Unless you just want to, you don't have to acidify the juice of tomatoes to can it in a water-bath canner...unless you are using a low-acid tomato, or unless you have added a lot of onion, garlic, spices etc as in spaghetti sauce.

you don't have to acidify the juice of tomatoes to can it in a water-bath canner

Sorry, but yes you do.

Michele are you using the instructions in the Ball Blue Book or NCHFP? I linked them below for you. For pints yo use 1 T bottled lemon juice so for half pints it would be 1/2 T.

At your altitude you can then process them in a BWB for 50 min. (same time as pints) OR for 20 min at 10 lbs. in your weighted gauge pressure canner. OK?

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Tomato Sauce

one thing about PC tomatoes, you are not trying to get them to 240deg to kill botulism, you are only trying to get them to boiling to kill the stuff like any other high acid food. Which is why you can do it at a lower pressure than you would need for most PC foods (at your altitude). And that is also why the acid is still needed.

I have done both, and much prefer the end result with PC tomatoes/sauce.

Thank you everyone.

Dave, I was looking at both the NCHFP and Ball, both sources listed the acidification as you stated. I did it kind of backwards by straining my tomatoes before cooking them down, seemed it would be easier and wouldn't affect my end result. BTW, Do you prefer your tomato sauce water bath canned or preasure canned?

Macybaby, thanks for the clarification on why the weight is less and your preference on the end product.

Next week I will be canning tomatoes, not sauce :). Now I need to decide which recipe to use, I'm inclined to think canned in their own juice ( recipe from Ball) would be best :). Any favorites?

Thanks again!
Michele