Adding Acid to Preserve Tomatoes
Tomatoes are one of the most popular foods for home canning. While we typically consider tomatoes to be acidic foods, studies have found that they have a “borderline” pH of around 4.6.
So how do you safely can tomatoes? Add bottled lemon juice, vinegar or citric acid to tomatoes in amounts recommended by the USDA to make them more acidic, and then proceed using the boiling water canning method. The National Center for Home Food Preservation has more information and many recipes for safely canning tomatoes and other fresh foods.
Summer Fresh Salsa with Baked Tortilla Chips
2 large tomatoes, seeded, chopped 1 Tablespoon lime juice
1 jalapeno, chopped ½ teaspoon cumin
¼ cup chopped onion Salt
¼ c fresh chopped cilantro White corn tortillas
Preheat oven to 350. Mix salsa ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Stack several tortillas at a time and cut into 6 sections diagonally, creating triangle or “chip” pieces. Place on a non-stick cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt. Bake 6-7 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove sheet from oven and place on a cooling rack. Sprinkle chips with additional salt while still hot. Enjoy with salsa.