[Comfreypatch]

I want to make pasta sauce , have bought Kilner jars with lid and screw band. I need to be clear on the canning process. Can anyone give me some advice?

[Snoop]

Have a look on the web for canning pasta sauce. You need to be very careful to avoid botulism. Americans do a lot of canning and they have huge pressure canners (like a giant pressure cooker) for the purpose. You'll find plenty of American websites giving advice. One I've found useful (in that it put me off, as almost nothing I was thinking of canning can actually be canned) is:

http://nchfp.uga.edu/

[Comfreypatch]

Thanks for that Snoop. Rather puts me off canning but freezer if full to bursting and I have to do something with the tomatoes.

[Snoop]

If you're bottling just tomatoes rather than making sauce, then you don't need to be quite so cautious. I don't do it, so won't give you any advice, but I'm sure if you search for a thread on bottling toms, you'll find something. If not, start another thread on bottling or canning tomatoes. (Bottling is UK speak for what Americans call canning.)

A dehydrator might be another option (though another cost). There are lots of dehydrator fans on this forum.

[tosca100]

Bottling is a way of life here, everything goes into bottles or jars and processed on fires in the yard. Did loads of tomato sauce and lutinitsa (mixed pepper, tomato and aubergine sauce) last year and lived to tell the tale. All was processed in a huge pan of water. Most of the info was found on the internet as I can't speak the language. I keep my freezer space for veg as I can't be doing with bottled veg, and meat and some fruit, but some is bottled or dried.

I think most stuff is safe if you stick to the rules, but everything has a different time in the waterbath. And don't skimp on sterilising the jars.

[mumofstig]

I do mine like this, very simple

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=82201.msg918774#msg918774

[LotuSeed]

I want to make pasta sauce , have bought Kilner jars with lid and screw band. I need to be clear on the canning process. Can anyone give me some advice?

I can a lot of produce and since canning is so big here in the States there is a lot of info on safety guidelines and recipes for doing it successfully. Tomato sauce, and other tomato products, can be safely processed using the boiling water bath method. The key is to find a tested recipe and to stick to it. Every recipe I have seen requires acidification with either the addition of bottled lemon juice, some sort of vinegar or citric acid. This step is still required when using a pressure canner.  I can't emphasize enough the importance of adhering to a tested recipe. Adding things willy nilly (especially low acid items like onions, peppers and aubergines, can alter the ph, making it too high (low acid) to safely bottle.

Here's a great one
http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_home.html

And another
http://www.freshpreserving.com/getting-started

I used this recipe last season and probably will again this season
http://www.freshpreserving.com/recipes/basil-garlic-tomato-sauce

It's a really simple recipe and you can add whatever fresh (or frozen) ingredients to it just before you serve it.

If you have any other questions regarding canning I'd be happy to help

[mumofstig]

I think the states is very risk averse, compared with the UK and the rest of Europe.

Would your tested recipes only be the ones from your info sites, or could they include the ones used by Italian families for years, and the ones Tosca uses in Bulgaria?

[Comfreypatch]

Thanks lotus seed, I will look at those sites. I see it says bottled lemon juice, can you use freshly squeezed lemon?

I know in US you can jams and chutneys as well, not something we do over here, it is thought the sugar and vinegar is enough of a preservative. I make lots of jam and chutney and have never had any problems.

I am aiming to do it sometime this week, I will be in touch if I need further help.

[LotuSeed]

Mumofstig
I think it's very much a case of erring on the side of caution, that and liability. I know it's done differently in different parts of the world and this is just how it's done here.
Tested recipes are ones that have been formulated tested and studied by an extension office or other governmental body that deals with food safety. They determine ingredient ratios, which I believe are dictated by acidity of different things used, and they've also tested processing times to ensure that any undesirable bacteria or nasties are killed off and that the final product maintains (as much as possible) the desired texture and nutritional value.

Using recipes or even techniques that have been passed down from generation to generation are not usually recommended. For example with tomatoes, lots of folks say that their parents or grandparents never added acid to tomatoes. It's argued however, that the tomatoes we grow now a days aren't as acidic as the ones that were grown all those years ago, consequently the emphasis on the addition of acid.

I do think it has a lot to do with liability. The company that manufactures the canning supplies also puts out a book on preserving. But we also have the national center for home food preservation and innumerable university extension offices that offer tested recipes as well.

We do process everything in a boiling water bath or a pressure canner. Vinegar, sugar and salt act as preservatives but processing helps sanitize everything so no "baddies" get preserved.  There are quite a few that don't follow the recommended guidelines since that's the way they've always done things and no one's ever died. I didn't grow up canning, so I can't  find that argument useful. I prefer to err on the side of caution and use the scientifically tested and approved recipes over anecdotal evidence.

Like I said before though, that's just how things are recommended they be done here. That said there there a lots of people who deviate and use other recipes and techniques that they are more comfortable with or more experienced with. 

This doesn't by any means invalidate how things are done in other parts of the world and I would love to hear Tosca's take on canning/bottling and the techniques and recipes she uses.  =)

Comfreypatch
Bottled lemon juice has a consistent ph and so that is why it is called for instead of fresh. When a recipe calls for vinegar, sometimes it will even list the percentage of acidity it should have.

It can seem overwhelming and some of the steps can seem superfluous, but it's worth it when you consider all the time, effort and energy that goes in to it.
Happy Canning

[tosca100]

Things are very different here Lotuseed. It has a lot to do with what is available, recipes don't really come in to it. For example lutinitsa. Everyone has their own preference as to what goes into it. It is basically pepper, tomato and aubergine with added salt to taste and a little oil. I am presuming the oil makes a seal but you wouldn'y know it was there as there is not much of it. The amount of each veg depends what is on the vine. Peppers are roasted over a fire and skinned, tomatoes are sometimes skinned, sometimes not, aubergines roasted and pulp extracted. All cooked down till thick, salt and oil added and bottled and bathed. Some people add garlic or onion  but these are usually added when the sauce is used.

All veg and veg sauces are bottled too, but it is not something that l have gone in to as l don't like them. Our neighbour is constantly sending these round but l am afraid they languish on a shelf of their own in the cellar. Bottled meat is also sent, which goes to the dogs or chickens not because it is not nice but because they use everything and there is usually a huge lump of fat or gristle in the middle and we were not brought up on these things. But giving is part of the culture so to refuse would cause offence. At the moment we are recieving huge jars of end of season chunky veg, brined and pickled and waterbathed. These consist of whole green and red tomatoes with some tiny pea sized ones and tiny yellow pear shaped ones for decoration, large chunks of carrot and cucumber, whole peppers, garlic, dill seed heads, some other herbs and the last lot had okra in too. l will post pictures later.

These videos are made by a Brit married to a Bulgarian lady. http://inbulgaria.co.uk/  and give a small insight into village life.

[LotuSeed]

Tosca- Lutinitsa sounds really good, especially with the roasted peppers in it
I checked out a few of those videos and enjoyed seeing how bottling was done in another part of the world. And though the video with the colored eggs isn't related to bottling, I was mesmerized by the colors lol. So fascinating.

Maybe it's because of the fast-paced lifestyle of the area that I live, but I find that I'm the one only in the neighborhood that bottles and shares her canned goods. I thinks it's more common out in the more rural areas of the state. I have a neighbor up that street that loves my low-sugar jams and applesauce. Every time I see her she has an empty jar to give back to me whereupon she usually confesses to having eaten most, if not all of it, in one sitting 

Do you bottle in the summer to get through the winter? How long do the different foods last? Do you use any other methods of preservation like drying, salting or freezing?

 

[tosca100]

A bit of everything really. Most veg is frozen but I bottle most of my tomatoes in sauce, whole, pickled cherry(something new) and lutinitsa. Concentrated tomato puree and pesto (made with land cress) is frozen in ice cube trays.  I make and sell lots of chutneys and pickled cucumbers and beans. Any left at the end of the season will go into our larder. I dry onions and garlic and semi dry tomatoes (put them in oil in the freezer) dry and freeze herbs and chillis for different dishes, and dry watermelon. Grow borlotti and white beans for soups and stews. Dry grapes for cakes and figs. Most fruit is jammed or jellied, but I do have some peaches, apricots and pears bottled, and raspberries loose frozen. This year I have frozen onions as they suffered in the wet weather and were rotting, and plan to make sauerkraut, and have sqaush in the cellar. The only thing we are short of are potatoes, will be more prepared next year and put more in and less of other things. We probably have enough fruit and veg to last a couple of winters!

Also have walnuts to come and honey from the hive. I keep some shelled walnuts to grab in the freezer, most will stay in their shells.

[Snoop]

A bit of everything really. Most veg is frozen but I bottle most of my tomatoes in sauce, whole, pickled cherry(something new) and lutinitsa. Concentrated tomato puree and pesto (made with land cress) is frozen in ice cube trays.  I make and sell lots of chutneys and pickled cucumbers and beans. Any left at the end of the season will go into our larder. I dry onions and garlic and semi dry tomatoes (put them in oil in the freezer) dry and freeze herbs and chillis for different dishes, and dry watermelon. Grow borlotti and white beans for soups and stews. Dry grapes for cakes and figs. Most fruit is jammed or jellied, but I do have some peaches, apricots and pears bottled, and raspberries loose frozen. This year I have frozen onions as they suffered in the wet weather and were rotting, and plan to make sauerkraut, and have sqaush in the cellar. The only thing we are short of are potatoes, will be more prepared next year and put more in and less of other things. We probably have enough fruit and veg to last a couple of winters!

Also have walnuts to come and honey from the hive. I keep some shelled walnuts to grab in the freezer, most will stay in their shells.

Wow, Tosca. That's amazing. I wish I was as industrious as you. I reckon I'm at least two years away from that kind of winter preparation. One year, we were cut off three times by snow, two weeks at least each time, but since that year we've had very little snow and I've got a bit blasé. Must get my act together this year, just in case.

[tosca100]

Oh yes, once I get flour, dog and chicken food and oil the winter can do it's worst. We have plenty of wood, gas if we need it if the lecky goes off.....and there is why bottling is still the norm. We are lucky here, but a lot of villages have a very unreliable electricity supply and some high villages which need water pumping up to them only have it for certain times a day. We have to remember to keep drinking water for if the water freezes.

There is always a chance that we will lose the electricity long enough to ruin frozen food. That would be exceedingly upsetting but we would survive, even if things would be repetitive. And I still have all the bottled veg the neighbours have given us the last couple of years. I am planning on bottling my squat peppers next week.

Snoop, I am enjoying growing and preserving. A lot start but give up first year as it is hard work when things come in gluts. They rarely go beyond a year.