To water bath can you need an acidity (PH) of 4.6 or lower (which is actually higher acidity, despite the lower number). That means most things need to be pickled with vinegar or have lemon juice or citric acid added. You need to be careful with mixing other things, like onions, garlic & herbs into things you're canning as it will change the acidity & then you need to worry about botulism. Tomatoes also vary quite a bit in acidity so it really is best to follow a trusted recipe from somewhere like Ball or the The National Center for Home Food Preservation when making something like salsa. If your acidity number is higher than 4.6 you need to pressure can. I'm a stickler with canning, please read up, you can kill people if you don't know what you're doing. But go to https://nchfp.uga.edu/ & read up! It's simple as long as you know what you're doing and are safe.
ETA: I have a PH tester I got from Amazon for a few bucks, it takes the guesswork out of testing acidity & makes me feel better that I'm safe. I use it for things like hot sauce to see if I need more vinegar to safely water bath can...(I've never come close to being questionable, lol)
ETA: I have a PH tester I got from Amazon for a few bucks, it takes the guesswork out of testing acidity & makes me feel better that I'm safe. I use it for things like hot sauce to see if I need more vinegar to safely water bath can...(I've never come close to being questionable, lol)
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