Frankly, as long as they sealed, I wouldn't sweat it.

A 50/50 brine mixture is plenty acidic.

If you're not comfortable with this, you can put them in the fridge. Or just reprocess them for the full 15 minutes.

The amount of vinegar and processing time may be a bit low. Suggest you refrigerate all of them. Here, I do process almost the same times, but use mostly full strength vinegar and salt. Processing time also depends on the size of the canning jars used. If the tomatoes were canned whole and cored, they would definately be unsafe. Reprocessing them will soften them.

Medium size tomatoes were quartered, large ones were chunked about the same size maybe a little smaller. Quart jars were used. Would you still suggest I refrigerate them?

According to tested canning recipes, 50% vinegar is a safe strength for brine for green tomatoes. See the thread below.

So the question is whether 10m is long enough for quarts. Officially, no. If it were me, I'd keep them, but since I don't usually give away pickles I guess I have less at stake than someone with a family. I figure a high-acid environment is not going to give me botulism, and that's the only thing that scares me.

Melissa

Here is a link that might be useful: green tomato pickles thread

I'd describe myself as a "conservative" canner, but I have to say I wouldn't lie awake at night worrying about the safety of green tomatoes in a 50-50 brine. I'm with gardenlad on this one.

But, if you look at those jars and worry, then refrigerate or re-process. Green tomatoes are pretty firm, so I think they could stand re-processing better than some other foods.

Really, it's all about peace of mind.

Carol

Carol... would you feel the same if there were a few other veggies like cauliflower, baby carrots and red peppers sprinkled into the mix? One batch was tomatoes with a few
cauliflower florets, the other had a few baby carrots and red peppers as well.

It's funny the way you put the second paragraph. I was actually counting the hours earlier today. I was approaching 72 hrs on the first batch so I put them in my shop refrigerator just in case. LOL

No, if the tomato mixture had cauliflower, etc. I'd definitely refrigerate or re-process. Green tomatoes are high-acid, but the other veggies are low-acid. I don't mess around with those. Better safe than sorry.

Carol

I would check on the safe brine strength for those other veg, breasley. Even at a long processing time I don't think 50:50 is enough, for the reason Carol stated.

Melissa

Okay I've determined that I blew it and they should at a minimum be refrigerated. Now maybe the briine strength is not as it should be(thanks Melissa) as well. Will they be okay if kept refrigerated or should this projest be trashed.

I've always flown by the seat of my pants. My dad once jokingly said "when all else fails read the instructions". I guess I'd better "can" that attitude when it comes to canning.

>Green tomatoes are high-acid, but the other veggies are low-acid.I don't disagree with you in principal, Carol. But riddle me this. We often toss a garlic clove or a chili pepper into a pickle. Dilly Beans come to mind, but there are many other recipes that call for this sort of approach.

I was once give a BWB recipe for sliced carrots that was the spitting image of my Dilly Bean recipe, except it used mint instead of dill. Was it safe? Who knows for sure? But it's been around a long time, and people, apparently, aren't dying. More to the point, using asparagus with the dilly brine, is considered safe. And that's certainly a low-acid veggie.

So how come it's ok to do that, but not add a few cauliflower florettes, or a couple of sliced carrots?

Breasley: They'll be perfectly fine in the fridge.

Whatever I pickle, I just simply don't take any chances with watery brines, and much prefer to use mostly all vinegar. Its just my feeling and even if the process time is short, the higher acidic brine can still do its work in protecting the vegges its pickling.

Ever see pickled eggs? These are one of the most curious things to consider if you wanted to pickle them. I am sure that even if a hard boiled egg is pickled in full strength vinegar, it would most likely kill off any possible chance of botulism., but I cannot know for sure, and would never attempt it. More curious is that the most common commercial brand of pickled eggs is 'Rogers', and its no relation.

Well, you're right about dilly beans, etc. gardenlad. All I was saying is that given the brine is 50-50, which is the lowest recommended ratio for canning, that there is a certain (unknown) % of low-acid vegetables, and that the product was processed 1/3 less than the recommended time, I wouldn't just leave the pickles sitting on the shelf. I'd either refrigerate or re-process.

So I think we're coming down to the same result. I wouldn't feel the same level of discomfort with a recipe comprised solely of green tomatoes and say, pickling spices.

Carol