Is adding garlic safe?

[SugarDaisy]

I got this recipe from one of the canning sites. I want to omit the chiles, which say they are optional and add some garlic. Im thinking that adding a few garlic cloves will be okay, but just wanted others opinions.

 

Chile Salsa

 

Yield: 7 to 9 pints

 

10 cups peeled, cored, chopped tomatoes

4 cups chopped onions

1 cup vinegar

6 cups seeded, chopped chiles*

3 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

 

Combine ingredients in a large saucepan. Heat to a boil and simmer 10 minutes. Ladle hot salsa into pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner: 15 minutes at 0-1,000 feet altitude, 20 minutes at 1,001-6,000 feet; 25 minutes above 6,000 feet.

 

*Use mixture of mild and hot chiles.

[Andrea]

Sugar Daisy,

I'm not sure where you found the recipe, but I don't believe that the ratio of acid to nonacid vegetables is a safe one. Please run this by Violet.

[PoGo]

It's the same recipe as found on the National Center for Home Food Preservation website, titled Chile Salsa II.

 

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_salsa/chile_salsa_II.html

 

Garlic? I dunno.

 

Stated on the website:

IMPORTANT:

The only changes you can safely make in this salsa recipe are to substitute bottled lemon juice for the vinegar and to change the amount of pepper and salt. Do not alter the proportions of vegetables to acid and tomatoes because it might make the salsa unsafe.

 

Do not increase the total amount of peppers in any recipe.

 

IMPORTANT: Follow the directions carefully for each recipe. Use the amounts of each vegetable listed in the recipe. Add the amount of vinegar or lemon juice listed. You may change the amount of spices, if desired. Do not can salsas that do not follow these or other research tested recipes. (They may be frozen or stored in the refrigerator.) Do not thicken salsas with flour or cornstarch before canning. After you open a jar to use, you may pour off some of the liquid or thicken with cornstarch. Store in the refrigerator once opened.

 

 

 

 

 

[Violet]

It won't be chile salsa without chiles. It says to use a mixture of hot and mild chiles, not that they are optional. I am curious as to why you want to can tomatoes, onions, vinegar, garlic, and salt and pepper. Sounds more like a tomato sauce to me, plus vinegar. I seem sort of confused. Perhaps if you can tell us what you want to use it for I can help find a better recipe to suit your needs.

However, if you leave out the chiles, it would actually increase the acidity. However, I can't tell you just how many fresh garlic cloves you could sub for the peppers. I don't know how it will affect the ph level. If you will use some dry garlic granules instead, it will be fine to add some that way. The moisture is out of the dried garlic, so that makes a difference in the way water is available for bacterial growth. Called water activity.

You can see the difference in acidity between peppers and garlic.

Peppers 4.65 - 5.45

Garlic 5.80

That means garlic is less acidic than the chiles.

[SugarDaisy]

Im bumping this up because I have finally found tomatoes I like and am going to spend the weekend canning.

 

I want to make my own version of salsa. In the middle of winter, I add it to other stuff to make a mexican dish.

 

What I really want it tomatoes, onions, garlic, cilantro and vinegar. Ive been looking up recipes for tomato juice, since some of those are closer to what I am trying to do - they are just juice instead of chunks.

 

Im going to go ahead with the salsa. Thanks for everyones help.

[Violet]

If you try to use a recipe for juice and have chunks in the product the processing time will not be adequete.

Chunks take longer processing due to the difference in density.

Please, be sure what you are canning is safe, I sure would not want you to get ill.

 

[SugarDaisy]

Thanks for the concern. My tomatoes are sitting because I got tired of chopping. I read that I can safely replace the peppers with onions in a salsa recipe, and the cilantro is not a problem. The garlic ratio seems to be the only question now, so I wont add much.

 

Im sure I will be fine.