Tomato plants may still produce fresh tomatoes into the Fall season. But, if the tomato vine is dead or killed by a frost or freeze, those tomatoes are not safe for canning. The pH, or acidity, changes in this situation to increase the pH above 4.6. Therefore, the safest choice to preserve these affected tomatoes is by freezing or dehydrating.
Unripe, or green, tomatoes can be preserved just like ripe tomatoes. So when canning them they still require acidification. Here are some ideas to can green tomatoes.
Fall is coming and apple trees are bursting with apples!
Apples can be preserved by canning, freezing, dehydrating, jams, jellies, fruit butter, and pickling. The best varieties for preserving are crisp, cooking varieities. Some suggested varieties for different types of preserving can be found from the University of Illinois Extension.
It is best to preserve the fruit shortly after harvest. Use apples that are neither too green nor too ripe. Avoid using apples held in cold storage for an extended period of time as the pH level can change.
Many gardeners plant tomatoes and they are starting to ripen. Preserve them by canning, freezing or dehydrating to use later in many recipes. While it is fun to make salsa, spaghetti sauce or even a barbecue sauce, having basic options such as whole tomatoes, tomato juice or tomato sauce allows you to use tomatoes in many more recipes.
Here are some reminders about tomatoes:
Although tomatoes are usually considered to be acidic in flavor, most have pH values slightly above 4.6, which makes them a low-acid food. As such, tomato products must be acidified to a pH of 4.6 or below with bottled
lemon juice, vinegar, or citric acid. Properly acidified tomatoes can be safely processed in a boiling-water canner or pressure canner as an acid food. Learn how to acidify tomatoes in Preserve it Fresh, Preserve it Safe: Tomatoes.
Pressure processing instructions are equivalent in heat treatment to water bath processing. Caution: Both methods require acidification. There are no recommendations for processing tomatoes without acidification. The chart in the above publication provides the options for acidification.
Tomato-based recipes for products such as salsa, barbecue sauce, ketchup and others will also include added acid. Do not reduce the amount of added acid in these recipes.
Tomatillos can be substituted for tomatoes in the same amount stated in a recipe, such as in salsa.
Salt is for flavor only and can be omitted, if desired.
Freezing food is an easy way to preserve high quality food with maximum nutritional value. But food in the freezer doesn’t last forever as changes will occur during storage.
Freeze food as soon as possible after harvest to stop chemical compounds, called enzymes, that cause deterioration and spoilage. Enzymes are naturally in foods and must be inactivated to stop loss of color and nutrients, as well as flavor changes. Blanching vegetables is an important step to inactivate enzymes. In fruit, color changes are prevented by using pure ascorbic acid (vitamin C) or a commercial ascorbic acid mixture such as Fruit Fresh®.
Because of high water content in fruits and vegetables, texture changes occur. Water expands when frozen which ruptures food cell walls. Freezing food quickly will help reduce texture damage. Don’t overload the freezer with unfrozen food and keep the freezer as cold as possible, at least 0°F or below.
Over time, food loses moisture during freezing which leads to freezer burn. Use packaging designed for freezing to reduce this problem.
Freezing does not kill bacteria, it only slows it down. When food thaws, any bacteria present will become active again. Always inspect food and packages carefully before use.
Once you heat, or even soak, vegetables in the pickling solution, pH changes start to happen. (Heating makes the interaction happen faster.) The vegetables become more acidic, which is desireable in pickling. However, the pickling solution then becomes less acidic. So if the recipe states to do a hot pack for canned pickles, the vegetables are heated in the pickling solution (“brine”). This leftover brine should not be used for another round of the recipe. The expected ratio of acid to low-acid ingredients and ultimate pH adjustment in the next recipe will not be the same.
In some recipes, sliced raw cucumbers are soaked for hours in the pickling liquid (vinegar, sugar and/or salt, for example). Then the liquid is drained off the cucumber slices into a pan. The soaked raw slices are filled into jars while the liquid is then heated and poured over them. Even though this is a raw pack in terms of filling jars, this vinegar solution had its original pH (acidity) altered from that initial soaking before it was heated and poured into jars. It should not be used again for a canned pickle recipe since it is now of unknown acidity.
If the recipe is a true raw-pack recipe, such as dilled green beans, the vegetables are packed into jars and the hot brine is poured over the vegetables. Any leftover brine used in this scenario can be used again if the brine was initially heated just enough to bring it to a boil.
If sweet corn browns during canning, it usually means that the temperature required for canning is too high for the sugar levels in the corn variety. This carmelization has become more of a problem as newer varieties of corn get sweeter and sweeter. You cannot, however, safely reduce the heat or processing time needed for canning corn; you can freeze that corn or find a locally grown variety that is recommended for canning. Though not an immediate safety concern, you might want to consider refrigerating these jars and/or consuming them more quickly since they may not maintain the best quality for long.
The beans may be too mature which makes them too starchy. The starch settles out of the food during canning. This is a quality issue.
Minerals in hard water can give a cloudy appearance. This is a quality issue.
Using table salt instead of canning salt. Table salt contains anti-caking agents that can cause cloudiness. This is a quality issue.
Finally, it could be spoilage due to improper heat processing. Do not consume them in this case. Plain green beans MUST be pressure canned because they are a low acid vegetable. When not processed properly, Clostridium botulinum could cause foodborne illness.
Mrs. Wages makes several packaged mixes to help make home canning easy and quick. All of their products for canning use the water bath canning method. But do the mixes have a shelf life?
Mrs. Wages recommendation:
“On the side of every Mrs. Wages® pouch is an 8 digit code that you can use to determine when the product was produced, and you will find it stamped into packet, for example B2181A23. The B identifies the facility that produced the mix. The number, which follows, represents the last digit of the year the mix was produced, e.g., a 2 would indicate 2012. The next three numbers indicate which day out of 365 days in the year, the mix was produced. So if the number is 181, it means the product was mixed on June 29th as this is the 181st day of the year. The final 3 digits are used by Kent Precision Foods to indicate the batch code. For optimal performance, we recommend using Mrs. Wages® Pickle, Tomato, Fruit mixes and Fruit Pectins within 24 months of the day and year, it was produced.”
The wheat expo will be a fun, educational and hands-on program for all Kansas 4-H members, siblings, parents, grandparents, and KSRE Extension staff. You do not have to be enrolled in crops/plant science projects to participate. 4-H members enrolled in Food and Nutrition, Photography and Field Crops are encouraged to participate.
The Kansas 4-H State Wheat Expo is a wheat fun day showcasing all things wheat. Lunch and refreshments are sponsored, and tours will be available.
