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green tomatoes

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

If you are concerned about the acid content of tomatoes, you can add 1/2
teaspoon citric acid per quart of tomatoes.  Bottled lemon juice (which is
5% acidity) is also good; add 1 tablespoon per pint; 2 tablespoons per
quart.  Citric acid does not add any flavor to the tomatoes, while vinegar
and lemon juice will.

You also may want to add 1/2 teaspoon salt to each quart jar before
processing.  Fresh home canned tomatoes tend to be a bit bland - for lack of
a better word - for our palates, which are used to more salt.

One should be more concerned about the type of tomatoes, rather than how
ripe they are.  Some hybrids, which are specially grown for their sweetness,
compromise acidity (which should be at 4.6 or less).  Yellow tomatoes tend
to be low acid.

Green tomatoes are usually canned into relish or salsa, which include
vinegar as its' base.

By the way, pH scales are backwards for us; the lower the number, the higher
the acidity.  Lemons, for instance, have an acidity of 2.2-2.8; Tomatoes
fall in the 4.0-4.6 range.  Anything over 4.6 should be pressure canned,
which is really not that difficult to do.  If anybody out there goes garage
sale-ing, take a look; you can usually pick one up for a song. (The only
difference between water bath & pressure canning is the kettle; and letting
the kettle pressure reduce naturally after the specified period of time.
Failure to do this can result in a really messy kitchen when the lid blows
up!  Most kettles have a fail-safe that will not allow you to open the
kettle until the pressure has been reduced.  I've been pressure canning for
years, and never had a problem.)

You can also hit a scientific supply house for litmus paper (really
inexpensive!) if you are not sure about the acidity.  (I found some at
American Science & Surplus - I think they are on the web).

Well, I'm back to the stove; the elderberries are in, and I'm processing the
juice for jelly.  Yum!

Peace,

Patti


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