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| Just had to share my good news! Most of the tomato products I process use diced tomatoes (Annie's Salsa, Chunky Basil Tomato Sauce, Stewed Tomatoes, etc.) But I am usually extremely slow at preparing tomatoes for dicing. I just made a batch of Annie's Salsa using "Jersey Devil" tomatoes. They are the best. Deep red flesh that stays firm in blanching, thin skin that comes off without any flesh, very little gel and seeds in the cavities which are easily spotted from the outside so that cutting in the right place is simple. Took only minutes to prepare 8 cups of diced tomatoes. And they have a wonderful, rich tomato flavor. They did come in late, but so did most of our others this year. Next year half our tomato crop will be Jersey Devils. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Forgot to say they are HUGE plum-type tomatoes shaped like the horns of a devil. |
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| Diced? My copy of Annie's Salsa says "chopped" and Chunky Basil says "coarsely chopped". Stewed Tomatoes are coarsely chopped too. May I ask why you are dicing them? It changes the finished texture and density substantially. Just curious. Have you had a chance to try all 3 recipes using varieties other than paste types? I know others have commented here on the problems with Annie's Salsa when paste tomatoes are used. I find the pastes are usually too dry and less flavorful than slicers and hearts. if you have the opportunity try some for comparison and see which you prefer. Dave |
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| OMG, Dave. I didn't know that there was a difference between diced and chopped. This is my first time using plum-type tomatoes. I have always used orbital tomatoes that were juicy and have been dicing them for the past 5 years or so. They were always very juicy and thank God nothing bad happened with any of those batches. My salsa is on the stove cooking right now, and it is very thick. Is there anything I can do to salvage it? Add juice saved from other tomato projects? With more acid? Pressure can it as well? I can't imagine losing all of this, but sure want it to be safe. Thanks for letting me know. Lynda |
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| Now that it boiled for 10 minutes it is pretty liquidy. Not nearly as thick as I thought it might be. Not different from the other batches I've made in years past. Will the size of the dice make the salsa unsafe? |
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| Your salsa is perfectly fine. Quoting from the scientific paper on acidification of salsas on the NCHFP site, for their testing they used: "200 g Roma tomatoes (peeled, deseeded, and diced to approx. 1/4") ~ tomato juices were drained and discarded." |
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| Thanks,Maina. I read the paper and it does look like I should be alright. And their recipe used a lot more low-acid ingredients. A 1 to 1 ratio with the tomatoes and it appears as if there was less acid, although hard to tell since I can't convert grams to cups and don't know how much tomatoes were actually used. And they didn't boil it for 10 minutes. Still feeling a little queasy though. May end up freezing just to be safe. |
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| No as Malna said your salsa is fine safety-wise as long as it isn't too thick and all other measurements remain the same. Didn't mean that at all. It is just that dicing will affect your measurements - 4 cups diced is more tomatoes than 4 cups chopped tomatoes. And it will also give you a very different texture (more like sauce), a different mouth feel when diced. So you just need to be aware that diced will cook down to a sauce consistency much faster than chopped or chunks so you may need to add some additional juice to it if needed. The terms "diced" and "chopped" mean different things to different people but generally diced is a much finer chop and results in much smaller pieces (approx. 1/4") than chopped (3/4") and coarse chopped (1-1 1/2"). Here is a good picture of the difference. Click on the arrow to the right of the can to the picture of them in spoons. Dave |
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| Thanks, Dave. I'm adding some juice to be on the safe side. The tomato sauce and juice both have been canned with lemon juice, so I'm sure the acid level will be okay. Going to jar them up now, and take a deep breath. I love the stewed tomatoes done with a dice. Everybody who uses them says they're the best ever. Is it okay to continue to dice them? |
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| You know, that is the BIG issue I have with American cooking books and instructions. If you are familiar with European publications and some from Canada, you will find they tend to call out weights more than volumetric measurements. It's especially troubling when the directions are for something where there are things like onions or garlic (non acid) included with salsas or pickles. And the ambiguous nature of how large is a dice compared to a chop or call out for some many 'small onions' sigh.......and sigh again. |
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| Yes, Calliope, it can be confusing, especially to someone who is still learning. Decided to see what happens when converted to ounces. Turns out 200 grams is slightly more tha 7 ounces. Not much tomato and veggies for the 1/4 cup acid called for. Certainly much more acid than my 5 pounds of tomatoes, 4 1/4 cup of veggies and 1 cup of vinegar. I know that I shouldn't compare Annie's recipe to NCHFP's but it does make one pause. And I'm still sitting here wondering how thick is TOO thick for the salsa? I personally don't eat salsa. My grandkids love it and I make it for them. Mine turned out as thick as "Newman's Own", but is that too thick for home processing? The instructions say that it should be thin enough that the veggies stay suspended in the liquid. I don't understand that since the opposite seems to be true to me. When the sauce is thin and liquidy the veggies are not suspended; when the sauce is thick the are suspended throughout. I know it's me. Everyone here seems to get it. I guess I'm just a slow learner and very skiddish at the moment. Actually more scared now that I was 7 years ago when I first ventured into the world of canning. |
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| I agree calliope but for now it is what we are stuck with far as I can tell. And there is a solution. Do what the recipe calls for and learn the difference in the various terms. Note I didn't say it was a good solution. :) The good solution is to take the time to weigh things and make notes. If you want to use diced tomatoes to make Stewed Tomatoes then take the time to first measure how many cups of coarse chopped that are called for and weigh them. THEN dice them and remeasure. Note the difference (you may surprised how much it is) and make a note for the future. If you dice them first before measuring and weighing them you are adding a great deal more tomatoes to the mix then called for. Many of us have converted our favorite recipes to weighted portions over the years. Weigh x cups of coarse chopped tomatoes and use that same weight of diced tomatoes in the future. There is always a margin of safety built into all the tested recipes but that safety margin assumes we are following the instructions as closely as possible. Dave |
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| Thanks, Dave. I will do that. Weighing is so much easier and more reliable. |
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| That's a good answer Dave and often what one eventually figures out when it says you should get five jars of product and end up with four or six. It's one of those Uh-Oh moments. |
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| The terms "diced" and "chopped" mean different things to different people but generally diced is a much finer chop and results in much smaller pieces (approx. 1/4") than chopped (3/4") and coarse chopped (1-1 1/2"). Dave ****************************************************************** IMO the two terms are not the same. For example, You CANNOT dice parsley. You chop it. With things like zukes, cukes, tomatoes usually you DICE them. Thou you can chop them too. Dicing give you a nice consistant size. For example dice into 1/4" cubs(whatever) . But Chopping has no standard. It depend on who is chopping what. Chopped tomato is more like mashed and random in shape and size. So , If I want to make a fresh salsa(Salad type) I would dice tomatoes, tomatilloes, cucumbers, Onions. BUT will chop the cilantro. AS you mentioned, Chopping and Dicing can mean differen to different people and I stated what it means to me. |
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