Judy, there are many inconsistencies, both in the BBB and on line at NCHFP. It depends on whether the recipes are tested, so although it tested safe for BBB, maybe NCHFP didn't test it at all, and so doesn't include it. Something that seems safe very well may be, but if it wasn't tested, it won't be considered a safe product.

BBB is generally recognized as a safe recipe source, I can imagine them being sued endlessly if they published unsafe recipes and someone got sick. I note that NCHFP says I may can tomatoes with zucchini or okra without additional acidity in a pressure canner, but plain tomatoes need acid, even in a pressure canner, which makes pretty much no sense at all.

Annie

Big difference in the PC processing times between the plain tomatoes and the sauce.

And adding the acid to the plain tomatoes allows for much shorter PC processing than would be needed otherwise.

The BBB recipe used to duplicate the NCHFP Spaghetti Sauce recipe and required no lemon juice. But the recipe included the stipulation make no modifications in amounts of the low acid ingredients. Ball added the lemon juice recommendation in 2006 to try to compensate for the modifications they know that people make anyway.

Dave

But none of this makes sense to me. The BBB recipe for Seasoned Tomato Sauce includes tomatoes, onions, garlic, olive oil, oregano, bay leaves, black pepper, sugar, salt, pepper flakes - and either 1/2 teaspoon citric acid or 2 tablespoons lemon juice per quart. Then it instructs to use a boiling water bath for 40 minutes.

Yet the NCHFP and BBB plain tomato sauce recipes, without any other added ingredients besides tomatoes, calls for the same amount of acidification and processing in a BBW. Huh?

Okay that makes more sense that what you're ending up with is "flavored sauce" because of the milling, and there is a higher proportion of acidic vs non acidic. It just seemed odd that my plain puree needs the same amount of acidification and processing as a spaghetti sauce.

What started me on this is another "modified" recipe I ran across on Mother Earth News http://www.grit.com/food/kitchen-techniques/canning/canning-spaghetti-sauce-zb0z1609 Here the person decreased the amount of tomatoes, increased the amount of herbs and garlic (although removed bay leaves and black pepper) AND only mills out the skins/seeds of the tomatoes. Sigh.

I never alter recipes (although sometimes I process for longer).

Yeah that recipe is a good example of what I was talking about - making all sorts of changes based on her personal guesses and assumptions. She reduces the amount of tomatoes, uses tons of fresh herbs, and almost doubles the amount of garlic. Her choice. But then she publishes the recipe and claims it is legit and safe!

Instead of saying "here in Kentucky we BWB process it" she should say here in my kitchen I choose to BWB process it because I'm sure there are some home canners in Kentucky that are smart enough to know better.

Dave

I get surprised by things sometimes. I don't like the flavor of olive oil and rarely have it in my kitchen. It would have never occurred to me that a different oil could not be substituted for olive oil.

I understand as it is something many of us don't give a second thought too. But different oils have very different densities, different molecular structures, different ingredients, different heating temps, different bonding and insulating capabilities even among the various grades of olive oil, etc.

Dave

Dave: thank you for posting that. I find it very helpful as I am only just getting into making and canning my own tomato sauce.

Then if inexperienced please use one of the USDA approved recipes for your tomato sauce rather than the many unapproved ones floating around on the web.

Dave