Canned Diced Tomatoes

[The Ironic Chef]

Cathy, I can the half gallon glass jars of tomato juice. I have the same jars my grandmother used. I open one of them and I drink the whole thing right then and there. One of my favorites over all are home canned stewed tomatoes. I can't can enough of them.

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

Originally Posted by The Ironic Chef

Cathy, I can the half gallon glass jars of tomato juice. I have the same jars my grandmother used. I open one of them and I drink the whole thing right then and there. One of my favorites over all are home canned stewed tomatoes. I can't can enough of them.

It certianly doesn't get better than that does it IC? It is wonderful that you have kept the same jars your own sweet Grandma used, how very neat! Thanks for sharing that, it warms my heart.

[CanMan]

It probably won't change anything, but safety standards have moved on since those early years and doing tomato juice in those large jars is now a safety issue.

Canning in 2-Quart Jars

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

I read that CanMan, it is interesting why they would not recommend tomato juice, as it is Acidic! Strange.....plus you add salt (a presevative) it just seems to me it would be fine if you had a very deep pressure canner and could can it properly. I always used ONLY a pressure canner for all my canning.

[CanMan]

Not strange. Tomato are not as acidic as they used to be due to years of hybrid varieties to make them the way people want them. All canning recipes in the past 15-20 years have a requirement to add bottled lemon juice to the recipe to up the acidity since we don't know what the acidity is for individual tomatoes, especially ones out of our gardens.

Tomatoes are now rated at between 4.30 - 4.90 pH where acidic is any at or below 4.6 pH and those numbers my change even more.

It's a safe issue. Not much danger involved, but it is more of an issue with those old large 2-quart jars and getting temperature to penetrate all the way in.

"Salt" in canning is not a preservative and serves only as a seasoning.

As for pressure canning 2-quart jars, you cannot do it safely and there are no recipes published for doing do. If you are pressure canning "everything" you are running a serious food safety risk because you are not using tested times and temperatures. Just using a bigger hammer does not solve the problem in canning foods. Go to the National Center for Home Food Preservation and ask them, if you don't believe me.

[chubbyalaskagriz]

RE: "I love using canned crushed tomatoes in marinara and especially in Italian wedding soup"

My Italian Wedding Soup doesn't call for any tomato product, but like most regional morsels, there are so many versions...

I like using diced/crushed tomatoes in many things. I also really enjoy the deep, rich, complex taste of tomato paste.

[cucinadinana]

But when necessary, I preferably use Pomi (which Cooks did not review), or Cento - specifically the smaller can that is labeled something like 'finest San Marzano tomatoes' (this runs for about $5 per can, and are not diced, but come as whole plums, and is fairly hard to find- versus Centos other selections, which are not nearly as good, and I agree with Cooks regarding not recommending those).

[cucinadinana]

Originally Posted by chubbyalaskagriz

RE: "I love using canned crushed tomatoes in marinara and especially in Italian wedding soup"

My Italian Wedding Soup doesn't call for any tomato product, but like most regional morsels, there are so many versions...

I like using diced/crushed tomatoes in many things. I also really enjoy the deep, rich, complex taste of tomato paste.

But I also do not put it in my pasta e fagioli, and I know that many cooks do. Whatever suits a persons taste!

[The Ironic Chef]

I'll just keep chugging my tomato juice. I know that it may not be recommended but I personally feel safe enough doing it. I don't keep it stored more than several months and when it is stored it's in a cool dark place.
I also do most of my canning with a pressure cooker. Not tomato products though. I just add an acid to them.
I have friends that still can meats and non acidic items using a water bath and they swear by it and have been doing it all their lives and aren't spring chickens. Maybe they have built up immunities and developed cast iron stomachs through all their years. Maybe just everyone else through the over use of antibiotics and sterilization of everything can't handle the slightest bug anymore.
Either way, I'm sure that if there can be the slightest problem with anything the red flags go up and the warnings go out. Organizations have to protect their arses from pending lawsuits regarding information not released.