misc How to can salsa

S

sevver

I am doing a bit of research on canning salsa, the wife and I are going to attempt to can some stuff for this winter, I jones for salsa all winter, so making enough to last is a good idea to me. Does anyone know of any good sites for how to do this, I hate wading through all of the garbage on the internet, I would much rather generally go to a forum and ask direct questions.

I see that the Ph is important somehow, if I have my own salsa that I toss together, is it not ok to just can it, or does it have to meet specs? How would one go about testing for Ph?

Thanks alot, I am glad I found this forum, finally some place where my love of hot stuff will be appreciated. :(
 
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You can buy some Ph test strips, they are cheap. Then, you balace the Ph with an acid, like vinegar, or citric acid.
 
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Ph needs to be between 4.2 to 4.5 right? Do the other canning rules apply after that? Such as, can I make the Salsa cold and place it in boiling water, or do I boil the salsa then jar it then place it in boiling water? And another thing that I have not really found yet is how long do you boil it for? I have seen ten minutes, then you remove from water and place on a cooling rack to cool.

So, with all of that, where do I get Ph test strips? I know that they use them for pools, but they have chlorine, total alkalinity and total hardness as well as Ph on them.

Thanks a ton.
steve
 
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As long as you use a decent amount of lime juice and/or vinegar that should take care of the pH issue. Using test strips is a little anal.

Buy some mason jars...there are basic canning instructions on the bottom of the box they come in.

You'll need a big stock pot.

Make your sauce and put it in a pot. Heat it to just below boiling.

In the meantime bring some water ( enough to submerge the jars) in the large stockpot to a boil. Wash the jars and lids in soapy water. Boil the empty jars for a few minutes.

When you pull them out and dry them take your hot sauce or salsa and laddel it into each jar. Leave about 1/4 inch space. put the lids on making sure you wipe up any stuff you spill on them. You want a clean seal. Screw the rings down finger tight.

Turn the jars upside down for just a minute. Put them in the boilng water bath, submerged, Right side up for about 20 minutes. Take them out and let them cool.

The next day the lids should be pulled down. Take the ring off one jar and make sure it is sealed well. You may want to tighten the rings.

That's about it. Just keep things as sterile as possible. It ain't rocket science.
 
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darthcarl said:
I hesitate to purchase anything with both the words "ball" and "blue" in the title.
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Don't ever go to Lancaster county, PA. There's a town called "Blueball" and one called "Intercourse", but amusingly they're not too far from each other.
 
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I canned 6 quarts of pickles and 4 quarts of dilly beans last nite. Put a hab in the bottom of every jar. :)

I hope it does not suck.

Chuk, you ever use a steam canner? Looks a lot faster than getting that 4 gals of water boiling on my stove.
 
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Hank said:
I canned 6 quarts of pickles and 4 quarts of dilly beans last nite. Put a hab in the bottom of every jar. :)

I hope it does not suck.
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It shouldn't. My oma used to can fruits and veggies all the time and add something in the bottom to spice it up a bit and it never sucked. Hell, she used to ferment her own sauerkraut and red cabbage and add cherrys and orange slices and other things into the crocks all the time. And it always tasted great. Especially her red cabbage fermented with limes. Mmmmmm....i might have to go get some fresh cabbage and ferment a load for myself now....
 
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