Canning home made salsa

So if I get the hot sauce boiling, can I pour it in the jars I boiled and lid them? Or the bath I do now is definitely needed? Just curious.
 
The bath is needed to seal the jars as well as kill any bacteria and molds that are in the salsa. Even after boiling the jars and the salsa, I never presume to get all especially since after boiling them both, they are exposed to the air which could introduce new nasties to the food to multiply in the jar and spoil as it sits on a shelf.

jacob
 
Justaguy said:
So if I get the hot sauce boiling, can I pour it in the jars I boiled and lid them? Or the bath I do now is definitely needed? Just curious.
Click to expand...

For sauces you just need to hot-pack the sauce into sterilized jars/bottles. No need for a water bath or pressure canner
 
I have made and canned the salsa, I think it turned out good. 12 pints plus about two quarts I did not can. The salsa that was not canned tastes good, a bit heavy on the lemon juice but good. I used about a dozen jalapeños, a dozen Habaneros, two peach Habaneros, two Douglahs, two yellow scorpions, and a couple others I forget the name of right now. It has a bit of heat, about a commercially made hot rank, if not a bit more. It will make a great chip dipping salsa when watching TV.

I also have more canning projects on deck. So far what is planned is green tomato relish, strawberry jam, peach and pineapple jam, pickled pepper rings made with Jalapeños and hot wax peppers from the garden, and to can the vegetables I have yet to harvest too.
 
Sounds like some tasty salsa. That lemon tang will mellow quite a bit after the salsa has sat for a couple of weeks in the jars. Overall flavor will improve too as the ingredients meld. :)
 
I make and can salsa every year this season I did about 80 jars or so. I always just hot water bath them. We still have jars from as far back 2002 which are still good, though do seem hotter then when we first made them though.
 
daQ~ that is an impressive salsa quota! And I agree that they do get hotter as they sit. Never figured that one out, but I have a theory~

And WELCOME!
SL
 
Aye was in the middle of a 100 jar batch when a frost hit ,and a family member had sudden health problems. Had to turn the tomatoes I'd already prepared into soup ,and the peppers I cut are fermenting. So would have had a lot more this season if things had gone as planned.
 
hopefully you salvaged the lot, freeze it as a quick solution, and then process it later as you have time. Best wishes to the family~
 
I've never canned or pickled but I just bought a canning set (the tongs and funnel etc..) and some jars, and I have a bunch of plants growing away. I was planning on doing a few pickle jars with a mix of whole and chopped up chilies to give as presents to family n friends.

So... in danger of re-hashing everything that has been said already, would it be alright to sterilise the jars and equipment and then stuff the jars and pour in the boiled water/vinegar mix and then seal them? Do I need to water bath them at all? I have a pressure cooker but have barely used it and don't have the rack that goes in it to keep the jars off the bottom.

As they are gifts I can't be sure of how long they will sit before being openned. Do you have to pH test the jars or water/vinegar mix before you seal them?

There are a lot of different ideas in this thread so I want to make sure because its a first time thing for me. Thanks everyone.
 
If the ph is low enough the hot water bath isn't "needed" but it's still a very good a idea. For one thing just pouring in hot liquid is a hit or miss way to get a mason jar to seal. Second the water bath also acts a secondary form of sterilization.
The third major affect it has is it causes the water to vaporize and expand, which pushes the oxygen out of the jar. If you can help it you want the oxygen in the jar below 2%. Though there is no real way to measure this in a home environment.

You also don't need to ph test. Vinegars ph normally varies between 2.4(At 5% acidity) to 3(2% acidity) So you can calculate the ph change 1 oz of vinegar(2%) added to 1 gallon of water will lower the ph by 0.9. So a solution
25% vinegar or better as most pickles are is well into the safe range which is basically anything below 4.6.

If you water bath you do want something to keep the jars off the bottom of the pot. They have good chance of cracking or exploding do to near direct contact with the heat. If you don't have a rack I suggest putting silverware in the bottom of
the pot. The jars won't stand straight up, but they won't have direct contact with the heat.
 
wire rack-
you can also use a wire cake cooling rack in the bottom of the canner. I have a small round wire rack that fits perfectly in a small stock pot for small batches of boiling water baths.

I've also used 2-3 rectangle wire racks, criss-crossed in the bottom of a larger kettle for big batches of boiling water baths. Either one of those options would work for a pressure canner also.

If using a rectangle rack, place open jars filled with water in the spots where the rack doesn't cover the bottom of the pan to keep the other jars in place on the wire rack.
 
Ok good information, thanks for the answers. I will work on getting the vinegar mix right and visit my mum and dig around in her cupboards, she will have wire racks aplenty!

I just read about using citric acid to lower the pH. Is that used as an alternative because it doesn't alter the flavour as much as vinegar?
 
Hi all,

I know this is an old thread, but can I use my regular pressure cooker to can? Thank you.

Regards,
Edward
 
I "Water-Bath" all my "high acid" type recipes, pickles, green and red tomatoes, red salsa and salsa verde, I pressure can all "low acid" foods which include certain home made soups and my pints of "southwest salsa", which uses beans, corn, and celery, you need to get the temp up to 240 degrees and run with it up to 45 to 60 minutes, depending on the recipe...its a pain in the arse, and takes along time....but if you REALLY like your recipe, then its worth all the effort...

Greg
 
There are 2 types of canners ( not cookers) water bath and pressure canners. IF you use a water bath canner for salsa you MUST have at least 1 cup of acid; i.e. vinegar, lemon or lime juice to have it safe to can by that method. The preferred way is pressure canning. The problem is the amount of low acid ingredients in the salsa. I have water-bathed my salsa but have a weight for my pressure canner now so I can go back to using that. All canned produce must be processed to be safe according to the home canning expertts and Ball Blue Book. Older methods once used are no longer considered safe. Maybe they are over cautious BUT I will go with their recommendations rather than risk botulism. Just putting hot contents in a sterilized jar is NOT enough any more. The filled jars must be processed either in a water bath or pressure canner. All low acid foods should be processed in pressure canners.
 
There are 2 types of canners ( not cookers) water bath and pressure canners. IF you use a water bath canner for salsa you MUST have at least 1 cup of acid; i.e. vinegar, lemon or lime juice to have it safe to can by that method. The preferred way is pressure canning. The problem is the amount of low acid ingredients in the salsa. I have water-bathed my salsa but have a weight for my pressure canner now so I can go back to using that. All canned produce must be processed to be safe according to the home canning experts and Ball Blue Book. Older methods once used are no longer considered safe. Maybe they are over cautious BUT I will go with their recommendations rather than risk botulism. Just putting hot contents in a sterilized jar is NOT enough any more. The filled jars must be processed either in a water bath or pressure canner. All low acid foods should be processed in pressure canners.
 
here are some APPROVED recipes for salsa canning. It is suggested that you not change the amount of acids (vinegar, lemon juice) unless you would add MORE, and also not change the amount of low-acid items like onion and garlic. You can easily add habaneros instead of jalapenos for more heat, things like that.

http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/PNW0395/PNW0395.pdf

the salsa pages from Ball recipes. Tons of other recipes on the Ball site.
http://www.freshpreserving.com/recipes.aspx?keyword=
 
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