Successfully Canning Tomato Sauce

Since my Mother's tomato sauce always separated, I grew up wondering how commercially canned tomato sauce was so perfectly homogeneous. What was their secret?

Considering that my best guesses were way off mark, it is a good thing that we have books to educate us. My best lesson in preventing separation, came form the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I can't figure out why the Ball Blue Book doesn't pass this advice on.


Any way, to understand separation, lets talk about the way my mother did it. She would quarter a huge kettle full of tomatoes, then put it on the stove to cook. The whole time that she was standing there quartering tomatoes, the air was interacting with an enzyme in the tomatoes and breaking down the pectin in the tomatoes.

In commercial production, the whole tomatoes are flash heated. The heat deactivates this enzyme. At this point, it doesn't matter if the insides of the tomato get exposed to air, because the enzyme has already been deactivated.

Since we don't have the equipment to flash heat foods at home, does this mean that there is no hope for home canned tomato sauce? Well, I can't promise perfect tomato sauce, but I can offer advice to increase your chances.

Quarter just a few tomatoes, turn the heat on and smash them with a potato masher. Quarter a few more, add them to the pot, and smash them too. Stir the pot every time you add more tomatoes. Since you only cut a few tomatoes at a time, the cut surface is only exposed to air for a very short time before it gets heated.

When you have them all cut up simmer your tomatoes for about 5 minutes, then run them through your food mill.
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Canning Jam - Preventing Floating Fruit

Recently somebody asked me why the fruit in jam sometimes floats to the top, leaving only jelly at the bottom of the jar. At the time, the only answer that I could honestly give was, "I wish I knew the answer to that."

I just recently got a copy of 175 Best Jams, Jellies, Marmalades and Other Soft Spreads, by Linda J Amendt. It turns out that it had a section on the topic of, "Preventing floating fruit."


According to the author, the most common cause of floating fruit is fruit that was chopped rather than crushed. She says that chopped fruit contains air trapped in the cells, and it does not absorb sugar well. She reminds people to cut the fruit into small pieces and then gently crush them with a potato masher.

I have been guilty of just chopping fruit before. I have even seen recipes in cookbooks that just say to chop the fruit. This has usually been the times when my fruit ended up floating so it appears that that she knows what she is talking about. From now on, I will have to try modifying any recipe that calls for chopped fruit.

For making preserves (which have larger pieces of fruit than jam does) she says to cut the fruit up, mix it with some of the sugar, and then let it sit for a while before cooking it. She says this gives the fruit time to absorb sugar. Many of her recipes for preserves say to let it sit in sugar for 30 minutes, but some say to let it sit for 1 hour. The recipes seem to vary, based on the type of fruit.
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Canning Jar Labels

If you are just putting up some green beans to use yourself, then simply writing on the lid with a magic marker works for a canning label. However, if your are going to be giving away gifts of barbecue sauce made from your famous secret recipe, then you might want something fancier.


If you are handy with photo editing software, then you can make personalized labels using 2 inch round adhesive labels This is just the right size to fit on standard lids. For wide mouth jars, 2 1/2 Inch labels work better.

Of course, if photo editing software is too much of a challange, then there are a wide variety of hand written options for canning labels.


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Canning Ratatouille - and Creating Your own Canning Recipes

I love ratatouille, and it seemed to me that it should be more than just a summer treat. Since none of my canning cookbooks had a recipe for canning ratatouille, I started with my favorite recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book, added bell peppers to it (because I happen to like peppers) and decided on canning instructions based on the instructions for similar food.

When you are unsure how much processing time is necessary to ensure that all bacteria is killed, it is better to err on the side of choosing too long of a processing time, rather than too short. I always check the processing time for each of the individual ingredients and make sure that I pick a time at least as long as the ingredient that has the longest time.


This method has served me well. While I may have some recipes that have not been tested in a professional test kitchen, I have yet to find a spoiled jar. If you do try coming up with your own canning instructions, then to be on the safe side, remember that the tell-tell sign of botulism is a seal that loosens while the jar is sitting on the shelf.

My canned ratatouille is kind of mushy compared to fresh ratatouille, but it allows me to extend my enjoyment of this dish beyond the harvest season. It is also nice to have something quick for those days when I am in a rush.
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Homemade Water Bath Canner

My first canner was actually homemade, and I still use it when I am making a small batch of something because it is smaller than most store bought canners. I don't have to heat up as much water. In fact, I just did a little arithmetic, and determined that it uses a little more than half as much water.


First you need a stockpot that is tall enough to be able to cover the jars with water. As you can see from the picture above, my homemade canner is nearly as tall as my other canner, but it is smaller in diameter.

The rack in a water bath canner serves two purposes. It keeps the jars slightly off from the bottom of the canner, and it makes it easy to lower the jars into the water. Lowering the jars into the water with a homemade canner is no problem. Just use your jar lifter.

If you can find a cake cooling rack that will fit into the bottom of the pot, that serves the purpose of holding the jars off the bottom. My pot is about 9 1/2 inches in diameter, so a 9 inch cake rack worked quite well. You can also try tying screw bands together as shown on this website. If you get creative, you can probably come up with other ways to make a homemade canning rack.
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ClearJel®

When I am baking a pie from fresh fruit, I usually use flour or cornstarch for my thickener. However, when it comes to canning pie filling, these thickeners don't work. Though I have seen sites on the Internet that say to use cornstarch, it doesn't stand up to being heated twice. The pie filling may be thick when the jar is put up on the shelf, but by the time the pie comes out of the oven, it is runny.

Furthermore the USDA says that using cornstarch as a thickener for canning is not safe. Apparently it prevents the food from heating evenly so the center may not get hot enough to kill mold and bacteria.


One solution is to can your fruit without the thickener and add the thickener before you put it in the pie shell. However this doesn't allow for the convenience of just opening the jar and pouring it into the pie shell.

When the USDA approved ClearJel® (modified corn starch) for use in home canning, I confess that I was slow to try it. I was full of questions like, "how do they modify it? Do the modifications make it bad for your health? Isn't one of the advantages of home canned food suppose to be that you don't have funny sounding ingredients in your food?"

Never mind that sugar cane is very highly modified before it ends up on your table on the form of granulated sugar, or that granulated sugar is definitely not a health food. After all, I have been acquainted with sugar all of my life. It is not something new and unfamiliar.

I tried reading up on how corn starch is modified to become ClearJel®, but that was over my head. I did finally end up deciding that I have not found any research yet which says it is bad for your health, and when you consider how much modification goes into something like sugar, maybe my real problem was just that I was afraid to try something new.

I have to say, that ClearJel® works quite well. In addition to thickening pie fillings, it can also be used as a thickener for canning things like creamed corn.

It can also be used in place of pectin in jam recipes, but I have never tried it. Maybe I should. For information about using ClearJel® in jam, refer to this article by Washington State University.
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Non-Reactive Pans

If you cook something acidic, such as tomatoes or pickling brine, in a pan that is made of aluminum or copper, the acid will react with the metal in the pan. Some of the molecules of the metal will leach into your food.


This can give your food a metallic taste. If you put the canned food that you cooked in this pan up on your shelf for later use, then while the jar is sitting there, the metal will gradually darken your food.

Because of their reaction with acid, pans made with aluminum or copper are called. "reactive pans." Cast Iron is a little less reactive, then copper or aluminum, but it is reactive.

To avoid this problem, you should use pans made with stainless steel, glass, or porcelain. It is OK if the pan has a copper or aluminum bottom, because the food won’t actually come into contact with the reactive metal in the bottom. If you use a granite ware pan, be sure that the porcelain coating is not chipped.
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The Lost Art of Pickling

The term "pickling" refers to the process of preserving food by using acid to prevent the growth of bacteria. This can be done two ways. You can simply add an acid such as vinegar, or you can cover the food with salt water and allow the fermentation process to create lactic acid.


Some times both methods are used. The food is fermented for a certain period of time, then the salt water is removed and vinegar is added.

Spices are usually added for flavor. When the food that is pickled is small or is cut up into small pieces, the finished product is often called a relish. When a fruit is pickled, the finished product is often called "chutney."

Once upon a time (before the invention of canning jars) people simply put their vegetables in a stone crock, added the brine, and weighted it down to keep the vegetables submerged. While acid prevents the growth of bacteria, it does not prevent the growth of yeast and mold, so you occasionally had to skim this off from the top of the crock. Today we can prevent the growth of yeast and mold by canning our pickles.

Once upon a time, people pickled just about anything they could. After all, you don't want to starve to death during the winter. As the options for preserving food increased, the amount of pickling that is done, decreased.

Before writing this post I wandered through the grocery store aisles just to see how many pickled foods I could find. There was a very big selection of pickled cucumbers. There was also a nice sized selection of pickled olives and pickled cabbage (i.e. sauerkraut). Since vinegar is used as a preservative in canned salsa, that means that salsa also technically goes into the category of pickled foods. The Mexican section also had a nice selection of pickled jalapeños.

I also found a variety of other pickled foods such as okra, cauliflower, carrots, watermelon rind, etc. However all of these foods combined took up less space than half of the pickled cucumbers.

While I certainly would not want to go back to the days when not pickling food meant the possibility of not making it through the winter, I do think that pickling more than just cucumbers is a nice way to add fun and variety to my diet. Personally I always pickle some of my garden produce just for the fun of it.
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Canning/Pickling Salt

When you see a recipe that calls for canning/pickling salt, you may wonder, "what is the difference between canning /pickling salt and plain table salt?"

There are two differences.


First: table salt is iodized. People began adding iodine to salt in the 1920's to help prevent goiter in areas where the natural supply of iodine was low. Canning salt does not have iodine added to it because iodine will gradually turn your vegetables dark. This discoloration isn't harmful to your health in anyway, but it does make food look unappetizing.

Second: table salt also has anti-caking agents added to it. If used for canning, these will turn the liquid in your jar cloudy. Again, this isn't unhealthy, just unappetizing.

I confess that I tend to be guilty of forgetting to specify what type of salt, when I write canning recipes, but for the most appealing food, canning/pickling salt should be used. You can usually buy canning/pickling salt at the same place you buy your canning jars. Stores tend to stock them side by side. Read more...

Pressure Canners

A pressure canner is a pressure cooker that is large enough to hold quart jars.

I still remember my mother sternly admonishing me not to mess with the pressure cooker, because it can explode. She did indeed succeed in scaring me enough that I decided to keep my distance from the pressure cooker. On the other hand, that fear was counter balanced by the fact that my mother used the pressure cooker countless times without any problem. The end result is that I am not afraid of pressure cookers, but I am afraid of people who don't read and follow instructions.



Since pressure canners vary from one model to another, I won't pretend that anything I write can replace the instructions that came withyour pressure canner. However I would like to write a little bit for people who may not have ever used a pressure cooker before.

Backup Safety Valves

New pressure canners have one or more backup safety valves in the lid. If the petcock (which is the primary safety valve) becomes plugged, then one of the backup valves will pop open to release steam.

A pressure canner that is more than about 30 years old might not have any extra safety valves in it. If you choose to use such a canner, then it is extremely important to keep the petcock clean and monitor the pressure.

Petcock

The petcock (which is also called a steam vent or a steam pipe) is the primary safety feature on a pressure canner. The backup valves should only come into use if the petcock is plugged. If your pressure canner did not come with a cleaning rod for the petcock, or if the cleaning rod has been lost, then pipe cleaners work well.

Dial Gauge or Rocker Weight

Pressure canners that use a rocker weight seem to be becoming less common all the time. This is probably because they are harder to learn to use. The one advantage that they do have is that they don't loose accuracy over time.

Dial gauges on the other hand, can loose accuracy. You should have them checked annually. The owners manual will usually give you an address that you can mail the gauge to and have it checked for free. I think the Presto corporation will check any model (not just their own). Alternatively, your USDA extension office may be able to check it or tell you where it can be done locally. You can find the nearest extension office with this map
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Lid

The way the lid is fastened depends on the model. Be sure that the lid is always fastened properly and do not remove the lid until the pressure has returned to zero. Some pressure canners have a safety feature that prevents the lid from being removed while it is still pressurized, but I wouldn't rely on this. I say, "use your own head."

Sealing Ring

If your canner has a lid that fastens down by turning it, then it should have a rubber sealing ring. If it is dried up and stiff or if it is sticky, then it should be replaced.
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A Little More about Food Safety when Home Canning

This should be my last post about food safety. I have covered that topic pretty well and it is time to move on.

One thing that I would like to point out, is that the high altitude instructions begin at just 1,000 feet. You don't have to live in the mountains to be that high. Even parts of Iowa are over 1,000 feet. Type your location followed by the word "elevation" into your search engine. You might be surprised.

The other thing that I would like to write about is unsafe canning methods. Here is a description of what NOT to do.


Open Kettle Method

The open kettle method was once a pretty common canning technique. Basically you boil your jars and all of the equipment that you are using, add the hot food, add the lids, and cross your fingers. I include crossing your fingers as one of the steps, because numerous studies have shown that the open kettle method is not very reliable.

Personally, I can remember my mother using this method when I was small. It was the times that she found spoiled food on the shelf that led her to decide that instead of just doing things the same way her mother had, she needed to read up on food safety and update her technique.

As somebody who sort of collects old cookbooks, I have several recipes that say, "pour into sterilized jars and seal." You even occasionally come across a new cookbook written by somebody who has obviously has not been keeping current with the research out there. I admit that I use these recipes, but I always update the canning instructions.


The Paraffin Wax Method

This method was once common for jams and Jellies. Unfortunately, it too is not a reliable method. Any jam recipe that says, "pour into sterilized jars and seal with paraffin wax." should be updated to, "Fill hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Add lids and process in a water bath for 10 minutes."

Other Unsafe Methods

People who are looking for easier ways to do things have came up with all sorts of interesting ideas such as; putting a tablet of aspirin in each jar, processing jars in the stove, processing them in the microwave, and even processing them in the dishwasher. For safety sake, please do not try any of these.




Whew! When I started blogging I didn't know that it would take me 8 posts just to cover the topic of food safety. I almost wrote a book. Well, it is an important topic, so I don't think that I over did it.



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Choosing Canning Jars

To ensure the most reliable seals, you should always use jars with two piece lids. The jar itself can be reused. Check each time to be sure that there are no nicks in the rim. The screw band (which holds the lid in place during processing) can also be reused as long as it is in good condition. However, the lid should only be used once.

I give canned goods as gifts, and request that people return the jars, to be reused. I have found that most people do actually return them. I knew one woman who would even tell people, "if you don't return them, you don't get a gift next year." I have never gone that far.



Standard jars have a mouth that is about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Wide mouth jars are about 3 inches. If you are filling the jars with something large (peach halves for example) the wider mouth can make it easier to get the food out.

Plastic Storage Caps that are made to fit on the canning jars can be handy after you have opened your jar and you want a convenient lid for storing your open jar in the refrigerator.

Canning Jars with Wire Clamp Lids may have been the most reliable jars at one time, but they are not as reliable as two piece lids. Research shows that you are less likely to get a proper seal with them. Further more, since they do not have a safety button, you have no way of knowing whether or not the jar is sealed. These jars are nice for storing macaroni or dried beans. As for canning with them; why take a chance if you don't have too?

When I was a child, I knew a woman who would reuse jars and lids from the grocery store. I strongly discourage this. These were not designed for home canning. I suppose this would be a little less tempting today, since most everything in the grocery store is plastic.
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Home Canning: What about Botulism?

I had planned to write a post about botulism next month, when I get more into canning low acid foods. Due to comments and e-mails from people that are afraid of poisoning somebody, I decided to move up the date.

Of all the unwanted organisms that might live on your food, the Clostridium Botulinum bacteria has to be the scariest. You can't see it; you can't smell it; and you can't taste it; yet it can kill you. Talk about scary.

So how do you protect yourself?


Once again, I will divide foods into two categories, high acid foods (food with PH below 4.6 such as pickles and most fruits) and low acid foods (food with a PH above 4.6 such as vegetables and meats).


High Acid Foods

For high acid foods, my discussion is short. Clostridium Botulinum will not grow in these food. If you have been afraid to can these foods, for fear of botulism poisoning; relax, breath a sigh of relief, and start canning. Just remember, that while bacteria will not grow in these foods, mold and other fungi will, so be sure to process your food in boiling water for the length of time specified in the recipe. The heat from the boiling water is necessary to destroy mold.

Low Acid Foods


Now we get into a discussion of why I keep emphasizing that low acid foods need to be processed in a Pressure Canner. The reason I go into details of what can go wrong is not to scare new people away from canning, but to give you enough information that you are prepared to can food safely.

Let's say you pick some green beans from your garden or buy some ears of corn from the farmers market. This food is bound to have dormant spores of the Clostridium Botulinum bacteria on it. These spores are so common that their presence is inevitable. The reason why they are in their dormant state is because they need a low oxygen environment. As long as they are exposed to air, they must remain in their dormant state.

Even after you wash your food, some of these dormant spores will remain on the food. It is nearly impossible to wash them all off. Fortunately eating these dormant spores, does us no harm. You eat the all them time, you just never knew it.

Now let's say that you decide to can this food. Let's also say that for whatever reason, you did not process it at the proper pressure for the proper length of time to ensure that all the spores are destroyed.

Now you sit your jar of food on the shelf to eat later. These spores are now sitting in a cool, moist, low oxygen, low acid environment. This is just the environment they have been waiting for. They come out of their dormant state and start actively growing. As the bacteria grows, it release a chemical that is toxic to humans. In as little as 3 days, your jar of food will be poisonous.


OK, I Know That I Need To Use A Pressure Canner, But I Am Still Scared.

Now let's say that you were very careful to process the food at the specified pressure for the specified length of time, but you are still worried that one of those spores might have some how survived. How can you tell?

The bacteria doesn’t discolor your food, or cause a funny odor, but it does still give its presence away. As it grows, it releases a gas which loosens the seal on your jar. In a properly sealed jar, you should need a jar opener to get the lid off. You should not be able to pull it off with your fingers. Any jar with a loose seal, should be considered contaminated.

As I said before, the reason I wrote this is not to scare people away from home canning, but to encourage people to practice safe canning. A lot of research has been done over the years. We now know much more than we once did about what canning techniques are safe and what techniques are not safe. If you take advantage of what has been learned, home canning can be a very rewarding experience.
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Modifying Canning Recipes and Food Safety

Lets say that you have a canning recipe that says to process with the water bath method. Being the creative cook that you are, you want to make some modifications to the recipe. After all, having your own flair is what makes cooking fun. The only question is, " is it still ok to use the water bath method?"

The fact that the recipe says to use the water bath method means that the PH of the recipe is lower than 4.6. Anything with a PH higher than 4.6 must be canned with a pressure canner in order to ensure that any bacteria in the food is destroyed.

Now lets say that you want to add blueberries to your recipe. Fortunately the US Food and Drug Administration has a website that will tell the Approximate PH of Foods. If you look up blueberries, you can see that their PH is below 3.33. Since this is lower than 4.6, you are still safe to use the water bath method.

Assuming that you don't have a PH meter among your kitchen utensils, it is best to take a, "better safe than sorry," approach to recipes of unknown PH. In other words, if you add even one ingredient with a PH above 4.6, then assume that the whole recipe has a PH above 4.6.


Removing an ingredient can also be a food safety issue. For example if you look up the PH of tomatoes, you will see that it is in the range of 4.3 to 4.9. Tomatoes really straddle the line of what is safe to can with a water bath method. For this reason, many recipes for canning tomatoes call for lemon juice in order to add enough acidity to ensure safety. It wouldn't be wise to take the lemon juice out of the recipe. If a recipe calls for lemon juice, vinegar, or ascorbic acid (vitamin C), then do not remove or decrease the quantity of this ingredient.

A key to food safety is just to remember that if the PH is above 4.6 then you must use a pressure canner - not a water bath canner.



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Canning Fruit Spreads: What is Pectin?

Since Sunday is Mother's Day, I would like mention the woman who introduced me to home canning. I admit that for her, gardening and canning was sometimes more of a burden than a hobby. Sometimes she had to force herself to do it in order to afford to feed her family. Still, there were plenty of times when she had fun and plenty of times when she was pleased with the results of her work. Helping Mom out with gardening and the canning created memories that will last forever, Thanks, Mom.

I also want to say thanks to The Ungourmet for the nice comment that she wrote about my blog.


Pectin

If you have never canned jam or jelly before, you may be wondering, "What is Pectin?"


Pectin is a soluble fiber that occurs naturally in fruits and vegetables. It is the interaction between pectin and sugar that causes jams and jellies to set. The PH of the food also plays a role in this interaction between pectin and sugar, so some recipes call for lemon juice in order to make the recipe just acidic enough to set.

Spreads usually take anywhere from 24 hours to 2 weeks to set. I actually had a batch of blueberry jam that took even longer than that one time. Why? I don’t know.

Recipes can basically divided into two categories depending on whether they rely on the natural pectin in the fruit or whether they call for added pectin. Recipes that rely on the natural pectin have to be cooked to 220° F in order to set. This temperature is called the “gelling point.” Recipes that call for added pectin do not need to be cooked as long. This can result in more of a fresh fruit taste as opposed to a cooked taste.

Since the amount of pectin in the fruit decreases as the fruit ripens, you should not use overripe fruit for either kind of recipe. In fact, for recipes that rely on the natural pectin in the fruit, it can be helpful to intentionally have about 1/4 of the fruit be a bit under-ripe.

The white part of citrus peels are very high in pectin. Therefore, most of the commercial pectin in this country is extracted from the peelings that are left over from the juice industry.

Commercial pectin comes in powdered or liquid form. They are not interchangeable. Use the form that the recipe calls for. Commercial pectin also usually comes with recipes. In the past, I tried to intentionally buy as many different brands as I could just to increase my recipe collection.


You can also buy pectin that is specially designed to set with little or no added sugar. These come with low sugar recipes in the box. Most canning books also include a few low sugar recipes. Regular pectin depends on the sugar to set, so if you are using regular pectin, then do not decrease the amount of sugar.

When it comes to creating your own jam recipes, I wish I knew some magic formula that you could plug all of the ingredients into and it would tell you whether or not the ratio of pectin to sugar and the PH was just right to end up with a jam that is just the right consistency. However, the only method that I know of is to start with an existing recipe as a guideline and then experiment.

Though people write instructions for how to fix your jam if it doesn’t set, my advice is much simpler. I say, just cover the label with a new label that says “sauce” rather than “jam.”

In fact, I think that a good way to come up with new sauce recipes for pancakes, cheesecakes, ice cream etc., is to simply leave the pectin out of a jam recipe. You can come up with an endless variety of sauces that way; and the canning instructions for these sauces is the same as jam.
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