why are so many canners so determined to get botulism 😭
"our great grandmas fed their entire families with their knowledge. they didn't need the government telling them how to do it."
great grandma also lost babies for want of vitamin k shots and antibiotics and would have had fewer babies to start with if she'd had the option to access birth control.
great grandma did the best with what she had and knew.
why can't we do the same 😭😭
edit after
@princessxombie an excellent point!
the reason for a preference of bottled lemon juice over fresh squeezed for canning (as reported through the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach): "It is a USDA recommendation that bottled lemon juice be used. And consistent with the recommendation, reputable canning sources will agree that the best source of lemon juice for canning is commercially bottled lemon juice, as opposed to the juice of a fresh lemon. The reason for the recommendation is that bottled lemon juice has been uniformly acidified or standardized per FDA regulations: “lemon juice prepared from concentrate must have a titratable acidity content of not less than 4.5 percent, by weight, calculated as anhydrous citrus acid.” With a guaranteed pH...there is a consistent and known acid level which is essential for the critical safety margin in canning low-acid foods and for making jams gel properly. "
as for resources:
- the usda guide to canning (revised in 2015). you used to be able to find it on the usda website but for SOME reason (two guesses as to why 🙄) that website is now routing to a broken error 404 page not found. fortunately, it's available other places! here it is hosted on the internet archive! if you want it printed in color and spiral-bound, you can also purchase it for $25 from perdue university.
- if you want more resources, the university of utah has a whole section of their preserve the harvest extension website dedicated to safe food storage practices including freeze drying, fermenting, drying, etc.
- ball (the mason jar company) also has a section of their website dedicated to canning 101, including the basic process, recipes, a glossary of terms, and videos for their tutorials if you're a visual learner. they also offer free online recipes broken down in a way that's meant to be easy even for new canners.
go forth and enjoy canning without giving yourself and others botulism, friends.
yes! an excellent thing to point out!
as reported through michigan state university: "The acidity of a tomato is considered borderline between a high- and low-acid food. Tomato varieties have been changed through the years and as a result, many now have milder flavor and lower acidity than in the past. Testing has shown that some current tomato varieties have pH values at or above pH 4.6; a few have values of pH 5 or even higher."
for reference (thank you, university of georgia): "The bacteria that cause botulism poisoning can grow and produce toxin in sealed jars of moist food at room temperature if the pH (measure of acidity) is above 4.6."
so great grandma's recipe might have been perfectly safe with the ingredients she had access to! but you may or may not still have those same ingredients.
It's also important to note that if your recipe relies on vinegar for acidification (some recipes do), you need to need to need to check that your vinegar is 4% or greater vinegar. Many vinegars now are 3% or lower and they WILL NOT get you to the necessary ph. Companies have lowered the percentage slightly, and for someone who's, like, making salad dressing, it doesn't really matter, but for canning? It really really matters.
OMG THIS IS THE MOST HELPFUL THING EVER
Seriously, thank you for all of the links and information. This is really really valuable right now to many people, me included.
Go forth and reblog!
