar to the cucumber chunks or
> > slices in pickles. *One-day recipes for pickles call for a significant
> > amount of vinegar. *So do safe for BWB salsas.
>
> USDA recommends citric acid or lemon juice specifically, instead of
> vinegar, because of taste.
>
> The NCHFP site does have a specific blurb about Salsa, they explicitly
> exclude low-acid pressure-canned Salsa recipies from their list, and
> they also mention that there are other ingredients that must be tested.
> Basically they are saying that if your going to go the acidification route,
> then while you can reduce Ph with adding acid, not all ingredients are
> permeable to the acid that you add, that is why they recommend against
> any Salsa recipies they haven't tested the ingredients list on.
>
> Personally I don't understand what the fuss is all about. *Pressure canners
> are cheap and easy to operate, I have 2 of them both of which cost
> less than $10 from Goodwill. *(granted, I kept an eye out for them and
> it took a while before they showed up) *If you pressure can your Salsa
> you can use whatever recipie you like, acid or no acid, just as long as
> you pressure can it for the time called for, for the longest time ingredient
> in it.

I decided not to buy a new pressure cooker because they're too
expensive and not very large. I'll keep an eye out for old ones at
Goodwill.

"Deidzoeb" > wrote in message
...
I decided not to buy a new pressure cooker because they're too
expensive and not very large. I'll keep an eye out for old ones at
Goodwill.

Keep in mind that pressure cookers and pressure canners aren't the same
thing.

"Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Personally I don't understand what the fuss is all about. Pressure
> canners
> are cheap and easy to operate, I have 2 of them both of which cost
> less than $10 from Goodwill. (granted, I kept an eye out for them and
> it took a while before they showed up) If you pressure can your Salsa
> you can use whatever recipie you like, acid or no acid, just as long as
> you pressure can it for the time called for, for the longest time
> ingredient
> in it.
>

Just a word of advice to anyone buying a dial-gauge pressure canner
second-hand: Have it tested before using it, even if you have replaced the
gaskets. Some (but not all) county extension services will test canners for
free. If not, contact the manufacturer and see what they recommend.

If you're buying an All-American canner, send it to the manufacturer to be
tested even though it's a weighted-gauge canner. If the canner was dropped,
it may not operate correctly.

Anny

On Jul 16, 3:40*am, "Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote:
> "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.

I've been using a boiling water canning recipe for tomato salsa tested
and published by the USDA:
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_sal..._tomatoes.html

I guess I'll have to look in to buying a pressure cooker finally.
That'll be the next question I post on here.

> 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.
>
> 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.

Good point. Maybe I'll continuing canning them as pints and keep the
quart jars for some other project.

Deidzoeb wrote:
> On Jul 16, 3:40 am, "Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote:
>> "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.
>
> I've been using a boiling water canning recipe for tomato salsa tested
> and published by the USDA:
> http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_sal..._tomatoes.html
>
> I guess I'll have to look in to buying a pressure cooker finally.
> That'll be the next question I post on here.
>
>> 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.
>>
>> 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.
>
> Good point. Maybe I'll continuing canning them as pints and keep the
> quart jars for some other project.
>
I use a number of quart jars for storing dry products, oats, bulgar, etc.

Deidzoeb wrote:

> I guess I'll have to look in to buying a pressure cooker finally.
> That'll be the next question I post on here.

A pressure *cooker* is different than a pressure *canner.*

I don't think you need to do this with your salsa. That's a tested
recipe you're using.

B/

In article >,
Brian Mailman > wrote:

> Deidzoeb wrote:
>
> > I guess I'll have to look in to buying a pressure cooker finally.
> > That'll be the next question I post on here.
>
> A pressure *cooker* is different than a pressure *canner.*
>
> I don't think you need to do this with your salsa. That's a tested
> recipe you're using.

And speaking of that, I just bought myself one of those Fagor pressure
cooker/canners. It's 10 quart stainless so I can use it as a regular
pot or for small batch steam pressure or BWB canning. You can do 4
pints which is just perfect for some things. I just hate dragging out
the big canner for small batches.

No doubt you all have discussed pressure cooker/canners before.

Isabella
--
"I will show you fear in a handful of dust"
-T.S. Eliot

"Isabella Woodhouse" > wrote in message
...

> No doubt you all have discussed pressure cooker/canners before.
>
> Isabella

(Blushin' and winkin') rilly, dahling, it's our favorite subject!
Edrena, faithful disciple of St. Vinaigrette, Holy Order of the Sacred
Sisters & Brothers of St. Pectina of Jella (HOSS&BSPJ)

"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
>
>