FauxPas

My bad, I misread your earlier post! I thought you were processing tomatoes as if they were sauce, but now I see that I didn't see what I thought I did. Yes, the lack of tested recipes is frustrating for sure! Thanks for clarifying.

I understand what you are saying and it makes sense to me (and to others). However, there are still some folks who say that the sauce is a different animal than plain tomatoes. For example (from the GardenWeb forum referenced above): So the spaghetti sauce recipe requires a much longer cooking time prior to processing which reduces the water content, plus generally has a longer processing time and added sugar. http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/spaghetti_sauce.html DiggingDogFarm, just wondering - when you process your tomatoes, do you just follow the processing times for the sauce or do you also cook the tomatoes down prior to processing? Again, I have never even used a pressure canner, so this is just of general interest to me, and I don't want to claim that I have found the best or the only answers. Only that I can see the reasoning on both sides.

Wow, sounds like you had a busy and productive night. Hope it was also lots of fun, which I suspect it was!!! Thanks so much for sharing, I love seeing your pics and reading about your prep work. Looking forward to the rest of the story, heh.

Agree with gfweb, it's so easy to read your printing, Anna. And I love your notebook and recipe comments!

Wow, I have been reading up on this and it's a job to straighten it all out. I don't have a pressure canner but vaguely thought I might be interested in one and so started reading up. This is what I understand: Tomatoes (whether heirloom variety or not) can vary widely in their acidity. High acidity is below 4.6 pH. Anything 4.6 pH or above is considered low acid. Tomatoes tend to straddle this line. One study of heirloom varieties by U of Illinois found an average range of pH between 4.18 and 4.92 and almost 30% of the tomatoes were in the low acid range. (Brandywine was found to be a lower acid, higher pH variety and it's a very popular variety.) Cited here: https://foodsafety.wisc.edu/assets/preservation/UWEX_addacidtomatoes.pdf But tomato pH can vary a lot due to growing conditions, soil/water/fertilizer pH and ripeness. Riper tomatoes have higher pH and lower acid. So even if someone gets a certain pH level in the same variety you grow/buy, your tomatoes may have a different pH level due to their specific conditions. Because of the difficulty of knowing the pH of the tomatoes that any one person is using for their canning, the USDA and extensions generally recommend the addition of acid to make sure the final product will fall within the safe pH level. For water bath canning, extra acid is always recommended. However, extra acid is also often recommended for pressure canning since USDA feels the true required processing time would be so long as to make the non-acidified tomatoes undesirable (mush, I guess). So the recommended processing times, even for pressure canners, may not be sufficient to reduce the risk of botulism to what is considered safe. To ensure that pressure canned tomatoes without added acid are safe, it would require a longer processing time that would make the tomatoes far less appealing. (I'm guessing they would be mush?) Also, no one seems to know how long the safer processing time would be, so it may be better to just play it safe and add some acid. Some people think that citric acid affects the flavour less than concentrated lemon juice, though it still reduces the pH appropriately. Still, some people choose not to add any acid when pressure canning. And some Extension sites may offer some support for this, such as is quoted here: http://www.simplycanning.com/canning-tomatoes-safely.html A good discussion here: http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1969930/pressure-canning-tomatoes At the end of the day, I did not feel that there is a clear definitive answer on this but if I did go ahead and do some tomatoes in a pressure canner, I think I would just add citric acid. But others may disagree!!!! There are lots of opinions and discussions on this. I tried to find the best science I could and don't have all the citations anymore. I've forgotten some of the stuff I found but I think the summary above is pretty true to what I read overall. Not sure it will be of any help to you!

Not that small of a company, really: And it has its detractors: Also claims that it mislabeled its jar labels, stating the use of (implied fresh) lemon juice when it was really using lemon juice concentrate, against FDA regs.

I made short ribs tonight also, Mmmpomps. And while I normally don't mind doing the long braise in a basic pot on the stove or in the oven, I have to say that tonight I found it annoying, messy and slow (did a stovetop braise, almost 3 hours). The end result was lovely but it made me think that another method might be better. So I am definitely interested in what you folks are doing. I have never used a pressure cooker, slow cooker or rice cooker. And i have never made yogurt. I think I make pretty good rice in the Cuisinart Steam Oven, though I am definitely OK with making it on the stove top. I wonder about using the Instant Pot for making yogurt, steaming artichokes ( a big fave of mine), doing the Kalua Pork that Laura talks about in the IP cookbook or on NomNomPaleo. Also the Ligurian Chicken and Not-Refried-Beans from the IP cookbook. And how well does it function as a slow-cooker? And I keep wondering if there is anything intrinsically better about using the IP or similar to cook some things or if it is just a time savings? Not that I don't value time-saving!

I'd love to hear about the current year also, bobag87!

I would love to hear about your exploration of this new tool! And, if anyone was actually bored by it, they don't have to read the thread, right?! So I am hoping that you will share your adventures!!!!!

I have to admit that sometimes I make a quick 'sangria' by pouring red wine over ice, adding a bit of Grand Marnier and then topping it up with sparkling water. I think it's fairly decent. Edited to add: This is when I just want a single glass and don't need to make a batch for guests or anything.

That is indeed a lovely compliment! Thanks for sharing the chutney recipe, also. I made one last winter that was really good. Like you, I kind of pieced it together from a couple of recipes. It turned out so well that I patted myself on the back for writing down the way I made it. But I've never been able to find the written instructions, and I made no effort to remember because I thought I'd have it on paper/disk. Sigh.

This is interesting! I hope you'll keep us posted all the way along!

kayb, looks like you had a wonderfully productive day and made darn good use of that lovely produce you brought home! Everything looks wonderful. Those Roma tomatoes were an amazing bargain. I paid quite a bit more per # than you! Which tomato chutney recipe do you use, if you don't mind me asking? Quick question about corn - you remove the kerrnels and then blanch, right? I usually blanch the whole cobs and then cool in ice water and then cut the kernels off. Is there a benefit to doing it in the other order? Maybe you make more of a creamed corn? Thanks!

gulfporter, have you tried using your little spiralizer with any veggies other than zukes since this post? I've seen a few of those conical spiralizers around, like this one, which gets some pretty good reviews and has 4 removable blades (easier to clean?): Brieftons NextGen Spiralizer I find the Paderno a pain in the butt to store and also to haul out and set up. I like the idea of the simpler ones that can just be stored in a drawer. Anyone else tried some of these type? Edited to fix Amazon link.

Mmmm! Cheese & Chutney!

Anna, that link worked like a charm! Fragrant Mango & Apple Chutney, right? Looks like a nice recipe, will definitely give it a try! Thank you so much. When I first started out I did do some 'open kettle' canning. The newer food safety recommendations are for at least a water-bath processing, but I'm sure you know that. I think the risk is low with a chutney that has quite a bit of vinegar in it, but I tend to make small enough batches that can fit in the fridge, anyway. I used to use the old graniteware water canners when I had an old coil-top range or natural gas, but of course they cannot be used on induction - their coating can melt, I understand. If I want to start doing more canning, I'll try to use one of my existing stainless steel stockpots with a caning insert (I see some stainless steel ones on Amazon for a moderate price). I'm afraid of pressure canners, also! For that matter, I'm also afraid of pressure cookers. But I have been following along on the Instant Pot discussion! Edited to add: I still have a Graniteware canner and could also use that outside on the side burner of the grill possibly or on a dedicated propane burner. But we are back and forth between locations and I'm not sure it makes sense to stock up the pantries too much!

Anna N, do you process your jars? In a water bath canner or pressure canner or ???? If you use a water bath, I am wondering what type of canner you use on your induction range. I have an induction range and some some canners are not recommended on induction (or on ceramic/glass stovetops at all). Jon Savage, what model of pressure canner do you use?

I love chutney! Is that an online recipe, by any chance? Or is it one you developed? When you say first step done in the pressure cooker, does that mean the initial 'cooking down' step?

Yesterday, we bought some more of these: and so we had some more of this: We started with cheese and crackers and pickles, though.

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Shelby and ElainaA, thanks for your jam comments! Usually we like raspberry-only jam, so I was surprised how much we liked this one. The nectarines give it a bit more body, if that makes sense. I didn't use much sugar at all, so there is a hint of tartness, which is quite pleasant. And yes, the tomatoes could easily be cooked in a regular oven, just don't let them dry out too much (unless that is what you want, of course!). I like the steam-roasting because I wanted a bit of roasted flavour, but I didn't want these tomatoes to dry out. The texture has always been fine for what I do with them - make sauces and soups, casseroles, chili, that sort of thing. I also freeze whole tomatoes at times and I think cooked, then frozen is a bit better, but both are OK for my purposes. AnnaN, your oven-dried tomatoes look lovely!

This thread is well worth a perusal - Fat Guy did some adorable lunches for his son, PJ. Mostly nut-free. Lovely presentation! http://forums.egullet.org/topic/147530-bentos-2009/?hl=%20bento%20%20lunch FYI, IrishJersey, Fat Guy was Steven Shaw, who passed away suddenly just over a year ago. He was a founder of eGullet.

I'm still doing my little bits and pieces of preserving. We ran out of the cherry butter and the blueberry-raspberry jam, so yesterday I made some nectarine-raspberry jam with some extra fruit we had. It's really good, I love the way the two blend. Also bought about 5 kg of lovely La Roma tomatoes and a couple of baskets of mixed tomatoes from one of the local farms. I removed the stems and then used the steam-convection oven to steam-roast them until the skins started to blacken a bit. That increases the flavour and once cooled a bit, the skins slip off nicely. Then I put them in freezer bags and freeze them. I ended up with six filled bags to go in the freezer. Not a lot compared to the serious canners here, but still a nice option for the two of us!

I think that Brits use satire quite a bit. Personally, I enjoy satire. But then I am Canadian, so maybe I am in bed with the snarky Brits.

i thought the original article by Tanya Gold was intended to be a bit satirical? I found it funny, I thought she was making fun of the usual food critics and their overwrought writing style just as much as some restaurants and their over-priced and over-done tiny bits of food. But, what is art or food w/o criticism? I think we need more, not less. But this one I suspect was fun.