Recipes

[RedTop]

@Allegheny,

Regardless of canning method, there should always be a distinct sound when the seal on the can lid is broken.    

[Tuppermore]

Allegheny ~ There should definitely be the sound of pressure being released when the flat is removed.  Also, I always check the color of home canned tomatoes.  If air has gotten into them, they will turn dark. 

I also noticed that a comment was made regarding the acidity of tomatoes.  They are generally a high acid food.   However, many of the new hybrid varies are lower in acid.  All of my newer recipes recommend adding lemon juice or citric acid to each jar of tomatoes to bring up the acid level as well as using a pressure canner which gets up to a much higher temperature than boiling water.  Many of the new GMO and hybrid tomatoes are bred to be sweeter and have a lower acid content than when I first started canning in 1978. 

It's interesting to consider how much home canning has changed through the years.  When I first started canning, low acid foods like green beans were to be boiled in an uncovered sauce pan for 10 minutes before tasting just to be safe!  With the new guidelines, I can all of our dry beans, many soups, and meats along with all of our fruit, jams and jellies, relishes, syrup and fruit sauces.  I basically can all year.  The winter is for dry beans, meat, and soups.  The summer is for all the seasonal produce. I really enjoy going to the basement and enjoying my hard work.

[waha]

Having to toss out home canned items because the person who canned them had progressed to a point it might not be safe to eat is hard to do! Mom was put in a memory unit 2 years and 2 weeks ago and my husband, grandson and myself loaded a 16' car hauler trailer 4 cases high with home canned foods and we still have the main storage room to clear out. Some of the items were from the late '90s and still looked good but, she kept her house near 100 degrees near the end of her living there and I didn't feel good about using them. We hauled them to a woman who had a batch of hogs and could use all those jars! She said it took her a month to empty them all. As far as safety and longevity, I've canned for 60 years and it does keep for years. I have green beans, carrots, etc. that I canned about 5 years ago that we are using and they still taste fine. As far as darkening some on top, that is normal. Especially if the liquid boiled up and out when canning which is normal. I  just skim that portion off. I do watch for bubbling since it is a sign of bad food.

[Allegheny]

@waha  

Thank you for sharing.  My your Mom was a canner.  I hope she is doing well in the memory care center.  My uncle is adjusting and is developing some friendships with the other men there.  It is difficult for me to see him there; aside from losing his short term memory, he was relatively self sufficient at home with caregivers.   Because of his social and professional demeanor many people who conversed with him for brief periods didn't realize he had a dementia problem.  However, his being a bachelor with responsible family members living out of state, the decision to place him had to be made for future safety issues.

But I degress.....I shared half the jarred tomatoes with an old friend who is quite experienced in canning.  Of the twenty quarts I passed on, she only found two that didn't seal properly.  That makes me more comfortable using the jars I kept.  Thanks to everyone here and my friend I am confident in knowing how to recognize a spoiled jar.