Putting Food By - Janet Greene [61]
Unless you are sure that these safeguards were observed, a margin of protection is added by boiling the canned food hard for 15 minutes to destroy any hidden toxins and stirring to distribute the heat. If the food foams unduly or smells bad during boiling, destroy it completely so it cannot be eaten by people or animals.
Canned Tomato Troubles and What to Do
New developments bring new strictness, so canned tomatoes in your storeroom should be examined for the same signs that mean vegetables are unfit, or dangerous, to eat:
• Broken seals.
• Bulging cans.
• Seepage around the seal.
• Mold, the tiniest spot, around the seal or on the underside of the lid or in the contents.
• Gassiness in the contents, spurting liquid from pressure inside any container when it is opened.
• Cloudy or yeasty liquid.
• Unnatural color.
• Unnatural or unpleasant odor.
If any of these indications is present in the smallest degree, play safe and do not even taste the tomatoes before boiling them for 15 minutes to destroy hidden toxins. Then, during boiling, if they foam or smell bad, destroy them so they cannot be eaten by people or animals. Wash the containers and sealers in hot soapy water, then cover with fresh water and boil hard for 15 minutes; salvage only sterilized jars—destroy cans and all closures, etc.
Basic Tomato Products
For more tomato products see Chapter 12, “Canning Convenience Foods,” and relishes in Chapter 19.
Unless you can pick with finicky selectiveness from a well-managed small garden of your own, there is bound to be a range of ripeness, size, and condition in any good-size batch of tomatoes you’re getting ready to can. So pick them over carefully, of course discarding any rotten or banged-up ones, and let size and degree of acceptable ripeness dictate the form you’ll can them in.
Perfect just firm-ripe—better underripe than overripe—uniform and small enough to slip easily down into the jar—these are the ones for canning whole to use in salads. Misshapen or overly large fruit are cut to stewing size—quarters, eighths, or chunks—and are canned plain or with added vegetables for flavor; they also go for sauce or juice.
Regardless of the form or whether they’re to be processed in a Boiling–Water Bath or a Pressure Canner, prepare the tomatoes according to the general directions given earlier in this chapter under . . . But the Care Never Varies and Adding Acid—Why and Which.
Cut-up Plain Tomatoes
Boiling–Water Bath preferred (but for Pressure-canning see times, etc., in the general introduction for this chapter). Use Hot pack only. Use jars or plain cans.
Select, wash, peel, according to general handling earlier; cut in quarters or eighths, saving all juice possible. In a large enameled or stainless steel kettle bring cut tomatoes to a boil in their own juice, and cook gently for 5 minutes, stirring so they don’t stick. Pack.
Note: individual food scientists around the country do not agree that 5 pounds pressure is enough to get the result desired from Pressure-processing Plain Tomatoes, especially at altitudes above 3000 feet/914 meters. Nor do they agree across-the-board on B–W Bath timing in every case: check with your regional Extension Service for special handling in your area.
HOT PACK ONLY
B–W Bath, in jars. Fill clean scalded jars with boiling-hot tomatoes and their juice, leaving ½ inch of headroom. Add ¼ teaspoon crystalline citric acid (or 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice) to pints, ½ teaspoon citric acid (or 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice) to quarts. (Optional: add ½ teaspoon salt to pints, 1 teaspoon salt to quarts.) Adjust lids. Process in a Boiling–Water Bath (212 F/100 C)—35 minutes for pints, 45 minutes for quarts. Remove