A Few Canning Rules

You have to admit, Mary O'Donnell doesn't look worried. Photo by Chip Scheuer.

— Keep everything clean when you’re composing the jars, but don’t worry about sanitizing. The tomatoes aren’t sanitized, after all. Everything is sanitized in the hot water bath.

— The better your tomatoes taste fresh, the better they’ll taste canned. This extends to bruised tomatoes.

— No need to remove the skins—they’ll slough off post-canning.

— Make sure your jars are summer room temperature (fairly warm) before putting them in the hot water bath or the contents won’t heat properly.

— If a seal breaks and the jar contents become unsafe to eat, you’ll know. Would you eat oozing or carbonated salsa? Didn’t think so.

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