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| Hi All, I'm hoping you can help me. I'd like to start canning, and the first thing I'd like to preserve is a family recipe tomato relish. How do I know that this is safe to can, and how do I know how much headspace to leave, and how long to boil for? I've attached the recipe so you can see the ingredients. Thanks in advance for your help :) |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Sorry but I can't read all the ingredients and have no idea what Grandma's Chili Jam is. But I think it says 1 cup flour? If so then it cannot be canned. No flour, cornstarch, pastas, rice, or thickeners of any kind are approved for canning with the exception of a couple of lab tested recipes and a product called Clear Jel. Same holds for oils, fats, dairy products of any kind. As a general rule home canning isn't something one can just jump into the deep end of the pool. :) It has a learning curve and part of that learning is first understanding what may and may not be safely canned and why. Usually old family recipes don't meet the basic safety requirements and are not recommended for canning as there is no way to answer many important questions: the pH, the density, the type and time amount of processing required, etc. This is especially true for those recipes that were intended to be made for fresh use - cooking recipes in other words. Cooking is an art, canning is a science. If you could provide a more readable recipe we might be able to tell you how it can be modified for safe canning. Meanwhile if you want to learn about the basics of home canning the best places to start are with a copy of the Ball Blue Book of Canning and at NCHFP (linked below). Dave |
Here is a link that might be useful: Natl. Center for Home Food Preservation
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- Posted by readinglady z8 OR (My Page) on Sat, Nov 16, 13 at 0:14
| For convenience ingredient list is as follows: 750g ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped [26.5 oz.] I do not understand the cup measure for the malt vinegar. Other measurements sound British. A British Imperial cup is 10 ounces so in American terms it would be 1.2 cups or thereabouts. I don't know what the 2/3 cup that follows it is about. So if that's clarified, perhaps we can discuss the recipe. Original instructions call for refrigeration, not canning. Carol |
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| OK - true confession time - I make a batch of a very similar tomato relish every year for my neighbor who is Australian. She gave me her mom's recipe and we adapted it slightly (mostly so I felt more comfortable canning it for her). I loved this stuff when I was in Australia, especially on meat pies. Our recipe is pretty close to yours. **This is not a USDA approved recipe**. 1-1/2 kg tomatoes, peeled and chopped Put the tomatoes and onions in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Let drain overnight. Discard the juice. Next day, to the drained tomato-onion mixture, add: Bring to a boil and gently boil for 10 minutes. Add the spices: Cook for about 1 hour (gentle boil or pretty healthy simmer). Taste and adjust seasoning. Salting and draining the tomatoes and onions usually results in a thick enough relish so I don't have to use any thickener. If it does need thickening, I've done a couple of different things. I've added Pomona Pectin, ClearJel, and yes, I've used cornflour (cornstarch) whisked into some vinegar - about 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. I have found some Canadian relish recipes for canning that use cornstarch for a thickener, so I'm not totally out in left field here. Remember - I didn't say this was a USDA approved recipe... I bottle hers using 1/2" headspace and process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes, which is a typical headspace and time for chutneys I make. |
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| Ah Carol has much better eyes than I do (even if she is almost as old and me :). Needless to say 1 T of flour is better than 1 cup but I'd still leave it out. You can always thicken the jar after you open it. malna's recipe sounds almost perfect for you. Dave |
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| thanks everyone :) yes, I'm Australian, hence the weird measurements. Malna would you still consider this is OK on the shelf for 12 months? |
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| If it was me, I'd feel comfortable leaving it on the shelf - do understand that I have a lot of contrary Canadian and European genes in my pool ;-), so I do tend to nudge the edge of the envelope with canning, what I consider, low risk stuff like this recipe. As we often say here, we're not the canning police. Can/bottle/jar what you will feel comfortable eating and sharing with family or anyone you care about LOL. Just to emphasize, my personal opinion is this is a low risk recipe. Now if you told me you were canning something with meat, fish, or corn for example, no way would I recommend anything but USDA tested and approved recipes.
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- Posted by myfamilysfarm 5b (My Page) on Sat, Nov 16, 13 at 17:14
| Dave, maybe Carol's computer enlarges, mine does. recipe sounds interesting. |
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| Yeah mine does too but the more I enlarged it the more blurry it got. Plus there is still the question Carol raised about the amount of vinegar. It makes no sense as written. Altitude for the processing time? Dave |
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| the vinegar measure is 2/3 cup. A cup is 250ml, so it's 166ml, which, for non-metric users, is 5.6oz. |
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| and i don't know my exact altitude, but just normal level, i'm not at any height |
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| A processing time of 20 minutes covers everything up to 2000 meters (the average elevation for the entire continent of Australia is 330 meters, or about 1000 feet) . I'm only at 140 meters, but I process in the BWB for 20 minutes anyway. I don't notice any difference in quality for chutneys and relishes. And it gives me time to clean up the kitchen before I take the jars out of the canner :-) |
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| Thanks Malna |
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- Posted by readinglady z8 OR (My Page) on Sat, Nov 16, 13 at 19:25
| I didn't enlarge, I just "squinted" and managed. (Even if I am nearly as old as Dave.) OK, I admit I'm still not clear on the 1 cup (2/3 cup) thing but I do understand the ml, which makes a lot more sense from my perspective. I agree I don't see this as a high-risk recipe. I doubt the tablespoon of flour makes much difference to the recipe overall. Seems it could be eliminated easily and you wouldn't even notice. The sweet chilli sauce is not necessary either. It's sugar, vinegar and peppers, so if there's not enough sugar or vinegar to taste, just add more. If you want more heat add dried pepper flakes and you'll get the same result. Hot chilli oil can be added after opening in the amount desired. I can't see that canning it presents a problem. Shelf life would be much enhanced with better retention of texture, color and flavor. I agree, this sounds very similar to a lot of UK tomato chutney recipes. Darina Allen and the Ballymaloe crowd in Ireland must sell barrels of the stuff. Carol |
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