I'm planning to try canning for the first time tomorrow. I've found a recipe written for canning, and I've been comparing it against a recipe from Ball. The biggest difference is that Ball's recipe adds the herbs and lemon juice to the jar and doesn't cook it with the tomatoes.
Is one better than the other? I know we can doctor up the tomato sauce when we use it in a recipe later. But I'm just wondering if there's some preservation reason not to worry about its flavor/herbs at this stage.
by tsidel
4 Comments
The biggest difference is that the ball recipe uses dry herbs, no onions, no olive oil, etc., while the untested and unsafe recipe you linked from “taste of home” uses fresh basil, olive oil, and low acid ingredients like onions.
Use the ball recipe, as it is tested to be safe for canning. The website you linked explicitly says their recipe was developed by them, in their “test kitchen”, but that’s not what’s meant by “tested” recipe.
Ball has other recipes for tomato sauce that include onions, but those are in amounts tested to be safe.
Taste of Home is not a safe resource for canning recipes—they don’t have to follow guidelines.
To answer your question about herbs, you can safely add any **dried** herbs to an approved canning recipe, but save fresh herbs when you prepare the sauce for eating.
I would prep more jars than you think you need with the salt, lemon juice and herbs so that there is never a question “if you forgot”.
You can take the excess from the unneeded jars, add some pepper, olive oil, and Dijon mustard, and voila! Vinaigrette!
Both methods are safe, but cooking herbs with tomatoes can mute flavors. Ball’s Way preserves flavor and ensures acidity for safe canning..