This month's newsletter presents a number of ideas for including more fruits and vegetables in your diet. If your garden has produced many tomatoes and peppers this year, you may wish to make and preserve some Salsa. It makes a wonderful low-fat snack and can help you get your 5 A Day. But, before you begin, please take a moment to read further. If you choose to can salsa, you need to understand that foods have differing levels of acidity.
Tomatoes are a high acid food, but peppers, onions are low acid foods.
The only safe way to preserve low acid foods is by using a pressure canner, or using a recipe that has enough added acid to bring the product into a safe acidity range. If you use a water bath canner for low acid foods, you cannot destroy the spores of bacteria that cause botulism as well as other types of spoilage. Botulism poisoning can be fatal. The Rules of Salsa You may make and freeze any combination of tomatoes, peppers, onions, chiles and spices. You may can the tomatoes in a boiling water bath and prepare the salsa as you need it.