Canning Salsa and No Lids!

ninnymary

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I defrosted my roasted tomatoes and peppers and made my salsa. When I went to canning them I ran out of lids. My husband checked at 3 places and nothing. Fourth place had them for $5.99 for 12 which I refused to pay that much.

Ordered them from Amazon and won't be here till Sept. 8-12.

Question: Can I finish making my salsa and refreeze till I get the lids? Keep in mind that the tomatoes and peppers have already been frozen once. I was hoping to get them with Prime but that's the date they gave me.

Thanks Everyone,
Mary
 

Ridgerunner

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Mary, two issues. Bacteria and mold. You are probably water bath canning. That doesn't get the temperature up high enough to sterile things. You rely on the acidity to stop botulism, acidity does not kill all mold or bacteria. Will your salsa be hot enough to kill those things before canning? Bee depended in cleanliness to handle those. When you open it sniff it and look for mold on top. If it smells and looks OK, I'd use it.

Texture. If your salsa is ground up, no big deal. If it has chunks, maybe. Freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw. In each cycle the water in the cells freezes and can burst the cell walls. If your salsa has chunks the texture may not be what you want.
 

flowerbug

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I defrosted my roasted tomatoes and peppers and made my salsa. When I went to canning them I ran out of lids. My husband checked at 3 places and nothing. Fourth place had them for $5.99 for 12 which I refused to pay that much.

Ordered them from Amazon and won't be here till Sept. 8-12.

Question: Can I finish making my salsa and refreeze till I get the lids? Keep in mind that the tomatoes and peppers have already been frozen once. I was hoping to get them with Prime but that's the date they gave me.

Thanks Everyone,
Mary

i think i would just freeze it and then use it.
 

ducks4you

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I think it will be fine. Have you ever frozen spaghetti sauce, thawed it to eat, then refrozen the leftovers?
You don't worry about That.
I KNOW that pressure canning is always the best thing to do, but if you don't own one, you cannot do this.
IF you buy one and look for advice, most P canners will tell you it is a two day process.
First day you process, then you pick up the canner and move it to a cool burner and leave it for 24 hours before you unseal the top and remove your product.
Your salsa is tomato based. I just opened a 12yo jar of tomatoes, zucchini and onion. Just fine. Opened a 5yo jar of salsa. It was fine, but not fresh. NOBODY that ate it got sick, just tasted past it's prime.
Myself? If the instructions are for tomatoes, tomato/something else, say process 25 minutes I often process for 45 minutes, so try processing longer.
I also have had to put tomato jars back in the canning bc the quart didn't seal. Quarts are tricky in a hot water bath canner anyway getting enough water to cover. When I have to reprocess I often leave it in the canner until it cools off.
It's really all about the seal.
IF you are not certain about your product, leave it on the shelf for 5 months.
THAT's how long it took for pumpkin hot water bathed to start to rot in the jars in my pantry!!
Not supposed to do that!
 

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