Processing spaghetti sauce with olive oil
I canned many new recipes from your book since I had an awesome garden this year. In your recipe for salsa, thickened with tomato paste I used 2 – 6 oz cans of tomato paste for a total of 12 oz. Was that correct or was it supposed to be 2 – 12 oz cans. My other question is about the spaghetti sauce without meat. Would it change the processing time if I leave out the olive oil?
Barb Jaggard
Walker, Minnesota
You were correct; it was two six-ounce cans, for a total of 12 oz.
No, you don’t change the processing time if you leave out the olive oil. I often do that and it always turns out great. — Jackie
Turnips and rutabagas
I am just wanting to know the difference between turnips and rutabagas? I don’t know that I have ever tasted a rutabaga, however I do like turnips, and in the photo you posted they look like turnips. Just wondering, I may want to try growing them. Also could you do something on heirlooms and more on how to grow them, distances between types of plants, and so forth. I really want to know so I can get true seeds to save.
Judy Hiatt
Marysville, Kansas
Turnips and rutabagas are closely related. Rutabagas have yellow flesh and are a little sweeter than turnips. They are also larger — mine weighed from a pound to more than five pounds. And I didn’t thin them, either! The leaves are also good as greens, as are turnip tops.
I recently did an article on seed saving, which was in the May/June 2011 issue. (Issue 129) I’m sure I’ll also be doing more on this topic again in the future. — Jackie
