Hi mrsj. It's always a good thing to ask if you're not sure. That does seem like a small amount of acid. I'm sure that's partly due to the high amount of tomatoes, which are marginally acid, as opposed to true low-acid vegetables.

The most reliable safe-tested sources for recipes are Ball, Bernardin and the USDA/NCHFP (National Center for Home Food Preservation). Any recipe from those sources, as long as it's later than 1994, is OK.

So your salsa recipe is fine. Just to double-check I looked at my Ball books. I didn't find that recipe but I did find comparable ones calling for 1/2 cup of vinegar and the same processing time.

Happy preserving. It sounds like a good recipe.

Carol

The most reliable safe-tested sources for recipes are Ball, Bernardin and the USDA/NCHFP (National Center for Home Food Preservation). Any recipe from those sources, as long as it's later than 1994, is OK.

Carol ... what happened in 1994?

1994 was the date of last revision and publication of the USDA's testing results. Since then the NCHFP has "inherited the mantle." Ball & Bernardin (same company) have their own extensive recipe development and testing facilities, as do some of the Extension services but basically everyone is building upon the data originally provided by the USDA.

That doesn't mean ANY post-1994 canning recipe is safe. If you do a search on this Forum you'll see a lot of modern recipes in publication that're questionable because they don't follow USDA guidelines. Doesn't necessarily mean they're not safe, just that it's unproven one way or the other.

The sources I listed are very conservative in their approach to food-preserving safety. Some might argue they're overly cautious but if you want to process high-risk foods like low-acid vegetables with total confidence, they're the sources to go for.

Carol

Thanks for reassuring me, Carol.

I am glad to find out that it's okay, because I really like this recipe.

Thanks again.

mrsj,

One question.

You say at the bottom of the recipe that it calls for a few drops of hot sauce, but you use "jalapenos --- 3-4."

Do you mean that you use 3 to 4 drops of a jalapeno-based hot sauce, or that instead of putting in hot sauce, you chop up 3 or 4 jalapenos into the salsa?

If it's the latter, then that could alter the safety of the recipe, because you would be ending up with a total amount of peppers (low-acid vegetbables) more than the tested amount in the recipe. To be sure it was safe, I would think you'd want to include your jalapenos in the measurement of the three cups of peppers at the start of the recipe.

If you're putting in a jalapeno hot sauce instead of whatever other kind Ball might call for, then that would make no difference to safety.

Sounds like a lovely recipe --- I think I'll try it!

Zabby ;-)

Zabby, I'm so glad you spotted that. I was just focusing on the original ingredient list, not the amendment to the right.

You're correct. That's the advantage of having more than one person checking posts.

Carol

Sometimes determining if a recipe is pre- or post- 1994 is tricky even if you think you're using a USDA-tested one. In 2002, I downloaded and printed what I thought was the then latest NCHFP "So Easy to Preserve".
In an exchange of eMails with Dr. Andress, I have discovered that what I had downloaded and used as reference was a very early version (posted without permission and never updated. She said she had devoted much time to having it removed from the web.)
Thus many of the recipes (particularly pickle and relish) were deleted as a result of the 1994 USDA update.
I can no longer find that version on the web but it was out there for at least 10 years. And I just ran across one of its recipes on a state extension service web site.

I am now ordering copies of the USDA 1994 Guide and the 5th edition of "So Easy .."

On occasion, I have found some of the Extension sites still have posted old documents unrevised since the late 80's. It may be due to budget constraints.

In some cases it doesn't matter (i.e. jam recipes) but you're right. With anything problematic it's always a good idea to do some cross-checking if there's no clear date or date of last modification provided.

Another problem I've found is colleges and universities routinely give staff members the right to post personal web pages under the aegis of the institution. Faculty will post "favorite recipes" including those for canning. A pickle recipe or such will get downloaded by a person who assumes any URL with ".edu" has to be trustworthy. It's not deliberately misleading, just something we have to be aware of.

Carol

the net magnifies a real problem in publishing ... once something gets in print (or on the net), it lives forever. At least books have copyright dates ... some things on the web have no date whatsoever!

kayskats,

You are so right! Often no date, no author, no idea of where it came from or who is responsible for it.

I work in publishing; ultimately, I make my living through intellectual property, so I feel strongly about the importance of attribution, copyright, etc., and I try SO HARD to always include the source of anything I forward, print, etc.

Yet even so I occasionally find stuff I've stashed in my hard drive and neglected to label properly with a source and date (or maybe it never had one to start with... who knows????).

Enough to make editors (and, I would think, librarians) crazy!

Zabby, who wouldn't give up the Internet, just wants to plop little virtual rubber stamps all over it....

oh, Zabby, a soulmate! I feel so strongly about properly crediting sources. Every recipe in my data base carries a source line and date, even if it is "Aunt MIllie McLeod made this in the 60's". Guess I should make that the 1960s.

I could easily get started (and often do with my grandson) about composers' and artists' right to copyright payment.

When I see a recipe lifted straight out of a published work, I get livid. Good recipes have the same right to attribution as the written word.

Okay, I'm down off my soapbox