However I repeatedly see people here saying the minimum is a 1:1 ratio of 5%.

What we say is 1:1 is the lowest approved ratio IF you are not using a tested, approved recipe. There are approved and tested recipes with a lower ratio both in the Ball books and at NCHFP.

The recipe on a bag of canning salt may have been tested and approved. I can't say. But if it was it should stipulate that in the instructions. Otherwise it is just some recipe that the salt manufacturer put on the bag and it could be decades outdated.

When it comes to evaluating safety in canning one has to consider the source. ie: which is more reliable? Ball Blue Book or some homemaker's personal blog? A recipe published in a 1954 cookbook or one in a recent edition of Ziedrich's Joy of Pickling?

Normally I wouldn't consider a recipe on a bag of anything, even canning salt, to be a reputable source for canning info, especially when so many approved safe recipes are readily available from reliable sources. JMO

Dave

Only refrence I can find to 'testing' is that unless otherwise noted user submitted recipes haven't been tested by their (salt company) kitchens. This particular recipe however, is submitted by them (not a user). Reading between the lines I could assume that their recipes are tested, and they only bother to test certain user submitted ones. How safe an assumption that would be, I have no idea.

http://recipes.mrswages.com/recipedetail.aspx?id=1454

In the future I'll use a different recipe, just trying to decide whether these will be safe to eat or not. I read I could reprocess them but I don't want to do that because they will get mushy.

This was my first time canning anything I grew, and I expect there will be at least a few more 'screw ups' before the whole process just comes naturally.

This post was edited by IAmSupernova on Sat, May 18, 13 at 16:17

If you are using a Mrs. Wages flavor mix with the pickles, those mixes often have additional citric acid, making a lower ratio of vinegar to water possible.

I would trust a Mrs. Wages recipe if it called for one of their packaged mixes with additional citric acid.

For other recipes I would go to their website and post a question with their canning expert. I see she is a retired University of Illinois Extension employee, so I expect she has the background to provide the information you need.

Carol

No it wasn't that kinda seasoning mix, it comes in it's own jar and is just mixed whole spices like cloves, peppercorns, mustard seed, dill seed etc.

What is the brand of canning salt? Did you check their website?

Dave

It's Mrs. Wages. The pickling spices were from Ball.

Mrs. Wages carries the spice mixes and pickling spices/salt. Just like Ball, just a different company.