Question for home canners

[Mosca]

I’ve done some of this, but it’s not habit, so it’s better to ask than to guess, I think.

I make a fresh habanero salsa that I love:

Roasted Habanero Salsa

Ingredients:
8 medium (about 3 ounces total) fresh habanero chiles, stemmed
2 or 3 large garlic cloves, unpeeled
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
¼ cup water
½ tsp salt

Directions:
On an ungreased skillet or griddle set over medium heat, roast the chiles and garlic, turning everything regularly, until they are soft and darkened in spots—most everything should be done in about 15 minutes. Let them cool to room temperature, then slip off the skins from the garlic. Scoop the chiles and garlic into a blender jar along with ¼ cup water, the lime juice and ½ teaspoon salt. Blend until it is a smooth puree and pour into a small dish. Stir in a little water if need to give the salsa a consistency that is easy to spoon on in drops. Taste it cautiously (a drop will usually be enough). Add more salt if necessary to balance the heat and acid.

The short version: roast habaneros and garlic in a skillet, blend with water, lime juice, and salt. Eat.


This usually lasts a week or so… well, I usually finish it in about a week. But if I don’t, that’s where I draw the line on it. After a week, whatever’s left, I dump it.

My question is, can I take this, make a lot of it, portion it into 4 oz canning jars (the little ones), boil them for 20 minutes, and keep them for months? Would they be fine stored in the pantry, or would the refrigerator be okay as well? Or refrigerator required?

My thought is that it would be fine, and that would be the exact right process. But that’s a lot of work to later find out (by getting sick) that it’s unsafe.

[texastweeter]

What is the final volume of salsa? You have to have the ph high enough to keep botulism from growing. If high enough then yes, hot water bath will work. I'm asking about volume so I can guesstimate if that's enough lime juice...that is unless you have litmus paper or a pH meter laying around.

[Mosca]

Idk, maybe a pint, or 12oz? 2 or 3 4oz jars is what I’m thinking. I could get litmus paper pretty easily. What should the ph be?

Right now I’m using red and green salsas that I canned in January, that have less lime juice than this. But tomatoes and tomatillos are both more acidic than habaneros.

[Jerod Broussard]

Mosca 4.6 or lower. Tomato stuff can get away with 4.7 or less

[texastweeter]

Tomatoes can vary WILDLY in acidity. Jerod Broussard is correct in the PH. I think with the 2 tablespoons of lime juice in a pint should get you there.

[Smoker_Boy]

Go here.
Ashley's got you covered.

https://practicalselfreliance.com/canning-recipes/

[CaptainMike]

I learned a lot about proper canning through university ag extension websites. ph is a big, big deal. Nothing against grandma and her years of puttin' stuff up, but I like my margin of error to be near zero with something like this. The ag extensions satisfied that for me.

[Jerod Broussard]

pH AND water activity.

[OC Sandy]

The short answer is no. That is not a safe idea. In order to be safe for shelf stable canning with a water bath method there has to be sufficient (significant) acidity. Other factors that come in to play on whether something is safe and shelf stable are the types of ingredients used, the consistency of the product (so that heat evenly and adequately penetrates all ingredients), and also the volume being processed. Even though there are lots of canning recipes out there on the internet and, "Grandma always did it this way and never got sick or died" that doesn't make them safe. People can using unsafe methods and recipes and don't get sick or die - until they do. Kind of like drunk driving. It's fine, until it's not. Here is a really helpful site to learn about and understand safe canning. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can

[Mosca]

That is EXACTLY what I want to know, thanks!

[OC Sandy]

Mosca You could always portion it out and freeze what you won't be using within a few days. Since you are making a puree out of the ingredients anyway you wouldn't experience a change in texture from ice crystals damaging cell walls of the ingredients. Might be worth considering.

[Mosca]

OC Sandy after I do my chores today I’m going to read that from start to finish. That is the resource I need.

[58limited]

For a fresher rather than cooked type of salsa I would naturally ferment it. I use 2.5% salt by weight for my fermentations. That amount of salt inhibits botulism and other bad bacteria. Goal is a pH under 4.6 - mine usually go to 3.8 or less. Stores well in the fridge after fermentation.

I would not roast 100% of the peppers - you might kill off the lactobacilli bacteria that ferment the veggies.

[texastweeter]

LB can be added back in by adding a bit of a "mother" ferment if you want to roast them all though.

[58limited]

True

[mrteddyprincess]

Mosca do you have a pressure canner? That might be a work around. B

[Mosca]

No. I looked at those, for what they cost it isn’t worth it. I’ll check some garage sales and estate sales, FB marketplace, etc., if something comes up I’ll go for it.

[jfmorris]

Mosca I think its been covered well that JUST a water bath won't yield shelf stable canning results. It needs to be done under pressure.

That leads to my next question - do you have an instant pot? I.e. electric pressure cooker? Mine has a "canning" setting, and you could fit a number of small 4 oz jars in there at a time. Probably only 4-5 pint jars or a couple of quart jars, but the little ones maybe 8-10 at a time.

If you don't have an instant pot, it's pretty versatile, and they come fairly cheap. I use it most for making rice... but you can also saute, simmer, slow cook and pressure cook in it.

The other option would be freezing, and then pulling out frozen containers or bags of salsa when you want one. Freezing should preserve indefinitely if in a deep freeze. I am thinking freeze in small plastic containers, kinda like a 4 oz ice cube, then vacuum seal those for long term frozen storage.

[Mosca]

I do have an instant pot. I’ve heard they are inconsistent for canning, but I wasn’t really paying attention to that. I’ll look at it some more.

[texastweeter]

I hot water bath jelly, pickles, and salsa all the time....I also watch my ph balance. Ph will make hot water canning safe for several things.

[mrteddyprincess]

DO NOT USE THIS KIND OF PRESSURE COOKER FOR FOOD CANNING.

I have a pressure canner, so it never occurred to me that the pressures might be different.

Sorry about the whole trying to kill you thing Mosca .

[Mosca]

That’s what I read, too.

[texastweeter]

jfmorris this is correct. Most pressure cookers do not hold enough pressure and or hold it steady enough over a long time.

[mrteddyprincess]

jfmorris and texastweeter thanks for pointing this out. (I have a regular pressure cook, but I've never used it to can.)

[Smoker_Boy]

If you screw-up and only get sick, you're lucky.

Most people die. I'm not kidding.

A Carey Pressure Canner is a safe and excellent tool.

[DavidNorcross]

Late to the party here. The advice you have received is spot on. Pressure canning is what you need to do. Totally understand your thoughts on the investment. We user ours alot especially this time of year, but if you do not can alot then the investment probably does make sense. We have a Nesco electric pressure canner and really like it.

I guess you could make some and eat that awesome salsa quickly!

[Smoker_Boy]

The Nesco and the Carey pressure canners are the same unit.

A Nesco 9.5 qt is only $130 at Walmart.
And if you have a Walmart+ account, shipping is free.

[johnec00]

We make salsa using a water bath canner, and it is shelf stable. The key is to make it quite acidic (I go for less than pH 4.0). This may ruin the taste you like. In any event, here's a copy from our record. (Note the list of peppers used in this batch is just what we had from the garden at the time). If you follow the two links at the top, you will find that this is an acceptable recipe for water bath canning.

Also, the USDA's "Complete Guide to Home Canning - Guide 6 pg 22 gives a recipe for water bath canning of hot peppers. (Lots of vinegar and little water).

[acorgihouse]

I'm on board with pressure canning. Peppers are NOT acid enough to water bath. Not even close. Tomatoes aren't as reliably acidic anymore. You can get a little roll of ph tape, and check it yourself. Adding acid works, as noted above, but you need to be absolutely sure. You cannot can in IP, unless you have the one model, now d/ced, with a pressure canning setting. You can find good info at the Ball jars site.

[Smoker_Boy]

Yep, a pressure cooker and a pressure canner are 2 different things.

[jfmorris]

I thought this pressure canner was cheaper than I expected to see something for, at $69.99:

https://www.amazon.com/T-fal-Pressure-Cooker-Control-Settings/dp/B01KWZEERC

I still think if your instant pot has a canning mode, it's worth checking out. Mine has a canning setting on the control panel.

[Mosca]

Man, for every canning site that says the IP is okay for pressure canning, there are ten that say it isn’t.

My only reservation about buying a pressure canner, even for $70, is cost effectiveness vs. convenience. I’d rather make salsa more frequently than spend the money to make a big batch. If I were younger… well, if I were younger, I’d be working still, and wouldn’t have the time for any of it. I’m going to hit estate sales and garage sales. I’ve had some great finds at those.