Hey Reign --

I can't sleep either! Where in NY are you?
I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that is NOT safe to can. No way there's any where near enough acid in just one lem on to can two pounds of eggplants, a low acid veggie.

Happy bean blanching...

Emily

It's not acid alone that makes food "safe" or not to BWB process. Most jams and jellies are not high acid and yet perfectly safet to BWB because of all the sugar. This has a ton of sugar in it and I suspect -- but don't know for certani -- that it would be ok to process as other jams, i.e. in a BWB.

Well, most jams and jellies do have enough acid to bring the pH to a safe level, even though they aren't noticeably sour like pickles. On the fig thread Linda Lou was just explaining that figs & asian pears are two fruits that do not have enough acid to can alone, and need quite a bit of acid added. Vegetables definitely need it, and that's why pickles are BWB but plain vegetables have to be pressure canned.

To can safely, you have to kill all the bad guys that might be lurking in the jar and then seal the lid against any microbes that try to get in during storage. Most microbes, like mold and many bacterias, are killed at or below 212°, so a boiling water bath gets them. Botulism is the biggest and baddest though, and that doesn't die unless you can get to 240°, which is achieved in a pressure canner. When you can in a BWB, you are not killing the botulism, just disabling it, and there's only one way to do that: acid. So in fact, any recipe that's approved for BWB does have enough acid, I think 4.6 or lower is the desired pH. Low vs. high acid is the determining factor in whether to pressure can or BWB...cf. Annie's salsa, pressure canned unless you increase the acid.

Mary, I'm not trying to be rude here, just want to provide some information for anyone else considering the recipe. I'm with Emily, not enough acid for BWB. I don't think I'd like eggplant jam anyway...can you can eggplant at all? Anyway, Mary you're right about sugar being a preservative, but it actually inhibits mold rather than botulism. Mold is killed in the jar but is found floating in the air, so that's why sugary jams last longer than low-sugar jams once they're opened. I've kept blueberry jam open up to a year, which of course is not recommended, but it didn't mold so I wasn't worried. Botulism, now that really scares me, and I wouldn't even taste anything low-acid that was canned in a BWB.

OK, hope I am not coming across too harsh or too long-winded, I just wanted to share some of the stuff I've learned hanging out here. Reign good luck deciding what else to can! I was going to suggest you look for a tomato sauce recipe that includes eggplant, but that doesn't help you get away from tomatoes.

Melissa

You have to add acid to most jam/jelly recipes or you don't get proper jell. So, it's a combination. I can get proper jell on fig preserves by adding the juice of one lemon per about 2 lbs of fruit/4 c. sugar and I can safely BWB them. If I were just canning figs, as opposed to making jam or jelly out of them, then, yes, apparently USDA says I have to process them differently. I love fig jams and preserves, but think just plain old canned figs are kind of nasty, so this isn't, in the end, an issue for me.

I don't think that this particular recipe necessarily involves too low an amount of lemon juice for the amount of fruit and sugar called for but I don't know for certain, so, again, I'd run it by my local extension office.

Gotta say that while I'm a pretty adventurous eater, this recipe does not sound particularly appetizing. Eggplant dries very nicely and can be rehydrated later for all sorts of uses. Or, consider making tomato jam which is really quite nice.

Thanks for the responses. It doesn't sound exactly yummy to me but I figured what the hay. Note from the original source said it tastes like banana. Which would open up some future cooking experiments. :)

I've never dried eggplants. I think I'll dry some of it. Thanks for the idea.

Mary, agree on acid to help the set. I think the acidification recommendations for figs are the same as tomatoes, 1T lemon juice per pint, so jams would need an equivalent amount. Of course you are free to make jam how you like it, but it's nice to have the recommendation in the thread for others. This week I chose to eat a jar of blueberry jam that had come unsealed, but I saved it just for me not to share with others, and I decided the main risk was mold which I was willing to chance. I would never chance botulism, in fact last night I threw away 6 quart jars full of BWBed green beans that someone gave me years ago when I didn't know any better. I didn't want to even open the jars so I just threw them all away. I read in an extension newsletter that a lady got botulism by dipping her finger in a jar of carrots, tasting it, and throwing away the jar.

Reign, I can't find any info on canning eggplant at all, but I did find that between 1990 and 2000 there was one outbreak of botulism caused by home-canned eggplant. The reference is below, search the document for eggplant to see the chart. So I would say eggplant is low-acid, don't make jam without adding a lot of acid! Drying it sounds like a good idea, there are directions for that from the National Center for Home Food Preservation at www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/uga/uga_dry_fruit.pdf .

Melissa

Here is a link that might be useful: botulism review

That's for canning figs. Jams and preserves are not just canned fruit.

Melissa,

Thanks for posting that link to the botulism study. I was having a conversation with a coworker the other day that has an unrealistic fear of homecanned foods, thinking that they are all ripe sources for food poisoning. That study shows how rare it actually is, and what are the likely causes.

Leigh

Sorry, eggplant is not safe to can other than one recipe that contains a little bit. It gets too thick in the jars, the heat cannot penetrate it, just like plain zucchini, pureed pumpkin, that sort of thing.
If you want the antipasto recipe with the eggplant, I can post it.
Jams made with low acid vegetables are not always safe to can, due to the acid content. Freeze it, and you will be fine. When a recipe comes from some unknown source, I would not trust it, when canning something like this.
Sure, botulism may be rare, but it is still very real. As long as they are preserved properly, homecanned foods are perfectly safe.
I personally know of someone who had to go to court because some people died from eating WB processed green beans. She told them NOT to do it, but they did it anyway.....
Also, have the same report of the carrots, and one of pickled asgaragus, not to forget Annie's family's experience with the mushrooms, whatever the pathogen was.

I didn't mean to imply that botulism wasn't real. The co-worker wouldn't even eat homemade peach jam canned by the USDA recommendations! She was sure if she did she'd get food poisoning.

Somewhere, someone had drummed into her that all home-canned food was inherently unsafe. I've been trying to convince her otherwise for the past few days, and I think the botulism study will help.

Leigh

Linda Lou, I'm glad you chimed in here because it was also my understanding that eggplant is too dense to can safely. I only know this because I was trying to recreate the Trader Joe's roasted red pepper and eggplant spread and got the bad news. You can't can eggplant. Sigh.

As for my family reunion mushroom adventure, the emergency room staff said it was a staph bacteria of some type, apparently common in food poisoning cases.

Annie

The USDA has this to say about eggplant:

Canning eggplant alone is not recommended because it
does not make a quality canned or frozen food by itself.
Eggplant is better pickled or frozen in a casserole.

This recipe is from the new Ball "Complete" book:
Aubergine Pickles
Makes about six pint jars
4 1/2 cups water
5 lbs eggplant (about 4 large)
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp pickling or canning salt
6 cloves garlic

1. In a stockpot, bring water to a rapid boil. Working quickly to prevent browing, peel and remove ends from eggplants. Cut into sticks approx 3 inches long and 3/4 inch wide. Immediately add to stockpot and return to boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, pressing the eggplant under the water every two minutes to remove air, until eggplant is tender. Transfer to colander placed over a sink and rinse with cold running water to stop the cooking process. Let drain for 1 minute without pressing out excess liquid. Set aside.
2. Prepare canner jar and lids.
3. In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine with white vinegar, balsamic vinegar, sugar, oregano and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add eggplant and return to boil. REmove from heat.
4. Place 1 clove of garlic in each hot jar. Pack hot eggplant into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of top of jar. Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover eggplant, leaving a 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot pickling liquid. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down fingertip tight.
5. Process jars 15 minutes.

Interestingly enough, they index this recipe under aubergine but not eggplant. I know they use the word aubergine in Britain (in Dutch too). Is aubergine used in Canada (other than the French speaking part of course, since aubergine is French)? I'm wondering if this was a Bernardin recipe.