Cook all ingredients, run thru colander. Add 1 tsp canning salt to each quart jar and seal. Makes 8 quarts

Okay, the friend who gave this to me has been doing this recipe for years and others around here make it as well. There's a lot of details missing in the recipe, I'm assuming it's because he has those details memorized. Such as how long/pressure to process. Also it says colander......does that mean juicing it? I'd like to know what you all think about what my friends are making, and I'm certain that some friends are not pressure canning this at all.

There is a similar approved recipe here called Shirley's Vegetable Juice Cocktail that many of us use. It requires 35 mins. pressure canning at 10 lbs adjusted per altitude. But it also calls for the added acid (lemon juice or citric acid).

Dave

Vegetable Juice Cocktail
2 tbls celery seed
7 quarts fresh tomatoes
2-3 peppers
3-4 onions
2 carrots
Lemon Juice
Salt
Sugar
Cook tomatoes. Liquify other vegetables in blender or food processor and add to tomatoes along with celery seed. (If you need to, you can add just a little cooked tomato mixture to the blender to help liquify. That's what I did) Simmer 45 minutes, put through a food mill, return to pan and bring back to a simmer. Pour hot into hot jars and to each pint jar add 1 tbls lemon juice, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp sugar. Seal jars and pressure can 35 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.

Makes about 7 quarts.

what can my friends do that would be safer......or at least I'd feel better about myself that I informed them and made that effort?

Do they want to know better? Usually we find that folks who have been making something like this for years aren't interested in changing their ways and even resent such advice.

But if they are interested then the easiest thing to do would be to print out the NCHFP instructions for them. At the very least they need to add the lemon juice or citric acid. They are counting on the acidity of the tomatoes (which is low to begin with) to cover all the really low acid vegetables they are adding.

And set a specific processing time. 35 min for quarts would be the minimum I can see and longer would be safer. Given all the low-acid vegetables they are adding then Mixed Vegetables processing time is 75-90 mins.

Dave

"Acidification: To ensure safe acidity in whole, crushed, or juiced tomatoes, add two tablespoons of bottled lemon juice or 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid per quart of tomatoes. For pints, use one tablespoon bottled lemon juice or 1/4 teaspoon citric acid. Acid can be added directly to the jars before filling with product. Add sugar to offset acid taste, if desired. Four tablespoons of a 5 percent acidity vinegar per quart may be used instead of lemon juice or citric acid. However, vinegar may cause undesirable flavor changes."

That is far too much of a generalization. Acidity is very relevant, even in pressure canning. The need for added acid depends on the food in question and on the processing time. In general, the less acidic the longer the processing time has to be.

In this case there was both no acid and no processing time stipulated since it is an untested recipe. Plus they were adding more than 2x the recommended amounts of other low-acid vegetables. So the choice in this case is add the acid and PC process for a reasonable length of time OR process as mixed vegetables at the max time of 75-90 mins.

Dave