Can those tomatoes safely, enjoy all year
- Melinda Hill, OSU Extension Wayne County
- August 17, 2023
- 1004
Tomatoes, either red or yellow, are one of my favorite additions to summer meals. I use them in salads or eat them as part of a vegetable supper. If you have more than you can eat right now, canning them is a great way to enjoy them throughout the year. Here are a few critical points you need to know before doing that:
—Select only disease-free, firm and preferably vine-ripened fruit for canning.
—Do not can tomatoes from dead or frost-killed vines.
—Green tomatoes are more acidic than ripened fruit and can be canned safely with any of the following recommendations from the National Center for Home Food Preservation, but because of the use of over-ripe fruit and the many new, lower-acid varieties, additional acid is needed to preserve them safely.
All tomatoes (whole, crushed or juiced) need to have additional acid added prior to the canning process. You can do this by using 2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice or ½ teaspoon of citric acid per quart or half of that amount per pint. It might be easier to add directly to the jar prior to adding product to keep track of it. You also can use 4 tablespoons of 5% acidity vinegar per quart, but a noticeable flavor change may occur.
If there are processing times for both water bath and pressure canning, use of a pressure canner will result in higher quality and more nutritious canned tomato products. Follow this link for the most current guidelines for home food preservation: https://www.nifa.usda.gov/about-nifa/blogs/usdas-complete-guide-home-canning.
For those of you who enjoy salsa, you’ll love the following information.
Fresh salsa is a delicious summer treat. It is a healthy food option that adds color and zest to family meals and also is a great choice to serve at summer picnics. Making and preserving salsa is an easy way to use those extra tomatoes that are plentiful at farmers markets or from your own garden.
I am frequently asked about canning special recipe or homemade salsas. USDA recommends using only tested recipes to ensure your family’s food safety. Salsas are a mixture of both high-acid ingredients (the tomatoes or fruit) and low-acid ingredients (peppers, onions and herbs). These mixtures are only safe to process in a water bath cannerif the pH of everything combined is less than 4.6. In special recipe or homemade versions, it is impossible to know if the pH is within a safe range for home canning.
Special recipe or homemade versions using untested recipes can be safely frozen. It is recommended to test a small batch as the texture and flavor will change due to freezing and thawing. Add herbs and spices once the mixture has been thawed for best results.
The following is a Choice Salsa recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation (http://nchfp.uga.edu). If you plan to can this recipe for later enjoyment, it is important to use the listed amounts of high- and low-acid ingredients.
6 cups of diced tomatoes
9 cups of diced onions and/or peppers
1 ½ cups of commercially bottled lemon or lime juice
3 teaspoons of canning or pickling salt.
You can add a lot of variability to the flavor of this recipe by experimenting with different tomatoes, onions and peppers. For example, your salsa will be mild if you use bell peppers but will become increasingly hotter if you use chili peppers (hot wax peppers or Jalapenos). Regardless of the type of peppers and onions used, the combined total for this recipe should be 9 cups.
For information on water bath processing, see the Ohio State University Fact Sheet: Canning Basics at http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/pdf/5338.pdf.
Don’t forget Aug. 24 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. is when we will be at Lehman’s doing canner testing. If you can’t make that day, call the office and schedule an appointment to have your canner tested for only $5. If you have food preservation questions, call me at 330-264-8722 or email me at hill.14@osu.edu. Happy canning!
Melinda Hill is an OSU Extension family and consumer sciences educator and may be reached at 330-264-8722 or hill.14@osu.edu.