I was making a large batch of tomato jam and -because I didn’t have enough lemon juice on hand- substituted an equal amount of white vinegar after I read that it was an appropriate substitute. However, I’m concerned that I may have gotten the ratio wrong after further reading from some different sources. The main ingredient is cored/seeded tomatoes along with 3 or so cups of sugar, so I believe that should be enough to preserve* it already, but I still want a second opinion.
The batch has already been canned/processed, but if I need to add more to make it safe to store for long periods of time I can easily reprocess.
Here’s the recipe if that helps;
https://www.seriouseats.com/fresh-tomato-caramelized-onion-jam-recipe
Edit: to clarify, I’m hoping to store this in my pantry instead of my fridge/freezer
by BurnedOut_NotGifted
2 Comments
Unfortunately, this isn’t a canning recipe. It is designed for short-term refrigerator storage. And it contains a lot of low-acid ingredients (onions) which create a botulism risk. Since the recipe hasn’t been tested for safety, you can’t safely can it for shelf storage. If it has been in the refrigerator since you made it, great! You should be able to keep it in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks, or in the freezer for longer term.
I’m sorry.
This isn’t a canning recipe. If you read it, at the end it says “store in refrigerator for up to two weeks” and there are no canning instructions. This cannot be made shelf stable no matter how much vinegar you put into it.
You say it’s already been processed; how long ago? If it’s been less than 24 hours you can put this into the fridge and enjoy it for a couple of weeks. If it’s been longer, you should dump it.
For future reference, adding sugar is not going to make something safe to can. Only a proper acidity, product density, and low enough bacterial load will do that, plus a long enough processing time to make sure that you get good heat penetration. You can’t know those things as a home cook, which is why it’s important to only use tested recipes from trusted sources. I love Serious Eats, but they aren’t on the list. Here’s the subreddit wiki, with more information about safe canning and lists of safe sources:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Canning/wiki/index/
Finally, vinegar and lemon juice are not equal in canning. Lemon juice is far more acidic than vinegar, even if they are both 5% acidity. You have to use double the vinegar if you’re substituting for lemon juice, which tends to make things taste bad.
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/how-do-i-can-tomatoes/canning-tomatoes-introduction/