You are fine. garlic refers to fresh garlic. Dried spices are always OK.

The prohibition against dried veggies as opposed to spices and herbs is that dried veggies may be added in large enough quantities to alter the density. But when you add a teaspoon of dried oregano or garlic powder, that's not a safety issue.

The only "issue" is that sometimes flavors change during shelf time and excessive amounts can turn bitter or strong. But that's taste, not health.

Enjoy your tomatoes.

Carol

Thank you Carol!

Do you know if it would be alright to substitute extra peppers for the onions? ie, instead of:

2 qt tomatoes
1/4 c. onion
1/4 c. green peppers

to do
2 qt tomatoes
1/2 c. green peppers

In case our peppers aren't very hot?

would be alright to substitute extra peppers for the onions? ie, instead of:

Generally no. They are different pH. You can sub like for like eg. sweet peppers for hot peppers, red onions for white onions, etc. but not different vegetables.

If you want it hotter add dried hot spices or a hotter pepper.

Dave

PS: there is an approved Rotel-type recipe in the Greatest Recipes threads

Here is a link that might be useful: Greatest recipes

I think this receipe says to add bottled lemon juice or citric acid to each jar before processing. This is required to insure the proper acid level even for pressure canning, becuase the times are to get it to 212 deg, not 240.

From NCHFP site: "Tomatoes are borderline in pH between acid and low acid foods, so the USDA preparation directions for these products call for acidification to allow a less severe heat treatment than would be required without it. "

So if you substitued fresh lime juice for bottled lemon juice, you may have a concern. If you added lime juice and still added bottled Lemon/Citric acid, then it's not a problem.

Macybaby, the recipe as written on their site doesn't include any vinegar or lemon, citric acid. I'd wondered about that too and checked, she followed their instructions...

Here is a link that might be useful: uga.edu publications tomatoes

interesting - the Ball book has a very similar recipe and theirs calls for adding acid to it. Some of those listed on the PDF in the link call for it, some don't. Maybe some are newer and others are old that have not been retested doing things a bit differently.

I can't add lemon juice as DH is allergic to sulfates and they are a preservative in bottled juice. I add powdered citric acid, but I'd rather process the tomatoes a bit longer and leave out the acid all together.

I did find something interesting in the PDF file, it says "When any of the tomato packs, tomato sauce or tomato juice directions have options for both boiling water and pressure canning, then the two alternatives are equal processed to boiling water canning. The Pressure option is not additional heating that would allow for leaving out the acidification step.

However the stewed tomatoes only has PC times.

I wish someone would publish times for plain tomatoes or sauce for PC that did not require acidification.

That UGA.edu publication is dated July 2010, and edited by Dr. Elizabeth Andress. My understanding was that she is the 'gold standard' when it comes to canning safety....

Some recipes are tested without citric acid and some with it.

In this case, adding citric acid to plain tomatoes makes boiling water bath OR pressure canning possible. A lot of people don't own a PC.

The stewed tomatoes have low-acid additional ingredients, so pressure canning is the only option and therefore it's not necessary to require additional acid.

A lot of these recipes were tested by different Extension agencies or at different times, sometimes with additional acid, sometimes not. Now the NCHFP is shut down for lack of funding and many Extension agencies are holding on by a thread, so there's just no money for additional testing or development of new recipes. It's sad, but except for Ball or certified individuals like Ellie Topp, I think what's out there now is all we're going to get for a long, long while.

Carol