Thank you to all who replied with very helpful information on my canning
endeavor! I don't post much in this group, even though I've been reading it
for years, but when I do, you guys always provide the best information. So,
it looks like my salsa is good (in more ways than one I must say!) and
should be shelf stable. It's not a huge batch, but it will last me a few
months anyway. The spaghetti sauce looks like it could be a little more
complicated than the recipes led me to believe. However, I just went back
and looked at my notes and found that just before pouring in the boiling
sauce into the jars, I added 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice (these were pint jars).
As I stated before, I had looked at a ton of recipes on the internet and
even in my ball canning book and kind of took the recipe in my own
direction, while altering the taste to our liking as it cooked. There were
quite a few recipes out there that made mention of adding the lemon juice to
the jar just before pouring in the hot sauce and then BWB. So, with this new
addition of the lemon juice, am I any safer with what I did? Should I keep
this in the fridge? It only made 5 pints, so it's not like I'm going to be
keeping it for a year, it'll likely last 2 months around here, at most. Any
thoughts on this addition to the recipe?



"Bunny McElwee" > wrote in message
eb.com...
> I just recently canned my first batch of homemade Salsa and Spaghetti
> Sauce. I was wondering, how long can i keep these items and should they be
> kept on the shelf or would I prolong the life of them if I keep them
> refrigerated? The recipe I used for the salsa was from Taste of Home
> http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Spicy-Chunky-Salsa and I BWB canned it
> as stated in the recipe.
>
> The Spaghetti Sauce was kind of a combination of many recipes cooked
> for 3 hours, canned and then BWB canned for 40 minutes. Ingredients in the
> sauce are as follows: 8 lbs. on the vine Tomatoes, 1 each gr. & red
> pepper, 2 Jalapeno pepper, onion, garlic, can tomato sauce, 2 can tomato
> paste, 2 bay leaf, black pepper, oregano, Italian seasoning (all dried)
> celery salt, a few splashes of red wine vinegar (maybe a tbsp or two),
> garlic powder, sugar (about 2/3-3/4 cup for what ended up being 5 pints of
> sauce) salt, and I did cook the veggies sans tomatoes in about 1/4 c olive
> oil and added it in when I added the veggies in. Oh, and the veggies and
> tomatoes were pureed, if it makes a difference. I cooked it all down,
> simmered for 3 hours then BWB for 40 and let sit on the counter overnight.
>
> All jars from both items are sealed. This is my first time canning
> something not veggie or jelly related so I am just wondering what to
> expect from these jars and how much I can make to keep until the next time
> I can make some. Thanks in advance to all of you!
>