Fresh salsa....canning question....water bath

[arabianequine]

I made fresh salsa 3 days ago can I still water bath can it? I heard you had to put vinegar or lime in it. How much of these do I put in the salsa?

 

[Ridgerunner]

What recipe are you using to make the salsa? Did you add anything acidic, like vinegar or lemon juice? What stuff other than tomatoes did you add? How much of these did you use?

The acid in the mix is what makes it possible to water bath a lot of tomato products. But some tomatoes are not all that acidic, plus to make salsa, you probably added stuff other than tomatoes that may not be all that acidic to start with. When water bath canning tomatoes, tomato juice, puree, or many tomato products, the recipe usually calls for a certain amount of acid, like lemon juice or in the case of salsa vinegar, just to be sure the acid level is high enough. What all this is about is botulism. The botulism organism cannot live and reproduce in stuff that is high acid.

Can you water bath can that salsa after three days? Yes, if the acid level is high enough. I’d boil it for a while before canning it just to make sure it is still sterile. Waterbath canning will not kill all other potential spores and stuff that can ruin it. If you don’t sterilize the salsa and the jars and lids, you might wind up with a mold growing on top when you go to open it.

 

[arabianequine]

I have not put any lime/lemon in it. I did put a bit of vinegar not much a couple splashes. I only have 2 (8oz) jars. I used white vinegar. Oh by the way does white vinegar go bad. I have had it in the cupboard and it had been opened. It is probably less then 6 months old.

Tonight would be the forth day it has been made. I have not sterilized the jars it is just sitting in them in the frig.
I put 1 jalepeno, roma tomatoes....like 10, some green pepper, garlice, yellow and white onion, and cilantro.

I also did not take the skins off of tomatoes. It does not bug me fresh. I have not cooked the salsa as of yet at all.

 

[arabianequine]

I might have to wait till next time to do it.

 

[IslandChiks]

It is perfectly OK to water bath can it because the tomatos will be acidic enough.
Make sure you wash the tomato well then for flavor add lime,salt,cilantro and at least one tablespoon of Heinz apple cider vinegar per qt. (be careful about using off-brand vinegars as they are often watered down).
Yummy

 

[Ridgerunner]

It is perfectly OK to water bath can it because the tomatos will be acidic enough.

This is dangerous advice. Not all tomatoes are acidic enough even if you add nothing else low acid with them. They have developed low acid tomatoes so they don't upset some people's stomachs when they eat them.

The roma tomatoes should be high enough acid level I wouldn't worry about them by themselves, but the garlic, peppers, and onions bring the acidity down. I don't know how much vinegar you would need to add to make it safe. Part of that would depend on what percent acidity vinegar you are using.

If you decide to wait until next time, find a recipe especailly for canning salsa. It should tell you how much to add plus tell you how long you need to process it.

 

[wyoDreamer]

This link goes to the UW Extension brochure on Canned Salsa. There are some recipes in there, compare your recipe to those or better yet use their recipes for successful canning.

http://pepin.uwex.edu/files/2010/10/CanningSalsaSafely.pdf

Personally, I probably wouldn't can it at this point, if anything I would freeze it and try to use it up asap. I believe you can still can it if you want though. You will need to add vinegar and/or lemon juice to it, but how much to add is the question. Do you remember the amounts of what you made the salsa with - like 12 tomatoes, 2 peppers, 2 onions or what not. Compare your quantites to the recipes in the brochure and come up with an educated guess on what you need to add for vinegar/lemon juice/acid.

Salsa is a hot pack item so you will need to dump the salsa into a pot and boil it for 10 minutes, and heat the jars to sterilize them before filling. Always check the quality of anything you can before eating it. I always check the seal, open it and see if it bubbles, look for signs of spoilage (ie. mold anywhere) and give it a quick sniff before and after dumping it out of the jar. I had mild food poisoning once and don't ever want to go through that again so I am careful.