As mentioned bottled lemon juice can be used instead of the citric. The site below sells a pound of citric for just $5.19. The also offer other acids used in wine making, as well as ascorbic acid which is used for color retention. I found a site where ascorbic was very cheap by the pound too. Buying in a larger amount saves you money. The True Lemon I see here is in small packets, with each equuivilen to a teaspoon of lemon juice. They tend to be clumped up inside the packets, as if excess moisture had been added. As to acidity, I doubt if even the maker can tell you if its accurate. I do know that a half teaspoon of citric acid is a LOT more in volume compared to the True Lemon packets size. A similar situation when I found a site that sells powdered vinegar. I asked them if the acidity was similar to regular vinegar, but they had no real answer, and said it was meant more for a flavoring. If you buy canning jars and supplies locally, Ball and Mrs. Wages also sell the citric and ascorbic acids. If your local suppler has none, ask them to order it for you. Sometimes you can find small jars of citric in the spice section, also known as 'sour salt'. Durkee sold that product many years ago too. Here is a link that might be useful: Citric acid source

I have canning directions from a number of universities, Ball, Kerr, Presto, etc., dating back for over 20 years to the present. There have been many changes to the recommendations given by the various sources over the years. Example: pressure canning tomato juice in "Presto Cooker Canner, Directions and Recipes, 1978" lists no requirement for adding lemon juice or other acidification, and a recommended processing time for both pints and quarts is given as 15 lbs - 0 minutes. We've used that recipe over the years with no problems, but have since changed to other processing methods (processing time, acidification, pounds of pressure). It was only until a few years ago that we could find an "approved" method for preparing and canning vegetable tomato juice (V8?), but we've been canning quarts and 1/2 gallon jars of our own "V8", using our own directions which I've published here a number of years ago, for over 30 years! Jeez, did I get the nasty comments after posting that. And, the person that posted that the large canneries monitor the temperatures of each container in a batch, and conduct lab tests on products from each batch has certainly observed canneries other than the 10 or so I've visited. Getting back to recipes for half gallon jar recipes, I know it would be no big deal for a University that routinely conducts food safety testing and publishes "safe" recipes to conduct tests and provide recommendations for canning at least a limited number of recipes they standardize as to type and amount of each ingredient, etc. Heck, I can't believe that a great number of grad students haven't wanted to do just that!

DON'T THROW THEM OUT YET!!! Is the only problem is that they were potentially low acid and everything else is okay? (SOMEONE PLEASE CORRECT ME OR CONFIRM THAT WHAT I WRITE NEXT IS CORRECT.) I think the only risk is THEORETICAL botulism. Mould etc. shouldn't be a problem in properly canned tomatoes even without the acidifier. (?) In the unlikely case that you do have botulism, isn't it denatured by boiling the product for at least 20 minutes? (PLEASE CONFIRM.) If that's the case, then just label the tomatoes for your own use, do not give them away, do not taste the raw product, and cook for at least 20 minutes. When I crack open my canned tomatoes, I cook them that long anyway to make a tomato sauce. Also remember that the acidification is because tomatoes are borderline acidity. Hopefully someone else can answer whether the acidity of the ascorbic is sufficient.

yes, there is a canadian tire here! duh! i was in the states and all i could find was the dishwasher powder, so i got that. i w/stop at canadian tire today--thanks for that! i didn't want my machine to even start to get the buildup, which i'm pretty sure is what reduced the cleaning power of my old machine....i'm using the machine now, and i need to get it more level, so the door won't swing open so much, as it's located in a hallway. vibration isn't too bad. so far am loving it! w/do a real review when i get a few miles on it.