Doris and Jilly Cook

Ask the Goats: Canning Salsa

dorisandjilly — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:05:29 +0000

Ask the Goats is a weekly feature in which we, your loyal goats, attempt to answer your questions about growing, making, eating, and preserving food. Send us your questions at dorisandjilly@gmail.com.

Q. I am new at canning! My confusion comes from this: I make my own fire roasted salsa. I fire roast the fresh tomatoes, chiles and garlic cloves. I blacken all of these then blend together. All I add for seasoning is salt. I want to can this mixture, but I’m not sure if I have to add an acid? I really don’t want to change the flavor. What do I do? Should I use a water caner or pressure caner? And for how long do I process this? —KP.

A. Alas, KP, no, this recipe is probably not safe as is. Most fresh salsa recipes are not safe for canning in a boiling-water bath unless you add a significant quantity of acid. The issue with water-bath canning is always whether your final product will have a pH of 4.6 or less (remember, the stronger the acid, the lower the pH). Tomatoes are borderline, and chiles and garlic are definitely low acid. When you can a salsa, you’re basically making a relish: chopped vegetables doused in acid. How much acid you need to add will depend on the exact ratio of tomatoes to chiles to garlic.

My best advice would be to compare your recipe to an approved recipe for regular salsa (you’re unlikely to find one for roasted) and adjust accordingly. The National Center for Home Food Preservation has one that’s 50/50 tomatoes and chiles and uses a total of 1 1/2 vinegar for 6 cups of vegetables. I’ve also developed a recipe for roasted tomato salsa that I believe to be safe for water-bath canning. It’s mostly tomatoes, with a few onions and dried peppers. It includes 1/2 c. lime juice for 8 pounds of tomatoes, which works out to about 1 T. per half-pint, which is twice the normal tomato acidification rule (1 T. lemon juice per pint). I’ve seen similar recommendations for acidifying tomato sauce that includes onions, so this should be enough to keep it safe.

I wouldn’t recommend pressure canning a tomato salsa, even a roasted one. Water-bath processing times vary somewhat, but the most common recommendations call for boiling your salsa for 10 minutes before transferring to the jars, followed by 15 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Salsa Verde Safe for the Water-Bath

dorisandjilly — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 02:13:25 +0000

For the August canjam, I made what I made almost exactly a year ago today: salsa verde. And because I am creature of habit, I’ll say pretty much what I said in last year’s post: there are shockingly few published instructions available for canning tomatillos. Most of these recipes treat tomatillos like tomatoes, adding acid, and they treat salsa verde like regular tomato salsa, adding onions. But here’s the thing. Being a stubborn goat, I don’t like either of these preparations. I like a salsa verde that’s pretty much tomatillos, water, and a jalapeno or poblano pepper or two.

So what is a goat to do? Turn to Twitter, of course. Last year, zoecancan was kind enough to point me to an incredibly helpful article in the peer-reviewed journal Plant Foods for Human Nutrition. Since it’s behind a paywall, I’ve reproduced the abstract below:

Three studies were conducted to evaluate the safety of tomatillos and products containing tomatillos canned by the water-bath processing method. In the first study, plain tomatillos were processed for 25, 37.5, 50 and 62.5 min. In the second study, five tomatillo/onion combinations were prepared while five tomatillo/green chile combinations were prepared in the third study. pH evaluations were conducted to determine safety in all studies using pH 4.2 as the cut-off value. No differences in the pH of plain tomatillos were detected due to processing time. All jars of plain tomatillos had pH values below 4.1. All combinations of tomatillos/onions and tomatillos/green chile containing more than 50% tomatillo had pH values below the 4.2 cut-off value. Results of the three studies indicate (1) acidification of plain tomatillos is probably unnecessary for canning by the water-bath processing method and (2) combinations of acidic tomatillos and low-acid onions or green chile must contain more than 50% tomatillos to have a pH low enough for safe water-bath processing.

So, based on this, I feel pretty comfortable saying that it’s safe to water-bath can this version of salsa verde, or in fact any version of salsa verde where the quantity of tomatillos (by weight) exceeds the combined weight of onions and/or peppers and herbs. The acid safety cut-off is a pH of 4.6, so at 4.1, this is plenty acidic (remember that a lower pH means higher acidity).

For the recipe, along with instructions for water-bath canning (for the scientific), pressure canning (for the conservative), or freezing (for the squeamish), click here. This time, 2 pounds made 4 half-pints. It scales up, so, if you’ve got a bushel full of tomatillos, knock yourself out!

Giveaway: The Fresh Girl’s Guide to Easy Canning and Preserving

dorisandjilly — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:05:35 +0000

This adorable little book and matching DVD arrived through my mailslot this week, thanks to the kind people at Voyaguer Press. The author, Ana Micka, calls herself “The Fresh Girl,” but all that I can tell you about her is that she’s based in Minnesota—her blog appears to be defunct. The book itself is chipper, friendly, and full of easy-to-follow instructions meant to demystify both water-bath and (yay!) pressure canning. Some of her advice, like storing your jars upside down, may raise an eyebrow among more experienced canners, but everything else seems sound. (I found her apparent close relationship with the University of Minnesota’s Extension Service Food Preservation Resource Center reassuring.) Overall, it’s a fun, highly visual introduction to canning.

Since the book has a “state fair” theme, leave a comment telling me which of your canning creations you’d be most likely to enter in a county fair by Friday, August 20, for a chance to win. Winner will be selected by random number generator.

Ask the Goats: Bad Seals in the Pressure Canner

dorisandjilly — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:05:42 +0000

A note from the goats: This blog used to have a weekly feature called “Ask the Goats.” At the time, most of our readers were people we knew in real life, and we quickly ran out of questions. Since then, our audience has grown, and we’re now getting a steady stream of questions on Twitter, in the comments, and via e-mail. We’d like to use this forum to share our answers with the rest of you, who are quite likely wondering about the same things. Keep the questions coming, and we’ll try to answer them on Mondays!

Q: I’ve just read your instructions [for canning chicken stock]. I’ve tried twice now to can a batch of stock in my pressure canner and most of the jars won’t seal. I removed air bubbles, left 1″ in the jar, and followed the other instructions. Any ideas why these jars won’t seal?—Jen

A: After Jen asked me this, we had a long e-mail discussion about the various options. She was indeed doing everything right, but we eventually settled on two things. First, her stock was fairly fatty. While this makes for delicious stock, it can make getting a good seal more difficult if fat gets trapped between the lids and the jar. But secondly, and more importantly, this was a case of opening the pressure cooker lid too soon.

But what, exactly, constitutes “too soon”? Most pressure canning instructions, including mine, tell you to wait about 10 minutes after letting the pressure drop of its own accord before opening the lid. Over time, though, I’ve found that this is too soon. A pressure canner full of chicken stock is very, very hot. Even when the pressure drops inside the canner, the temperature and pressure inside the jars is still quite high. The dramatic change in pressure from removing the lid (even after the indicator has fallen) can be enough to cause liquid to spurt or seep out of the jars. This not only causes you to lose some of your precious chicken stock, but it also interferes with the seal. So now, whenever I pressure can anything with a significant amount of clear liquid (beets, tomatoes, stock, etc.), I always wait at least an hour after the pressure drops before opening the lid. Ideally, I do this at night and just turn off the heat and go to bed. The next morning, I take off the lid, and viola! Everything seals.

Jen e-mailed me about a week later with an update. Success!

Tomato Sauce Under Pressure

dorisandjilly — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 19:51:23 +0000

Yes, yes, yes, I know. The tomato can jam entries should be posted next week, not this. Consider this post a safety intervention.

The most important thing to consider when you’re canning is whether your item is a high-acid or low-acid food. Most food-born pathogens, including yeasts, molds, and most bacteria, can be killed at 212°F. Botulism, on the other hand, that nasty, invisible, food-borne pathogen we’ve all heard so much about, can survive up to somewhere around 238°F. (It’s actually the spores that can survive, but never mind that). But because botulism can’t grow in a high-acid environment, you can still can high-acid foods in a water-bath canner that will never get about 212°F. For low-acid foods, you need the additional heat of a pressure canner, which can take you up to 240°F at 10 pounds of pressure at sea-level. Let me repeat: you can’t get botulism from high-acid foods.

With me so far? Good.

Here’s the thing. Tomatoes aren’t quite a high-acid food. They’re borderline. Older varieties, many heirloom varieties, and most of the varieties that you’re likely to grow at home, frequently are. Newer varieties—particularly the kinds of tomatoes that you tend to find in grocery stores—aren’t necessarily acidic enough. It’s therefore recommended that you add 1 T of lemon juice per pint jar, or 2 T per quart jar, of tomatoes to make them safe for water-bath canning. If you don’t like lemony tomatoes, you can always pressure can them.

Which brings us back to sauce. I’ve seen many, many recipes over the years that say that you can can tomato sauce in a water-bath canner. Many of these are in reputable books that I trust, like Anna Thomas’s The New Vegetarian Epicure. But let’s think about this for a minute. Here you are, taking tomatoes, already a low-acid food. You’re adding olive oil, probably some onions, maybe some garlic, and a handful of herbs. All of these things are low-acid foods. With each one, you’re raising the pH (lowering the acidity) of your product. The more experienced I get in my own canning, the more and more queasy I am about all the people who are going to excitedly put up jars and jars of tomato sauce in a water-bath canner this summer.

The Ball Blue Book does include a version of tomato sauce safe for water-bath canning, but it contains 1 T lemon juice per pint jar and a processing time of 35 minutes (for pints). I can only conclude that if you’re not adding something more acidic than tomatoes (like lemon juice or vinegar) to your sauce, it’s probably not safe for water-bath canning, and certainly not at the 20 minutes usually recommended in non-canning cookbooks. Ergo, you might want to try pressure canning it.

Here’s one version of a meatless tomato sauce appropriate for pressure canning, using the processing times recommended by the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Canned Tomato Sauce

10 pounds tomatoes, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c. olive oil
A big handful of basil—about a cup or so—chopped
Salt to taste (I use about 1 T kosher)

1) Heat the oil is a large, wide stockpot. The wider the stockpot, the faster your sauce will cook. Sauté the onions and the garlic in the oil until they’re translucent.

2) Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a rapid boil. Turn the heat down to medium and cook until the sauce has reduced by about half. This may take several hours, depending on your stove and your pot. If you want, you can run the sauce through a food mill at some point, but I find that if you cook it long enough, the tomatoes break down on their own.

3) Meanwhile, prepare 4 to 6 pint jars (and maybe a half-pint just in case) and an equal number of lids. Transfer the hot sauce to clean jars and adjust two-piece lids. Process pints for 20 minutes, quarts for 25 minutes at 10 pounds pressure in a steam-pressure canner.

For step-by-step instructions on pressure-canning, please see this post. Please note: I find I get a better seal, and am less likely to lose the contents of my jars, if I wait a long, long time after the pressure’s dropped before opening the lid. Like, hours.

Mixed Vinegar Pickle #1

dorisandjilly — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:27:22 +0000

The July Can Jam stumped me. It wasn’t so much the trans-Atlantic translation problem of “marrows” as the fact that my favorite pickle, a just barely tangy half sour, isn’t acidic enough to can. Then I found a jar of cornichons in my basement (Linda Zeidrich’s recipe, of course). I’m usually fairly diligent about labeling my jars, but this time, I apparently forgot, and I frankly have no idea how long it’s been there. My best guess? 2007. Please don’t tell the USDA. I opened it anyway, and let me tell you: those pickles were DIVINE. Having been stewing in vinegar and spices—no sugar—for at least two years, those things were so tart that I believe they may have stripped some enamel off my teeth. Tart, but delicious.

So, that did it. This year, I have decided, will be the year of vinegar pickles. Sure, I’ve got a quart or two of half sours in various stages of fermentation floating around my kitchen, but I’m hoping to can at least half a dozen pints of pure pucker pickles for my winter enjoyment. This is a mixed batch of random vegetables, including the obligatory cucumbers and zucchinis, but the recipe is fairly flexible. You could certainly add cauliflower, beans, celery, asparagus…you get the idea. Ziedrich recommends a 20-minute water-bath processing time for a version that includes mostly easily pickled things (cucumbers, peppers, onions) plus just a few carrots. If you’re planning on using lots of carrots, you’ll probably need to increase the time, but not necessarily by much. Remember, even the sturdy pickled beet only need 30 minutes. In any case, I’m not a carrot-canning expert, so change the vegetable proportions at your own risk. Please, please, please do not change the ratio of water to vinegar, but feel free to add sugar to taste.

Stuff the following things in a pint jar, in more or less the amount recommended:

3 kirby-size cucumbers
About half of a 5″ zucchini or yellow squash, cut into spears
One medium garden carrot, cut into thin spears
2 hot wax peppers, slit down the side
4 jar-length pieces of fennel, with feathers attached
1 clove garlic
1/4 t. peppercorns
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig tarragon

Combine 2 3/4 c. vinegar (I used cider vinegar) with 2 c. water and 1 1/2 T. kosher salt. Bring to a boil. Pour this over your vegetables. You’ll have canning liquid leftover—just stash it in the fridge until the next time you’re ready to assemble another jar of garden delights. Adjust two-piece canning lids and process 20 minutes in a boiling-water bath. You don’t have to wait three years to open them, but do give them at least three weeks to let the vinegar do its work.

Sour Cherry Heaven

dorisandjilly — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:05:10 +0000

Sour cherries are one of those ephemeral gifts of nature: if everything goes right, and it’s not too hot, or too cold, and it rains just enough, but not too much, and it doesn’t hail, cherry growers (and eaters) are rewarded with about two weeks of sweet-tart perfection. Because they are so precious, I had never tried to preserve them before this year—I have yet to arrive at the U-Pick the appropriate week, and they’re quite expensive at my local farmer’s market in Clark Park. Last year, though, Marisa over at Food in Jars gave me a rather extraordinary jar of her sour cherry preserves. I wanted some of my own, and, by God, I was going to have some.

But then I went on vacation and missed the harvest at Mood’s. Yet again.

Oh well, I thought. Isn’t eating locally all about learning that food is all about timing?

But to my surprise, some of our market’s Pennsylvania farmers showed up with a few boxes of sour cherries. I bought three pints for $3 each and dived in. I ended up with 4 pints of absolutely divine sour cherry preserves, then promptly opened one jar back up to serve to friends. And next year, I’ll pick my own and can all I want. Really.

Sour Cherry Preserves

3 pints sour cherries, pitted
2 1/2 c. sugar
Juice of one lemon
1 T real vanilla (or use a bean)
1 cinnamon stick

1) Combine all of the ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. This is never going to gel, but bring it close to the gelling point. I used a candy thermometer and cooked it to 214°F (at sea level). Fish out the cinnamon stick and the vanilla bean, if you’re using them, and turn off the heat.

2) Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and prepare 4 half-pint jars. Prepare your lids. Transfer the hot preserves to the hot jars and adjust the two-piece lids. Process in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes.

U-Pick Bliss

dorisandjilly — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:12:00 +0000

Picking fruit is a glorious way to spend a day. Picking fruit with friends is even better. Last Friday Kate (on the left) from The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking and her friend Liz came down from Brooklyn to join me (on the right) at Mood’s, my preferred berry-picking location. (I like how the very top of my hat just barely reaches Kate’s nose.) At this point, Kate’s nearly two-thirds done writing her book, and it was time for a berry-picking break. Mood’s came through, as always, with great fruit (and great prices).

I came home with about 8 pounds of blueberries, 10 pounds of plums, and a scant pound of raspberries. The raspberries are one their way out at this point—the lack of rain and crazy heat have done their work. But the plums! Oh, the plums! Never have I had such spectacular plums! Mood’s has both red and yellow Japanese sweet plums. The yellow ones (Shiro, I think) still needed a few days, but the red ones (possibly Au Rosa?) were easy pickings. You just reach up, pick two red plums, eat one, and put the other in your basket. Repeat. Experience bliss.

Blueberry Pucker Winner

dorisandjilly — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:55:36 +0000

…and the Blueberry Pucker Conserve goes to Mimi! (No. 11 on the random number generator.) I hope you enjoy your jar of tart summer sunshine.

Tomato Canning Class

dorisandjilly — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:55:43 +0000

OK, all you beet doubters! I’m offering a tomato canning class on Sunday, July 25, at 1 PM. We’ll make some salsa and stuff some tomatoes in jars. You’ll learn the difference between a hot pack and a cold pack. We’ll also discuss pros and cons of water-bath versus pressure canning for tomatoes and how to can sauce safely. And yes, you’ll leave with a jar.

When: Sunday, July 25th, 1 to 3 PM
Where: Doris’s house in West Philadelphia (details upon registration)
Cost: $25 includes all supplies

To register, just send an e-mail to dorisandjilly@gmail.com.