How To Evaluate Recipes - Procedures Here are five sample recipes taken from two home canning cookbooks on the market. Use the questions and procedures from Fact Sheet EHE-705, Evaluating Home Canning Recipes For Safety, to evaluate them. You will also need the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning. I. Pepper relish 2 C chopped sweet red peppers 4 C cider vinegar 2 C chopped sweet green peppers 4 C sugar 4 C shredded cabbage 4 T mustard seeds 2 C chopped onions 1 T celery seeds 3 small hot red peppers, chopped 4 T salt Mix all the ingredients and let stand in a cool place overnight. In the morning pack in sterilized jars and seal. II. Picnic Relish 12 sweet green peppers, seeded 6 C sugar 12 onions, peeled 2 t dry mustard 12 green tomatoes 1 t allspice 1/2 C salt 1/4 T red pepper 4 C cider vinegar Put all the vegetables through the medium blade of a food chopper, sprinkle with the salt, and let stand 4 hr. drain, rinse in clear water, and drain again. In a kettle combine the vinegar and sugar. Bring the liquid to a boil, add vegetables and spices. Boil for 10 min. and seal in hot jars. III. Chili Sauce I 24 large ripe tomatoes 2 C cider vinegar 1 small bunch celery, chopped 2 T salt 6 onions, chopped 1 t pepper 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 t dry mustard 3 sweet red peppers, seeded and chopped 2 T whole allspice, tied in a bag 1 1/2 C light brown sugar Scald, peel, core, and quarter the tomatoes. Squeeze out the seeds and excess juice and chop the pulp finely. Put the pulp in a large kettle, bring to a boil, and boil rapidly until the tomatoes are soft. Ladle off the clear liquid that comes to the top of the tomatoes while they are cooking. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 30 min. Discard the spice bag and continue to cook for about 1 hour longer, or until thick, stirring occasionally. Seal in hot sterilized jars. IV. Chili Sauce II 4 qt ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped 1 C chopped onions 2 sticks cinnamon 1 1/2 C chopped red peppers 2 C vinegar 1 1/2 C chopped green peppers 1 C sugar 1 1/2 t whole allspice 3 T salt 1 1/2 t whole cloves In a large preserving kettle, combine the tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Add the spices, tied in a bag, bring the mixture to a boil and cook until it is reduced to half its volume, stirring frequently. Add the vinegar, sugar, and salt and boil rapidly for 5 min., stirring constantly. Discard the spice bag. Pour into hot jars and seal. V. Shirley's Sweet-Sour Sauce 10 C chopped, ripe tomatoes 2 C sugar 2/3 C chopped green peppers 2 C 5% acid cider vinegar 2 C chopped onions 2 T canning/pickling salt Dip tomatoes into boiling water 1/2 min. to loosen skins. Cool in cold water. Remove skins and cores. Blend or put through food chopper. Place in 8-qt. kettle. Remove stems, membranes and seeds from peppers and peel onions before chopping. Add to tomatoes; stir in sugar, vinegar and salt. Simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently, for 2 hours or until thick and sauce begins to round up on spoon. Ladle into 3 hot pint jars, filling to within 1/8" of jar top. Wipe jar rims: adjust lids. Process in boiling water bath 15 minutes. Start to count processing time when water in canner returns to boiling. Remove jars and complete seals unless closures are self-sealing type. Makes 3 pints. ANALYSIS OF THE RECIPES I. Pepper Relish A. First, as it stands, there is neither cooking nor processing. The recipe can not be used as is. Can it be made useable? Here's how to try. B. What are the vegetable:acid proportions? Add the cups of vegetable. There are 10 C vegetables. The 3 small hot peppers are negligible so they do not need to be counted. There are 4 C vinegar. Notice that the recipe did not specify 5% acidity. C. What is the most similar USDA recipe? While the Piccalilli recipe (p. 18) might look similar because they both have shredded cabbage, it really is not, because it has green tomatoes, an acid product, and the questionable recipe has no acid foods. So, the USDA recipe to use is the Pickled Pepper-Onion Relish (p.18). D. What are the USDA proportions? Twelve cups of vegetables to 6 C vinegar. recipe 10 C veg : 4 C acid = 2.4 C veg : 1 C acid USDA 12 C veg : 6 C acid = 2.0 C veg : 1 C acid Therefore, this recipe does not have enough acid to be safe. E. What recommendations can be made? If the vinegar were increased to five cups, the ratio would then be 2 C veg : 1 C acid (10:5). So, to use this recipe: a. increase the vinegar to 5 C b. use 5% acidity vinegar c. boil the mixture for 30 min. to use USDA procedures d. presterilize jars e. process the filled jars for 5 min. in boiling water OR: f. make the recipe as directed, do not seal it, refrigerate. Note that the recipe all ready has much more sugar (4C) than the USDA recipe, so the increased vinegar should still be acceptable. However, the sugar could be increased still further to counteract the vinegar increase if desired. If the recipe is made in its original form, the jars should be covered but the lids should not be sealed. There should be no vacuum in the jars. Since nothing has been done to kill or inactivate any Cl. botulinum spores or cells, air should be left in the jar. The air will prevent its growth. II. Picnic relish A. What is the most similar USDA recipe? In this case, the Piccalilli (p.18) is the reference recipe to use. Both the ingredients and the procedures are similar. It does have green tomatoes, it does call for soaking the vegetables in salt water and draining them, and it does call for simmering them before packing. So, while the times are not quite the same, the next step is to look at proportions. B. What are the vegetable:acid proportions? With this recipe it is not as simple as adding the quantities, because this one only specifies numbers of peppers, etc., and not cups. Use the equivalencies table in fact sheet (705) to estimate how many cups of produce it uses. 12 peppers; 9 peppers = about 3 C, so 12 = about 4 C 12 onions; 4 onions = about 3 C, so 12 = about 9 C 12 tomatoes; 3 tomatoes = about 1.5 C, so 12 = about 6 C TOTAL VEGETABLES = 19 C 4 C vinegar TOTAL ACID= 4 C In the USDA recipe there are a total of almost 19 C of vegetables, but the vinegar amount is 4.5 C. Recipe: 19 C vegetables : 4 C acid USDA: 18.75 C vegetables : 4.5 C acid C. So, to correct the proportions, the acid must be increased at least to 4.5 C, or better yet, to 4.75 C of vinegar. This recipe also has much more sugar than the USDA recipe, so the increased vinegar might not be noticeable. If it is the sugar may be increased as desired. D. What recommendations can be made? a. use 5% acidity vinegar b. increase the vinegar from 4 C to 4.75 cups c. mix the salt in, do not just sprinkle it on top d. increase the time of soaking from 4 hrs to 12 hrs e. increase the simmering time from 10 min to 30 min f. use presterilized jars g. process the filled jars for 5 min in boiling water OR: h. use the recipe as is, do not seal, refrigerate the product III. Chili Sauce I A. The procedures in this recipe are so different that there are no USDA recipes to use for reference. It can not be considered safe. B. Explanation and analysis: When the juice is removed from tomatoes by mechanical means (squeezing, ladling off the clear liquid) the acid balance is changed. With the juice removed, it will take less time for the sauce to become thick when it is cooked. But, that means that there is less cooking time to kill bacteria and mold spores. Also, because it is thicker the heat will penetrate and kill the spores more slowly. So, the product going into the jar has a greater likelihood of still having live spores present. And, if it were processed, because it is thick, it would need more than the usual process time to kill them. C. The only recommendation that can be made with a recipe of this type is to refrigerate the product without sealing, or freeze it. It can not be canned safely. IV. Chili Sauce II A. First look at the procedures in this recipe. The tomatoes and vegetables are boiled together until it is thick. But, the mixture is not sieved or put through a food mill. All the skins and seeds are left in. Therefore, this has to be considered in looking for a similar USDA recipe. There are several possibilities; the Spaghetti Sauce without Meat (p. 13), or any of the Ketchup recipes (p. 16-17). B. So, go to proportions and see which matches best. Chili Sauce Spaghetti Ketchups ? Sauce Regular Western Blender tomatoes 16 C 30lb=45 C 24lb=36C 36C 36C onions 1 C 1 C 3C -- (2 lb = 6C) red pepper 1.5 C -- -- 5chili (1 lb = 3C) grn pepper 1.5 C 1 C -- -- (1 lb = 3C) mushrooms 1 lb=6 C -- -- -- TOTAL VEG: 4 C 8 C 3 C 0 C 12 C TOTAL TOMATO 16 C 45 C 36 C 36 C 36 C TOTAL ACID 2 C -- 3 C 2.6 C 9 C C. Spaghetti sauce: the proportions do look the closest. Half of each quantity is 4 C vegetables to 22.5 C tomatoes. However, looking at the directions, it specifically states: "Caution-do not increase the proportion of vegetables." So, for an exact match, the amount of tomatoes in the chili sauce recipe would have to be increased to 22.5 C. You might say "Yes, but the chili sauce has vinegar added." That is true, but there is no way of knowing if the added vinegar is enough to compensate for the fewer tomatoes. (Both are acid.) If you adapt to the spaghetti sauce recipe, the vinegar becomes optional. Next, notice that the tomatoes in the spaghetti sauce are sieved to remove the seeds and thick pulp. This would have to be done for the chili sauce too.The skins have been removed in both recipes. Also, notice that the spaghetti sauce recipe only has directions for pressure processing. Many consumers do not have or do not want to use a pressure canner for their tomato products. The other vegetables remain, so the sauce is chunky. D. So, if the spaghetti sauce recipe were used the recommendations would be: a. increase the tomatoes to 22.5 C b. sieve to remove the seeds of the tomatoes. c. process in a pressure canner, 10 psig for 20/25 min. d. the vinegar is optional, use it for flavor All the chili sauce spices would remain the same, so the flavor should be quite similar to the original. E. Now, look at the proportions of the ketchup recipes compared to the chili sauce in question. chili 1 C veg. : 4 C tomato : 0.5 C acid Regular 1 C veg. : 12 C tomato : 1 C acid Western - C veg. : 14 C tomato : 1 C acid Blender 1 C veg. : 3 C tomato : 0.75 C acid Of the ketchups, we can eliminate the Western, because it has no added vegetables at all. It is essentially spicy tomato sauce. The regular ketchup has a much higher proportion of tomato to vegetable, and more acid as well. This is what happens when the solids are removed (sieved out). F. What can be done with the blender ketchup recipe? The amount of vinegar would have to be increased from 2 C to 3 C. There are more tomatoes than needed, but that only increases the safety margin. So, they do not have to be changed. The spices and cooking procedure could be left the same, with the exception of blending the tomatoes and vegetables together. This would insure that all the pieces are small enough to coincide with the USDA recipe. It becomes a smooth rather than chunky product but all the original solids are still present. And finally, the product would have to be processed. G. The recommended changes in the recipe would be: a. specify 5% acidity vinegar b. increase the vinegar from 2 C to 3 C c. blend the tomatoes and vegetables together before cooking d. process the product for 15 min in boiling water OR e. use as is, do not seal, refrigerate or freeze the product V. Shirley's Sweet-Sour Sauce A. Begin with the procedures. The tomato skins are removed, the rest of the tomato is blended, the onions and peppers are chopped, added to the tomatoes, and the mixture is simmered until thick. It is not sieved. Of the USDA tomato recipes used in the previous section, the Blender ketchup is again the most similar in procedures. B. Look at the proportions. sweet-sour 2.6 C veg : 10 C tom : 2 C acid or to reduce it to lowest common denominator (divide all by 2.6): sweet-sour 1 C veg : 4 C tom : 0.75 C acid Blender 1 C veg : 3 C tom : 0.75 C acid So, this is an almost perfect match. The sweet-sour sauce has more tomatoes than necessary for minimum safety, the acid and vegetable are balanced correctly. The long boiling times match, the final processing times match. C. What recommendations are necessary? The only thing that could be said would be "Be sure the vegetables are chopped finely, to approximate the blending used in the Blender ketchup." Most people wouldn't mind using a blender to chop the vegetables, so it is a minor change. Remember, if there is no similar USDA recipe, the only recommendation can be to freeze or refrigerate the product. Prepared by Mary A. Keith, Foods and Nutrition, September, 1991 Revised by M. Susan Brewer, Foods and Nutrition, June, 1992EHE-705 Supplement