HELP Questions about canning ~ fruits, sauces, etc.

11 years ago

This last birthday, my DSIL outfitted me with all of the things needed to start canning the fruits and vegetables that will soon come to the end of the growing season here. I've been talking about wanting to do canning for years, so now I can actually do it.

Yesterday we did a Peach Jam recipe from WS' "The Art of Preserving" (part of my gift, lol). The recipe went very well, all jars sealed, the jam tastes great, etc.

This morning we did a recipe found online at the WS website called Simple Tomato Sauce. If you were to follow this recipe to the letter, you end up with tomato water. The recipe calls for putting the cooked plum tomatoes through a foodmill after cooking, and before sealing in the water bath. Obviously didn't care for the consistency of the very thin liquid that the foodmill provided, so we decided to put the tomato mixture into a blender and pulse to achieve the consistency of a thicker spaghetti sauce-type product. We followed the rest of the preserving instructions to the letter.

After the jars boiled for the alotted time period, we removed them from the water bath just as we did with the Peach Jam the day before.

The problem is, each jar has approx. 1.5 of very thin, almost watery (if that's a word) tomato liquid at the bottom below the nice thick looking tomato sauce.

I've searched the internet and found that this can happen for a variety of reasons, but IIRC, there are a few gals here on the forum that do a bit of canning. Any thoughts as to why this happened, and if the seals are okay, is all of this sauce considered preserved?

We could refrigerate all of the jars and try to use them within a month, but I thought if someone on the forum has run into this problem, it would ease my mind to know that what we've canned is safe, and perhaps why it happened.

TIA.

Comments (8)

lizbeth-gardener
11 years ago
google home canned tomatoes with liquid separating from tomatoes and it tells you why and not to worry. Someday I will learn how to link! HTH
lizbeth-gardener
11 years ago
Also forgot to mention the harvest section of the garden forum-many knowledgeable canners over there.
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liriodendron
11 years ago
Don't worry about the tomato sauce, it just separated. Since it happened immediately it's no biggie.

But I also recommend you don't use Williams Sonoma Art of Canning Book as your primary, initial reference. It has errors and plays fast and lose with current safe-canning guidelines. There are much, much better ones available. Once you've got more experienc with canning you'll be able to better evaluate the W-S recipes for critical safety points.

Basic, but excellent is the current edition of the Ball Blue Book. It's also cheap.

Putting Food By is also very good and the new edition in paperback is inexpensive.

Any title by Linda Ziedrich (pickles, jams, etc.) is safe and accurate.

Karen Solomon is good and more adventuresome.

The new Better Homes and Gardens book: Can It! has some dubious procedures in it.

Perfect Preserves by Hillaire Walden

Pickled by Lucy Norris

Small-batch preserving by Ellie Topp

Putting Up by Stephen Dowdney (methods are NOT USDA approved for home use, but experienced canners can adapt)

Well Preserved by Eugenia Bone (mostly OK methods, recipes very interesting)

Well Preserved - small batch preserving by Mary Ann Dragan

Put 'Em Up by Sherri Vinson (Ok, little beefs over technique but mostly sound)

Preservation Kitchen by Paul Virant (Interesting, very esoteric recipes)

Food in Jars by Marissa McClellan (author of extremely popular blog of same name; interesting rec. and good technique)

That's probably enough to get you going with SAFE modern practuces and fab modern-style recipes (not your G'mothers boring old canned stewed tomoatoes!) There are many other good books - I have a huge collection. One word of warning there are still new books coming out with out-moded safety techniques for home canning (i.e. steam canning). Stay with the USDA guidelines at least until you get some experience. Also books from Europe have different acceptable canning methods. I read the recipes and convert them to US recs.

Canning is a complete blast, and very addicting! There are also some great websites for canning, jelly, pickles. If you need links let me know.

L.
My3dogs ME zone 5A
11 years ago
I've linked a post from the harvest forum from 9/1/2007 below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Canned Tomato Juice Separation
work_in_progress_08
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the responses.

lizbeth-gardener - I was looking for a forum here on this site, but didn't see the Harvest group. Wandering over there as soon as I type this reply.

liriodendron - Thanks for taking the time to recommend many titles. I will definitely pick up a few for winter reading in order to be ready to start canning in the spring. The canning gift just occurred, so I wanted to get my feet wet with a few recipes while seasonal fruit/veggies are still available here.

Wow, had no idea that the WS book contained issues/errors with safety guidelines, etc. Safety is my priority, hands down. The recipes are awesome, and are definitely not anything that would have been put up in DM's day. All in all, if good recipes are processed properly, I think I will be a very happy camper. That said, I want to consult the best sources for safety tips/guidelines, etc. for canning. Plan to start early in the summer and go right through the fall harvest next year!

my3dogs - Thank you for the link. Yes, it seems the separation can occur. Since this was my first time canning tomatoes, when I saw the separation, panic set in. While the canning is time consuming, ultimately I want to produce a safe product for my family.
judiegal6
11 years ago
We've been canning tomatoes for years, the way my DH family did it. We use a Roma tomatoes mostly. After splitting the skins we let them drain for quite a while before we put them through a machine that removes the skin and seeds. Letting them sit a while removes a lot of the water, which makes a denser sauce. Occasionally we have a jar or two with a layer of water after processing. As long as its sealed they will be fine stored in a cabinet, no need to refrigerate unless opened. Here are just a few photos of our process.
cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
11 years ago
Whoa! That is some canning procedure you have going there...and very cute canners, I might add! ;)
work_in_progress_08
Original Author
11 years ago
Wow judiegal, now that is canning! I couldn't remember your monikor, but was telling my SIL about your awesome tomato canning. I have alot of questions, and have been on the Harvest forum for 2 days just reading the threads. Now I've gotten up the courage to post my questions and concerns. Can't wait to hear what those experts have to say!

Thanks for sharing your pics once again!