Gregory Morrow wrote:
> [x-posted to rec.food.preserving]
>
> No kids 4 you wrote:
>
>
>> In anticipation of the fall harvest and some time off I am planning
>> to can for the first time ever. I have an endless collection of
>> old blue jars that I thought might look nice filled with my
>> neighbors tomatoes, they let me pick them. I thought for a second
>> about using the old lids that go with the jars, I think they are
>> zinc with milk glass inserts. I'm going with those easy
>> seal lids instead. Any sage words from experienced canners?
>
>
> DON'T DO THAT! Botulism is not a pretty or easy death...you'll have
> to use a pressure canner for tomatoes.
>

I'm not sure what an "easy seal lid" is. The old zinc and porcelain
lids will work, but modern 2-piece canning lids are cheap and easy to
use. Blue jars and zinc lids in usable condition probably have some
collector value.

You don't need a pressure canner to do tomatoes; tomatoes are
acid like fruit, but just barely acid. You should add a little lemon
juice or citric acid to tomatoes if you're not going to pressure-can
them. Here's a very good document about canning tomatoes:
http://www.fcs.uga.edu/pubs/PDF/FDNS-E-43-2.pdf

(The part about adding citric acid or bottled lemon juice is on page 3.)

Pressure canning yields a better product and it doesn't heat the house
up so much, so I recommend using a pressure canner if you have one
instead of a water bath canner.

HTH, :-)
Bob