Personal blogs are not a good source for canning recipes unless the training credentials of the blogger reflect a good understanding of the underlying chemistry in canning.

This recipe is a good example of why they should be avoided. It is full of low-acid ingredients yet it only contains the juice of 1 lime which would be the minimum requirement for 1 quart jar of plain tomato juice. Further it is BWB processed rather than pressure canned. Any approved tomato-mixed ingredients requires either a substantial amount of added acid OR pressure canning and sometimes both. For example, the approved recipe for Mexican Salsa calls for 1/2 cup of vinegar or lemon/lime juice AND pressure canning.

Eating this mixture fresh from the jar without any further cooking to destroy the toxins that may have developed during shelf storage would be very risky. And this blogger has young children apparently eating it too. She is counting on luck to protect them.

Are there places to submit your personal recipes for testing and evaluation? Yes there are. But they are few and it is very costly and very time consuming. You can contact your local county extension service and ask for whom you should contact at your state university extension service for labs in your area that may do food testing. That lab will advise you as to what the costs and submission parameters are.

When it comes to evaluating recipes yourself - if you don't want to stick with tested and approved recipes - then you need at least a basic understanding of the approved USDA guidelines. And the more education you have in them, the better. So you may want to investigate the availability of local certified canning classes or at least explore the online course offered by NCHFP. You can begin by comparing these personal recipes to the approved ones and the red flags may be apparent even without basic training. And you can always post it here and ask. The MFPs here are happy to answer questions.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Fantastic information, thank you. I'll do some homework.