Why did the crushed tomatoes on the right separate? The batches were canned one week apart. I used the 2020 Ball crushed tomato instructions. This has never happened before in all my years of canning, and they are ugly!

by BoozeIsTherapyRight

10 Comments

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  2. Found an interesting tidbit about canning tomatoes from the Healthy Canning site under Tomatoes separating in jars:

    “During storage, pulp and juice in home canned tomatoes may separate, especially in sauce or juice made with crushed or puréed tomatoes. Separation is caused by an enzyme, Pectose (Pectinesterarse), found in high concentrations in tomatoes. The enzyme is activated when tomatoes are cut. To reduce separation, heat tomatoes quickly over high heat to 82 C (180 F) to destroy the enzyme.”

    https://www.healthycanning.com/tomatoes-separating-jars#:~:text=Separation%20is%20caused%20by%20an,)%20to%20destroy%20the%20enzyme.%E2%80%9D

  3. gardenerky

    Always thought that was quite common guess when we cut and drop directly into already cooking tomatoes rather than cutting and then putting all on the heat at once we would limit the separation ….. never realized what a diffference it would make have done it both ways

  4. NotAlwaysGifs

    We switched to the freezing method for peeling tomatoes, and this has drastically cut down on separation for us. Not only do the skins come right off without needing to blanch them, but a lot of the water that you’re trying to cook off while making sauce comes out while you peel them.

  5. NotAnEvilOverlord

    Most of mine separate every year. Still entirely safe if you follow best practices but it depends on how fast you can chop and pack things. If you shake it really hard before you use it it recombines. If you don’t, but are dumping the whole jar into a single usage then it doesn’t matter anyway 🙂

  6. Buddyslime

    We never worried about this. We get some that do and some that don’t. We just figured some jars have more juice than others.

  7. Wolfmaryk

    I get this more with pressure canning than I do water bath. It’s normal!

  8. Brave-Management-992

    This is so good to know! Thank you all for this discussion.

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