No, I'm sorry but that method of canning tomatoes is no longer approved because of the adaptations in the many varieties of tomatoes - they are still acidic but often not nearly as high in acid as they were years ago. Thus the requirement to add additional acid in the form of bottled lemon juice or citric acid. You'll find many past discussions here about all the details on this. And processing times have changed too.

Further, given the many revisions in canning and home processing in the past 20 years, the use of older, out-dated books and recipes is not recommended.

I have linked the current guidelines for canning tomatoes for you below. Note you can either PC or BWB and instructions are provided for both methods, but acidification is required in both cases.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Canning Tomatoes Guidelines

Thanks for the quick response. So I have always grown and canned early girls. I choose these because of the flavor. The acid level has been decreased genetically from say 10 years ago? Will citric acid have less of a flavor impact on these then the lemon juice?

Will citric acid have less of a flavor impact on these then the lemon juice?

It is a personal taste issue and depends on your taste buds. Mine are old ;) so I swear you can't taste either - it is a relatively small amout of the total.

Some swear the citric acid is more notable in the flavor and others swear the lemon juice is more noticeable and some claim, like me, that you can't taste either. About all you can do is try both and see which you prefer. About the only thing we all agree on is that trying to use vinegar is yeecch!!

I will say however that the bottled lemon juice (fresh isn't approved, only bottled) is much easier to obtain than the citric acid is and is much less expensive too.

Dave

I spent some time last night reading all the posts that digdirt posted for me. Thank you for that. I tried doing a search under canning tomatoes and all the threads it posted were not related to canning so the search that digdirt was much more effective. I guess my last questions is if a jar does go bad wont the jar unseal? If a jar is bad will 15 minutes of boiling kill the botulism before it kills me?

If a jar goes bad, it may not show any kind of spoiled contents 'symptom'. Botulism is one that has no signs of spoilage of any kind. It also can live without air. I had a single jar of peaches go bad, it did start to leak and evetually lost about half the liquid even thogh it was always upright. It was obvioulsy bad and was tossed. The jar also had very tiny chip in the glass at the sealing area. Citric has no flavor taste, but is quite sour. Lemon juice, the bottled type is the ONLY other option for acidification. Quite frankly, I dislike any kind of bottled lemon juice as it has a wretched taste.

I am pressure cooking in quart jars. I have a pretty small pressure cooker that might fit 4 qt jars but I typically only do 3. With the top on I am only able to bury the bottles about 2 inches under water. I cold pack the tomatoes and place the bottles in the pressure cooker (water is close to boil at this time). I wait for the weight to start rattleing (about 20 min after i put the lid on at full heat). I process them after the weight starts bounceing and maintain about medium high heat for 25 minutes. Then run cooker under cold water to release the pressure. The tomatoes bubble over the top on a few jars and I am loosing a seal on a few. The sides have an almost powdery feel to it. Should I be leaving them in the cooker longer till they stop boiling? I never had this problem with just doing a water bath. Top clearence is about 1/4 to 1/2 inch.

There is no need to cover the jars with water.

Put the lid on the canner but don't put the weight on right away. Wait until steam comes out the top and then wait ten minutes before putting the weight on. This gets all the air out so the canner gets to proper temperature for canning.

Don't cool the canner under cold water. Let it cool down on its own. The cool down time is part of the processing time. If you cool too quickly the processing time won't be long enough.

Zeuspaul

So fill the pressure cooker how full? Just under the lids? I notice it takes a real long time to get pressure up when it is full of water. When I do a roast or soup with only 4 cups of water it gets up to pressure a lot faster.

eurolarva: It sounds like you're trying to use a pressure COOKER instead of a pressure CANNER. They are not the same thing. If you are pressure canning your tomatoes you need a pressure CANNER and only about 3" of water goes in the bottom. Only the bottom of the jars are in water in a pressure CANNER. You do not cool the canner under water when the process is complete. You let the pressure drop, wait about 10 minutes and remove the weight and lid.

eurolarva, I would really encourage you to read the information at the link below on using pressure canners. As has been mentioned, you don't fill the canner with water, you must allow steam to vent for a full 10 minutes, bring the canner up to pressure, process for the recommended time, allow the canner to drop pressure to zero naturally, remove the weight and leave the lid on a further 10 minutes before removing the jars.

You might also check the current recommended processing times for tomato products on the same site. Go to the canning link on the left side of the page, click it and you'll see a link to information on canning tomatoes.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Using Pressure Canners

Ditto Carol's advice - Review the NCHFP instructions on proper use of a pressure canner linked above. The required cool down time is part of the required processing time and must be done per instructions.

Also your pressure cooker is what brand and what size? Does it have a gauge, a set of 5,10,15 lb. weights or just a counter weight? How do you know the # of pounds of pressure you are using? It sounds as if it is too small to be used as a canner.

Dave

Newer pressure cookers can also be used as pressure canners. I know that I can buy a kit to convert mine - basically the basket to sit inside it. I own a pressure cooker and frankly, I wouldn't be without it. In the future, I will probably buy the items necessary to convert it to a canning operation (my cooker is an 8 qt - the smallest recommended to do canning).

Here is a link that might be useful: Place selling a pressure cooker/canner

Fagor is an excellent Spanish pressure cooker. I have two. But that size is too small to meet current USDA processing standards, regardless of what the manufacturer says.

To meet current standards you must have a cooker/canner large enough to accomodate 4 one-quart jars. All USDA/NCHFP recipes are tested assuming a canner of that minimum volume. The time required to heat up and cool down a canner meeting that requirement is considered part of the safe total processing time.

By using a too-small cooker you reduce the time to come up to pressure and come down from pressure, resulting in insufficient total time. The safety of your product is not assured.

Carol

Ah yes, the Fagor. I really wish they would stop advertising them as acceptable canners. It is very unfair to market them as such and mislead the new and uninformed.

Great cookers but unsafe canners!

Dave

I really dont know what I have. I found this quote from a post labeled the difference between a pressure cooker and a canner
* Posted by linda_lou SW Wa. (My Page) on
Sun, Dec 31, 06 at 16:51

In order to be called a canner and safe for canning use, it must be able to hold at least 4 quart jars inside. If it only holds pint jars, it is too small to be used for safe canning.
Otherwise, the size will be too small and it will heat up and cool down too fast, making the foods underprocessed. That time it takes to heat up and cool down is also factored into safe processing times

I can get four quarts in mine and I use lids on the bottoms to keep the jars off the bottoms. I canned three more quarts of tomatoes tonight using the above information and they came out much better. I tested the seals on the ones I did two nights ago and they appear to be intact however I am going to toss them anyways to be safe. I started all my early girls and romas from seeds and I ended up with 34 plants all producing a lot of tomatoes. I am not hurting by loosing a couple of jars. I think I have the hang of it now and I appreciate all the help from you guys.