Ummm...about that salsa...?

Yesterday, while I was doing a little research about home canning, an uneasy thought occurred to me.

I've always read that tomatoes, because of their acid content, can be safely canned using the waterbath method, and that's the method I used for the salsa I made two days ago. However, looking through the recipes in my canning books and the ones I found online, I noticed that all of them called for vinegar or lemon (or lime) juice. My salsa contained only tomatoes, peppers, onions, and salt to taste. I did not add any vinegar or citrus juice, mostly because I did not want to alter the flavor of the salsa. I started to worry that the onions and peppers had jacked around with the acidity level of the mixture, and that it might not be safe. I decided to call the local Agricultural Extension Service and run my question past the Home Economist (or whatever they call those workers these days). She told me some surprising things.

First, the Agricultural Extension Service doesn't recommend waterbath canning tomatoes anymore. She said that the tomato growers have bred tomatoes to be less acidic, and that they now recommend pressure canning them. (I just looked up some of the varieties that I planted this year. The "Jet Star" and "Park's Whopper," both of which I planted, are low-acid tomatoes. Nuts!)

Secondly, I was correct in worrying that the onions and peppers would lower the acidity level of the stuff in my jars. She said that I should add vinegar, lemon/lime juice, or citric acid powder (1/4 tsp. to 1 pint) to boost the acidity. Vinegar or citrus juice will, of course, change the flavor of the mixture; citric acid should not change it. I asked if it would be okay for me to open the jars I've already canned, add some citric acid, and re-process the salsa (in a pressure canner). She said, "Probably, but do it TODAY."

I've already been to the grocery store this morning for citric acid. Now, I've got to find a pressure canner to buy (would you believe those things cost over $100 these days?).

I am scared to death of pressure canners. It dates back to my childhood, when my mother and her friends discovered "Presto" pressure cookers. These were not the giant canners that people use for preserving food, but smaller, 8-quart pans used for speeding up the cooking process. I remember a story about my Aunt Marilyn having blown potatoes all over the ceiling of her kitchen because she forgot to let the pressure go down before she took the lid off the cooker, and other such nightmare stories. (She probably shouldn't have been cooking potatoes in it, in the first place, since starchy stuff reportedly stops up the "jiggler," which could ramp up the pressure to the danger zone.) Last year, when I borrowed Nanny's canner for the green beans, I made her sit in the kitchen with me until the first batch was well under way, and when the time came to take off the lid, I wished there was someone else around to do it!

No, I am not at all happy about this pressure canning revelation. It takes a long time to run one batch of jars through the pressure canner, counting the heating-up and cooling-down time. And I'd just bought a second waterbath canner so that I could fill up two canners at one time and "rock and roll" with the canning process. I suppose I could "double down" by borrowing Nanny's pressure canner, but I hardly trust myself to watch one canner at a time, much less two. It looks like my canning job just got a lot more complicated. :(

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