Canning And Safety

Oct 28, 2024by David Schulze

David from David's Garden Seeds® shares insights from his canning experiments, noting that vinegar and lemon are not necessary for vine-ripened tomato salsa due to the pH, that jars can be reused without pre-heating, and pressure cooking ensures product safety.

I have done some canning since 1993 and I have experimented with the following examples.

When making salsa, if you grew the tomatoes to vine red ripe, then you do not need to add any vinegar or lemon to help preserve the tomatoes. If you doubt me, you can get a pH tester (which you should probably have anyway, and test it. If it 4.5 or lower, you are okay.)

Jars. Most directions say you have to sanitize jars. Pack them hot. I have found out you really do not need to do this if you are using a canning bath or pressure cooking the product. The bath gets to over 212 which will kill anything on the jars.

The pressure cooking gets to over 250 degrees Fahrenheit which also kills anything.

We know this because they tell us that boiling water for 15 minutes kills any bad germs.

They also say do not put cold jars in a hot canner. They will break. I have pulled one set out and put the next set of cold jars in without any problems, but there is the potential for this to happen so use extreme caution. We don't want you to get cut or get glass in your eyes.

I only use Ball or Mason jars for canning. The rings and jars can be reused but the actual flat lids must be brand new every time for proper sealing.

You can try these for yourself and see if I am right. They might save you some time and money.