Canning tomato

[mrblue]

Friend just canned some tomatoes that he had.. they dont have a pressure canner and was wondering if boiling the jars method is ok for tomatoes.. He read some where you need the pressure canner thing for them.. I thought i would just ask :) he just doesnt want to get some one sick.... He had one jar out of a bunch that had a little mold inside the jar.. I opened one and it seemed fine.. No bad smell. thanks for any help.... don

[leera]

I have only ever used a water bath canner for tomatoes,but as long as your friend followed the directions everything should be fine.......he did use directions from a canning book right?

What kind of tomatoes were they?

There are low acid types that really should only be pressure canned........

[Shamrock1121]

Yes, you may use a boiling water bath method to can tomatoes - BUT - you need to make sure they have added an acid ingredient (bottled lemon juice) to the tomatoes and didn't use a low-acid tomato variety.

Tomatoes are borderline having the correct acid (pH) for using this canning method, to begin with. Never use low-acid tomatoes for canning; and it is IMPERATIVE that lemon juice, or other acid, be added to regular tomatoes. The control of botulinum bacteria depends on the acidity in the food.

If these were tomatoes that were late-season and were picked from dead or semi-dead plants, then they likely are NOT acid enough, and I'd hesitate canning them to begin with because of this. If they didn't add bottled lemon juice, then I wouldn't eat them for fear the low-acid environment may grow bacteria.

You will find complete canning instructions at this web site: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/usda/utah_can_guide_03.pdf

Or, follow instructions in the Ball Blue Book of Preserving (as long as the book is newer than 1990 edition). Boiling times were changed in 1989 to take altitude level into consideration, so don't use old recipes for canning because they may or may not be processed for the safe canning times, or use canning methods that may be dangerous.

If you suspect a home-canned food may not have been processed correctly, then NEVER taste it to see if it is "bad". Even so much as a taste of a spoiled food can be deadly. Just because a jar is sealed, doesn't mean bacteria can't grow in the jar. Bacteria actually grows in the low-oxygen environment. Spoiled low-acid foods, including tomatoes, may exhibit different kinds of spoilage evidence or very little evidence. Therefore, all suspect containers of spoiled low-acid foods, including tomatoes, should be treated as having produced botulinum toxin and handled carefully for disposal.

I'd never eat home-canned foods from people who don't know what they are doing when it comes to home canning and food safety. For more information, contact your local County Extension Office for up-to-date recipes and information.

-Karen

[mrblue]

Thanks a bunch... They are new to canning but are pretty good about following insturctions... i am not sure about the lemon juice... but i will find out.. they stewed the tomatoes for couples hours and then jarred in the hot water bath jars..... i will got ahead and chunk these jars this time and will forward the information to them..... Once again thanks a bunch and love the site...

[JBinKC]

You can can tomatoes using the water bath method provided you add an acid to it. Another factor to consider on the length of processing is altitude as you add 5 minutes per 1000 ft of elevation. I usually use bottled lime juice at a rate of a minimum of 1 tablespoon per pint as my acid mainly because it is a common flavor in Tex-Mexican cuisine.

You can also use citric acid or lemon juice as the acid. I always wanted to use pure ascorbic acid AKA vitamin C but never found anything solid using this acid. I know this acid is commonly used in commercial preservation of foods.

[docjered]

A little mold inside of one?? Throw the contents out, and I dont mean in your compost pile... If in doubt, you (he) can always recan the lot using some lemon or lime juice. The good thing about tomatoes is that you are not worried about them being too soft. Also, if the canning also contains the seeds, they sometimes have a tendency to make the tomatoes a little bitter, but no health ramifications. Okay, now my fatherly instincts come into play.
DO NOT PLAY AROUND WITH YOUR HEALTH by canning without knowledge. The Ball Blue Book costs less than ten dollars at virtually any grocery store. In the "good old days" enough people to populate a good sized town were killed by bad canning. Learn the proper method for the product you are canning and you will find the entire process rewarding beyond measure. If you are careful and hygienic, safe canning is easy and very enjoyable. I have many hundreds of jars of canned items in my food storage (alright, thousands but I didnt want to sound like one of "those" people). Start with high acid foods like tomatoes, fruits, jellies and jams, and pickling and then move on to pressure canned foods such as veggies, meats, beans, stews, chili, and more. One of the easiest things to start with is to take some tomatoes and make a great salsa!

[TNDadx4]

OK, now I'm a bit worried. I canned for the first time, but didn;t follow the Ball Blue Book. Instead, we used instructions that we had found online.

It went something like this...

1. We washed, then boiled the raw tomatoes for 30-60 seconds then placed them in cold water for 30 seconds.

2. We then peeled and cored them.

3. After that, we placed them in hot quart jars (previously washed in hot soapy water) with 4 Tbsp vinegar, 1 tsp salt and 1 Tbsp sugar

4. Next we filled up the jars the rest of the way with boiling water.

5. Finally, we placed them in a hot water bath for 45 minutes.

Does this sound OK???

Thanks in advance for your replies!

[JBinKC]

Did you use 4 tablespoons of vinegar per quart? If so you are likely safe.

[TNDadx4]

Yes, I used 4 tablespoons of vinegar, a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Is that OK?

Thanks!

[JBinKC]

As long as you boiled it long enough it should be.