Is this recipe safe?

I will put link below. I made this in 2014, September. I probably have a post about it. I have pictures of it. We ate some of it that night for supper and it was wonderful. Now almost 2 years later they sit on a shelf. I am afraid to eat it. I was all happy when I made it. I know I will not use the pressure canner, but this was water bath, so felt safe. Lemon juice added for acid, but afterwards something spooked me. I am not sure if the garlic and peppers or the fact that I realized tomatoes are recommended to be in the pressure canner. I don't know. I followed this recipe. I know I put the lemon juice in. I think about that. The lemon juice is in the bottom of the jars and what about all the food not touching the lemon juice? I have tomatoes starting to add up. Forcing people to eat tomatoes, having BLT sandwiches, another salad anybody??? lol I am not going to have a lot of tomatoes, so I am going to make small batches of tomato sauce and eat for supper or freeze extra, but those beautiful jars of spaghetti sauce. The words sealed, no air, low acid, the B word, all that, I just cannot get over. I can make pickles, or even pickle relish, even fermented some pickles. Sitting on the table for 4 days. I have made sauerkraut, no fear. Jelly, jam. Picture of my 5 quarts surrounded by jelly made back in 2014. What do you think of this recipe? http://cottageatthecrossroads.com/homemade-canned-spaghetti-sauce/

I don't add paste. Add that when I open to use-if doesn't keep not out any money.

From food network, if sauce little runny, undercook spaghetti, finish in sauce. Spaghetti gets flavored and sauce gets thickened. Win win.

I have tried canning in the past produce that required a pressure canner, like pumpkin. I went bad in 5 months and it was obvious. With tomatoes you can TELL the minute you open the can if it's bad. I ALWAYS taste my tomatoes in jars before using. You're gonna know it's good or bad. I open and use jars that are sometimes 7yo, that got pushed behind the fresher ones. Still taste great. Tomatoes are high acid and that helps to keep them.
On the plus side, tomatoes taste just the same as the day they went in the jar. You should store in a cool, dark place. I have a room in my basement that I use as my pantry and that's where the jars go after canning. Cool, basement (cave) temperatures and mostly dark, (there are windows.)

Somewhere I heard to do a 'test' if you're unsure about something canned.
Take a good sniff as soon as you break the seal - should smell like it did when you canned it.
Then warm it slowly on the stove - sometimes a 'bad' smell will become evident as it warms.
Someone else suggested (a LONG time ago) to open it and sit it in the fridge. If it's already going bad - it will be evident in a day or so. If it is ok, a day or so in the fridge won't hurt it.

Here's the BBB version, which is very similar to yours, minus the peppers...



I think it is the bottled lemon juice that is supposed to make it safe. There is some question with the tomatoes, which are generally acidic enough, but if if over-ripe or heirloom may have lower acidity.

Chopping the peppers, onion and garlic very fine should help the lemon juice penetrate and distribute them well in the sauce. I'd say as long as you used the measurements called for or less, those won't be a problem. That little bit of extra garlic probably isn't a problem either. Ideally, you shouldn't make any adjustments to the given recipe and make sure the measurements are exact.

If it's bad, with botulism the lids are supposed to warp and expand after awhile in storage. Those jars would tend to lose their seal or leak. You can safely waterbath tomatoes as long as the extra acidity from the lemon juice is added. BBB has both waterbath and pressure canning versions of the directions.

I'd say you're fine, but if you wanted to be extra sure, you could purchase something to test the acidity (litmus strips, digital probe, etc.) and look to see if it has the recommended pH of 4.6 or less. Those two tbsp of lemon juice should have done the trick.

That picture is 2 years old. I put the jars there for the picture. They are stored in a cabinet. I am worried botulism. There is really no way botulism could be in these jars with lemon juice and tomatoes????? http://foodinjars.com/2010/08/canning-101-why-you-cant-can-your-familys-tomato-sauce/

journey11 said:

Here's the BBB version, which is very similar to yours, minus the peppers...

View attachment 15483

I'd say you're fine, but if you wanted to be extra sure, you could purchase something to test the acidity (litmus strips, digital probe, etc.) and look to see if it has the recommended pH of 4.6 or less. Those two tbsp of lemon juice should have done the trick.

Click to expand...

I think I have some litmus strips. Have you heard about the boiling 10 minutes after opening and it kills any botulism. After I did this then I read something about heirloom and over-ripe tomatoes, which most of mine are heirloom, and then putting the peppers in. I followed the recipe. Thank you journey.

If sealed, you are good. Bacteria/mold growth will break seal.

Gardening with Rabbits said:

I think I have some litmus strips. Have you heard about the boiling 10 minutes after opening and it kills any botulism. After I did this then I read something about heirloom and over-ripe tomatoes, which most of mine are heirloom, and then putting the peppers in. I followed the recipe. Thank you journey.

Click to expand...

That is a good distinction you make and something I was not aware of so I did a search on it... The spores are harder to kill and require the high temps of pressure canning above 240 to kill, but the toxin is easier to kill at 185 degrees. That is good to know!

ETA: and the spores alone won't hurt you, they're everywhere!

Here's a cool infographic I found... (source)