Canning Salsa Extension

Follow these tips to ensure a safe canned salsa.

Best salsa recipe tomatillo. Program assistant part time. For these reasons it is recommended that you do not can your favorite family salsa recipe. Because of its many uses it is a very popular canned product.

Choose only high quality disease free firm produce for canning. The addition of acid to salsa recipes for canning is necessary because the natural level of acidity may not be adequate for safety. Canning salsa is a tricky task because you are combining highly acidic tomatoes with peppers onions and other low acid foods.

Salsa needs added acid to ensure product safety. Commonly used acids in home canning are vinegar lemon and lime juices. Unfortunately there are no guidelines that allow home food preservers to safely adjust their personal canning recipes to be safe.

Not everyone is aware that several years ago the university of wisconsin published research which indicates that a steam canner may be safely used for canning naturally acid foods such as peaches pears and apples acidified foods such as salsa or picklesand jams and jellies as long as all of the following criteria are met. Usu extension only recommends research tested salsa recipes that provide evidence of safe acidification to inhibit clostridium botulinum growth. Lemon and lime juices are more acidic than vinegar but have less effect on flavor.

The acid ingredients used in salsa help preserve it. If you want to can salsa safely use a recipe that has been tested. If you fail to properly balance the acid levels in your salsa you create a breeding ground for food borne bacteria that can make you seriously ill according to karen blakeslee a food scientist with kansas state university.

Salsa recipes for canning val hillers and richard dougherty washington state university cooperative extension most salsa recipes are a mixture of low acid foods such as onions and peppers with acid foods such as tomatoes. Salsa safe canning tips. These salsa recipes have been tested to ensure that they contain enough acid to be processed safely in a boiling water.

For people looking for some flexibility in canning salsa a formula for making salsa called choice salsa allows the food preserver to choose the amount of bell peppers hot peppers and onion in the recipe as long as the total amount. Salsa is a great addition to any party snack or meal. Canning is not a way to use overripe or damaged tomatoes or tomatoes from dead or frost killed vines because these may cause the product to spoil and be unsafe to eat.