This weekend I finally canned some things...thanks to KP and 25lbs of tomatoes. Both of us are fairly novice at the canning business, but KP has some family history. Which sort of says something - having seen it done and maybe not being so worried about botulism (like others of us were). Except grandma's technique to not boil the jars a second time seemed a little too risky, even to KP. Canning is scientific, and though we debated following the salsa recipe allotment of 2 cups (!) lemon juice or just putting lemon in each jar, we ultimately followed the recipe. The lemon juice functions as the additional acid needed to prevent botulism, and apparently tomatoes hover below the right amount of acidity - especially with onions and peppers. Interestingly, you need to use bottled lemon juice - I am still not clear why. I think in the future I might try to find citric acid though (way more concentrated), because 2 c. of lemon juice adds a lot of liquid.
There are lots of salsa and tomato canning recipes online. KP found this salsa recipe that is a good amount of kick. The orange and red heirlooms also made for stunning jars.Canning was definitely an all day project- especially with the pots we had which held only 4 jars at a time. Phase two for canning includes getting another pot...maybe the actual canning kind?! FYI: 25lbs of tomatoes = 9 pints of salsa and 7 quarts of tomatoes, approximately.
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