August 13, 2025 • 27 mins
Anna and Jenny talk about how to acidify recipes, and how to safely swap citric acid, lemon juice, and vinegar. Thank you to listener Amy for her excellent question!
Here’s the link to the articles that we reference:
Jenny’s printable acid guide: https://thedomesticwildflower.com/acid-and-canning/
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/how-do-i-can-tomatoes/tomato-acidification-directions/
Help support the show here: buymeacoffee.com/perfectlypreservedpodcast
Buy The Pressure Canning Cookbook here: https://amzn.to/3Cn3qJn
Get the Pineapple Habanero jam recipe from Anna here: https://smarthomecanning.com/products/recipe-for-pineapple-habanero-pepper-jelly
Anna’s Video courses- learn with Anna!
These notes have affiliate links which don’t change the price of the products we recommend, but help us keep creating the podcast. Please shop through our links!
Canning Supplies We Recommend
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Welcome to the PerfectlyPreserved Podcast.
I'm your host Jenny Gomes.
And I'm Anna Cash.
Here we come together to bringyou a podcast all about
preserving food safely, easily,and dare I say, perfectly.
At home.
ready to can like a masterpreserver.
Let's get into today's episode.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-0 (00:18):
Welcome back to another episode of The
Perfectly Preserved podcast.
I'm Anna here with my co-host,Jenny, we wanna thank you so
much for being here.
Today's episode is gonna be allabout acidification, why you
need it, when to use it.
kind of products you can use forthe best results.
And we appreciate this episodebecause one of our listeners
(00:39):
emailed in with this specificquestion.
But before we get started, Iwanna thank everybody for
leaving a really nice positivereviews on our podcast, wherever
you listen to your podcasts anddownload them.
And then also you can find us onYouTube.
We started that this year and Iam slowly learning how to do it.
I'm not very good yet, soplease.
(01:01):
Be gentle with your comments.
Jenny, why don't you start usoff?
What are we gonna hit on today?
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_ (01:08):
Okay, so our wonderful listener, Amy,
thank you for emailing Amy.
She said that she is wonderingif there's an easy guide for
safely switching out theacidifying agent in recipes.
For example, she has anapplesauce recipe and Anna, and
I don't know where thisapplesauce recipe came from.
and she has an applesauce recipethat calls for four tablespoons
(01:31):
bottled lemon juice.
But can she use citric acidinstead?
And if so, how much do I use forevery one tablespoon of lemon
juice?
she has an a lemon allergy.
She'd love to be able to easilyalter safe recipes that call for
lemon juice.
And we thought that was such aspecific question that we've not
(01:51):
covered at all.
and we're gonna dive in if thisis your first episode.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Anna and I are master foodpreservers and we love sharing
safe, tested, trusted info sothat you guys can preserve all
the things, all the safe waysthere are to preserve them.
And this is such a Great.
question.
I'll start by saying that allfoods have a pH value.
(02:14):
And you might remember back tolike seventh or eighth grade
science, maybe you dipped alittle strip into some liquid to
test a litmus paper.
Right.
To measure how acidic or howalkaline something is.
it's a scale that goes from oneto 14.
Water is seven.
So you think of like neutralitybeing at seven, or you can kind
of keep that in your mind.
(02:34):
And then the more acidic a foodis for our canning and food
preservation purposes, the lowerthe number.
And the magic number that wehave to keep in mind when we are
preserving is 4.6.
So we need all the food that wewater, bath can.
To some acidity, has to be a 4.6or greater, which is a smaller
(02:56):
number.
we have a whole episode allabout acid and canning.
You can scroll back to seasonone and binge those, beginner,
episodes because we'll explainin super detail all things acid.
But that's the, like the magicnumber you keep in mind.
We preserve safely, lots offoods that are more alkaline
than 4.6, and we do that withincreased heat.
(03:16):
So acid is part of this magical,trifecta that creates an
atmosphere in the jar wherespoilers can't grow.
And if you have not quite asmuch acid, then you need to
increase it.
Or you increase heat so that theenvironment inside the jar
cannot grow.
spoilers, most notably, we don'twanna create a low acid
(03:38):
environment where the Cbotulinum can produce its toxin.
So you don't have to understandanything acid necessarily, but
as long as you understand youneed to follow a trusted recipe
that calls for acidifying,ingredients for some types of
foods.
So we're gonna talk about allthe ways that you can answer
this question of if I can't dolemon juice or don't have lemon
juice, can I use citric acid?
(04:00):
And how do I do that?
and we're also gonna talk alittle bit about why lemon juice
is afr common go-to item, andwhy it should be bottled.
And Anna's gonna take, take itaway.
I think.
Anna, what's, what's, first onyour list?
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-2025 (04:13):
I love this question and I
appreciate Amy sending it inbecause.
are one of the main reasonsthat, people can, can, right?
They want to know what's exactlyin their food.
And so this is a great question.
yes, you can swap out lemonjuice for citric acid because
citric acid carries a muchhigher pH and it.
(04:36):
Really sour, you're gonna usequite a bit less.
So the conversion rate for onetablespoon of lemon juice is one
quarter teaspoon of citric acid.
I think that's really importantto know because I, we were
actually playing around withsome citric acid the other day
because we're doing these likenaturally flavored drinks.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (04:58):
Mm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (04:58):
And my son was like, oh, we could
add some citric acid to punch upthe flavor.
'cause he was watching a YouTubevideo about it, you know, and so
he added, oh, I would say a fulltablespoon to a drink, 16 ounce
drink.
And we.
It was like sour patch kids so,so sour.
(05:20):
so when you're doing a swap out,just make sure that you're doing
that quarter teaspoon onetablespoon of lemon.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_ (05:28):
Super great.
Tip.
Okay.
So you can swap out in a recipebottled lemon juice.
If it calls for one tablespoon,you can instead use one quarter
teaspoon citric acid.
citric acid is a white powderthat you would buy probably in
the canning baking aisle.
(05:49):
The aisle of kind of like, Ialways find it next to the
baking aisle.
you can order it online throughAmazon or through other
retailers.
Ball brand has, one you can getlarge quantities, small
quantities.
It's, it's readily available.
It's not tasteless, as Annaexplained.
It definitely is that tartflavor that you get from all the
(06:10):
candies that are tart.
That's that flavor and it's canbe naturally occurring as well.
But by adding that acid, you areincreasing the acid in that
whole jar to that safe.
4.6 or lower number.
there's another acidifyingingredient that a person can
use, and depending on whatyou're making, you may choose
it.
What is that other acidifyingingredient?
(06:32):
Anna?
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04 (06:33):
that's a commercially made vinegar, and
I wanna make the distinction
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-202 (06:37):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-0 (06:38):
vinegar is great for vinegarette or
cooking, but when you're doingcanning, it's really important
that you use that 5%.
Acidity vinegar commerciallymade that you get at the grocery
store.
in this vinegar, I, you caneither use white vinegar, you
can use apple cider vinegar.
You just wanna make sure thatyou have that 5% acidity.
(07:00):
If you're making pickles, ifyou're, if you're trying to use
a homemade vinegar, that's notgonna be acidic enough.
So it's important to use that.
that's really the onlyapplication that I can think of
that you would use vinegarinstead of a citric acid or a
lemon juice.
Can you think of any otherapplication you would use
(07:21):
vinegar in Jenny?
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_120 (07:23):
So the National Center for Home
Food Preservation UniversityGeorgia website has a great
article about tomatoacidification directions, and
tomatoes are like a, a specialcategory of foods because
they're the most commonly cannedfood product in America.
And they, tomatoes are naturallyone, they have a great
(07:43):
variability from tomato totomato, from plant to plant,
from one part of the country toanother.
There's a great variability inhow acidic they are.
so all up to date tomato canningrecipes will call for an
acidifying ingredient to just tobring that acid level up and
that number down so that yourtomatoes are properly acidified.
(08:06):
So that is oftentimes like the II would say that is the change
that you need to look for ifyou're looking for an, if you're
using an older canning recipe,all safe canning recipes for
tomatoes specifically call foran acidifying ingredient.
But back to this website,national Center for Home Food
Preservation, they have a greattable that tells us how to
(08:27):
acidify tomatoes and it shareswhat we've shared already so
that you could acidify a pint oftomatoes with either.
One tablespoon lemon juice, onequarter teaspoon citric acid, or
two tablespoons of 5% vinegar.
So the thing that you woulddecide, right in our listener,
(08:48):
Amy's case, she can't do lemonjuice because she's allergic.
So she would choose eithercitric acid or vinegar, and
maybe you're making a recipewhere vinegar would be very
welcome and would tastedelicious, and you could.
You might be very glad to choosethat, but other types of recipes
you would not.
So it would probably just dependon taste.
(09:09):
If you're not opting for storebought bottle bottled lemon
juice, then your options areonly 5% vinegar or citric acid.
But that's the, I'm trying tothink of another food type where
you would be like excited touse.
Where you'd be excited to tryvinegar other than vegetable
pickles?
I can't really think of one.
Can you, Anna?
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (09:28):
Well, I was just remembering that I
used vinegar for my salsa.
Like I put
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_ (09:33):
Yeah.
squadcaster-7310_1_08- (09:34):
homemade salsa.
and I know that's a tomatoproduct, but a lot of times
people might not
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-202 (09:39):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-2 (09:39):
that vinegar would go in a salsa.
But I would prefer vinegar in asalsa over lemon juice or citric
acid, just because the flavor'sdifferent.
It's a different flavor profilefor vinegar.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025 (09:52):
Right.
Right.
I wonder if our listeners aregoing to ask, can lime juice be
used instead of lemon?
And I would think that theanswer would be yes.
If on the bottle it says 5%acidity.
Do you agree with that, Anna?
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (10:06):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_120 (10:08):
So if you are a person who's
swapping, you have to read yourlabels.
a lot of times we get this inthis conversation, Anna and I
get the question, can I justsqueeze fresh lemons?
And it's again, coming from areally awesome place in their
heart where they wanna use freshand not use store-bought.
even lemons have greatvariability in their acid
levels, where they were picked,how long they were ripened for,
(10:31):
and the riper and moredelicious.
It's probably the less acidicthey will be, right?
So it's really important thatyou use 5% acidity.
Store-bought bottled lemon juicefor acidification.
Now there's lots of recipeswhere lemon is part of the
recipe.
It's not required foracidification, and if that's the
case, a good canning recipe willsay lemon juice, and it might
(10:55):
say fresh squeezed.
If that is indicated in thatrecipe, then you know, oh, this
is not for acidification, thisis for flavor.
So I think just last week wetalked about adding lemon to
blackberry or other fruitrecipes.
Fruit are generally very acidic.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (11:14):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (11:14):
all the berries, cranberries,
they're all quite acid.
So the addition of lemon ispurely for flavor and not for
food preservation, purposes.
So in those cases, you can usesqueezed or you could swap it
out for grapefruit or lemon or,I've done raspberry jam with
grapefruit juice and I, it'slike a little different, but not
a lot different, but it is areally great combination.
(11:35):
Of course, lemon is deliciouswith raspberry too, but you can
play around when your base isalready very acidic, which would
be most fruit, then you can,feel comfortable playing with
your citrus additives.
But if the lemon juice is, if itsays bottled use bottled.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (11:51):
And I think this would be a good
time also to say that the bookthat Jenny is referencing, or
the website is one of the bestsources of tested recipes that
we have.
The University of GeorgiaCooperative Extension does so
much food testing.
They do it for the USDA and theymake sure that their recipes are
(12:12):
totally safe, so.
We'll put that in the show noteso that
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-202 (12:15):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (12:16):
where to go.
'cause I think a lot of timesyou maybe just grab a recipe
that's a family recipe like
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-202 (12:22):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (12:23):
and not be acidification for a
tomato product.
And you're like, what's the bigdeal?
And, having a good resource inyour back pocket is really,
really important.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1 (12:33):
Yes.
I'll link, we will link in theshow notes.
I have a chart that you candownload of all the food groups
and their acid values.
So if this is all brand new toyou and you would like an idea
of okay, what's high acid?
What's not high acid?
it's a free download.
You can just download it.
Refer to it if it's helpful toyou.
just to give you an idea of whattypes of foods are really high
(12:56):
in acid and which ones are not.
Tomatoes in particular arealways thought to be really
acidic, and they're not.
They're the ones that areactually the least acidic of the
water bath, canning safe foodtypes.
So it's especially important tofollow a tested recipe if you're
preserving tomatoes.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (13:13):
Yeah, and it's almost tomato season.
I've got some tomatoes that arestarting to come on right now,
but it's gonna be tomato seasonhere in the blink of an eye, and
people are gonna be wanting somereally good recipes.
I am just looking through mybook, so easy to preserve
thinking, oh, maybe I should cana barbecue
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (13:33):
Mm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (13:34):
Chili sauce, I don't know, hot sauce,
all kinds of things, I wouldhighly recommend that, website
and then also the book, so easyto preserve.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1 (13:43):
Yes.
second that both the websitesand the book are so excellent,
so helpful.
What is your go-to acidifyingingredient in tomatoes, Anna?
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-202 (13:52):
So when I do crushed tomatoes, the
one that I do probably the mostof, for tomato products, I use
citric acid.
Yeah, it's, I find it easy toadd it at the end, like after I
put the tomatoes in, I just plopit in every single jar.
And then I also.
counteract that sour taste.
(14:12):
I will actually add a teaspoonof salt as well, or you could
also add a teaspoon of sugar, tooffset that sweetness.
But I like adding salt.
about you, Jenny?
what do you normally do?
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1204 (14:25):
I do the same.
And I think it's important tothink about or plan out.
If you're canning tomatoes andyou're new to this, when are you
going to add your citric acid?
So most of the time, all of youringredients are just all
together, right?
Or they're very obviously eitherin the jar or they're not in the
jar.
So if you're a beginner, it's athing to think through.
(14:46):
Am I going to put this quarterteaspoon, this little bit of
something in the jar?
When the jar is hot but empty?
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (14:52):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_120 (14:53):
Am I going to put it in on top of
the tomato?
And then it will very quicklydisappear before your eyes and
you won't be able to, you won'tknow, did I already put this in?
So it's a thing to thinkthrough.
It's not, I wouldn't say it'slike a hard part, but it is a
thing to think about.
Am I gonna put this in?
In every empty jar, in everyfold jar, am I gonna do how?
How am I gonna do it, and how amI gonna make sure that I do it
(15:16):
in every jar?
And I always tell people, ifyou're not sure, put another
quarter teaspoon in becausethere's nothing bad's gonna
happen.
Put your teaspoon of salt in.
Like Anna said, there's nothingwrong with double acidification.
Right?
Just might be like a little moretart than you were thinking,
but.
It's important to think through,how will I be sure that all of
my jars are properly acidified?
(15:38):
And same thing if you're adding,the lemon juice.
Same, same question.
How will I, what will my processbe so that all the jars are
properly acidified?
And again, it's not hard, butthink it through.
And then I would say do itexactly the same way every time.
Have your countertop set up thesame way so you're, you're
measuring spoon and your bottledlemon juice are right here,
right next to where you set yourjar, or.
(15:59):
Whatever your flow is in yourkitchen, have it exactly the
same every time.
Like if I can somewhere otherthan my kitchen, I can't help
but set it up exactly the samebecause then I'm just marching
through the steps.
Never missing a jar.
And again, if you ever think,oh, did I put this in here?
Did I add this?
Add it again, and like Annasuggested, add the salt and put
(16:22):
your lid on and process.
But, I.
I can't remember if I've toldyou this story, Anna.
I, there was one salsa recipewhere I did not add the
acidifying ingredient, and Irealized it after I had already
put it in the, into the pot, andI canned it on purpose and I put
a big black X on top
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-202 (16:39):
Oh no.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (16:40):
and I put it at the top of my shelf
to see what would happen.
And it's important to note thatthe C botulinum toxin is
tasteless, odorless.
You would never know it if youate it.
This is not a test of would Iget deadly Ill or not.
It was just, I, I thought, Iwonder what will happen to the
rest of this.
Oh, it was like a pineapplesalsa or a peach salsa.
(17:00):
It was a fruit salsa I made.
So it actually did end upbecoming a volcano of mold,
which only tell is only likewarning the eater of Don't
that's a very obvious thing.
Don't eat this.
You're gonna get a belly ache.
But it would not again.
You would have no indicationthat you had accidentally grown
the C botulinum toxin.
(17:22):
So anyway, that just is one, onething I've done.
And it did create a totalvolcano of gross brown mold and
it actually broke the seal andthe whole thing.
But my kids were tiny and theyweren't gonna like climb up and
eat it
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-202 (17:34):
So you, do you think, was it a lid
failure then?
I.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_ (17:39):
Well.
I couldn't say for sure.
I guess I don't think so, but itwas, it was like siphoning out
blackness.
it came out over the top, so itmay have been, but the other
jars that I've preserved of thatsame recipe did not have lip
failure, so.
it was just a thing I did.
It was like almost 10 years agoI did this.
I realized, oh, wait a minute.
I didn't do this.
And I thought, what the heck?
(17:59):
I'll just, I'll just can it andput an X on it and see what
happens, because I was curiouswhat it would look like.
Maybe it was because it was likethere was a lot of fruit in
there too.
I don't know.
But don't do it.
Don't let me be the weird oneswho did that.
squadcaster-7310_1 (18:12):
interesting.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_120 (18:13):
do it.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (18:14):
Oh, that's funny.
I'm trying to think if there'sanything else that I would use
vinegar for as a, as anacidifying agent than, pickled
veggies or tomato products.
And I just don't think thatlends itself to like jams
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (18:31):
you would be pretty thoughtful about
your vinegar choice.
And I think, actually this is agood vinegar comment.
We have a couple episodes aboutmaking pickles that you should
definitely check out if you'dlove like pickled veggies'cause
we have some good, wholeepisodes all about that.
But, I have a friend and family,member who I just was texting
with her about, she said, well,which vinegar should I use?
And I explained just one thatsays 5% and you can get as
(18:53):
fancy, expensive.
As wild as you want with thevinegars, as long as
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (18:58):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1 (18:59):
that 5% you have to read on the
label.
And this is a couple years ago,I think, like in the post COVID
madness of grocery stores, therewas, you might recall a lot of
vinegars being sold that wereessentially being cut with
water.
So they were cheaper for thecompany to, to make that were
like 4%.
Right.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-0 (19:17):
Mm-hmm.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (19:17):
you again, you have to keep an eye
out on.
The vinegars you purchase think,is this something I wanna eat?
Like maybe smell it if you can.
If you can smell it before youbuy it or if, is this something
I would definitely consume withmy mouth and not wash my windows
with?
I think you can get like jugsvinegar at Dollar General or
like our very like cheapygrocery store kind of option.
(19:38):
But you wouldn't probably canwith it.
You would clean your windowswith it.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (19:41):
Sure.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_120 (19:42):
So you can get fancy, you can get
different, you can get,flavored, you can get different
things.
But the most important thing isthat percentage on the label.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-2025 (19:50):
I think that's a great point.
I, I do know that there, likeI've been to olive oil and
vinegar shops
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-202 (19:57):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (19:58):
and they might have a different
percentage of vinegar.
If you wanna get fancy right anddo a champagne vinegar just make
sure that it's that 5% acidity.
that's, I interesting though,that during COVID they were
trying to cut it with water andmake it a little less vinegary
and acidic.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1204 (20:19):
I think we can all agree that was,
those were wild
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04 (20:22):
before we finish this episode, Jenny,
what, have you been canninglately or have you been doing
food preserving in any way?
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (20:30):
So, it's getting to be peach season
where we live.
And I, maybe I've shared thistip before, but I feel like this
is the thing I would text myfriends immediately Peaches are
so inviting and there's, thetrees are so shady and like you
might get invited to go pick amillion pounds of peaches.
here's my golden tip.
can freeze a whole peach, thewhole thing.
Okay.
(20:50):
You don't have to cut anythingoff of it.
Just I would rinse the bird poopoff and pat it dry and you can
put that whole peach in thefreezer.
And I did it on cookie sheets.
In my chest freezer.
So I just set them in there andyou can leave them kind of
several days if you want, if youdon't get to it.
And then I put them in a verylarge Ziploc bags and suck the
(21:12):
air out the best I could with mymouth, like a heathen.
I don't even have a machine.
They suck the air out of plasticbags and they last so long.
And I did this because my dad'stree had a super huge glut of
peaches and I was the only onetaking them and I couldn't let
them go to waste.
So I froze all of them.
'cause I, at the time I didn'teven have a kitchen.
This was came out of necessity.
(21:33):
So all school year long.
I would, teach my morningclasses at the high school, come
home and take out three peaches,let them sit for five minutes on
the counter, hack off every bitof peach off the pit, put'em on
a blender with milk and proteinpowder, and I had a free three
peach smoothie every day.
So that's my tip.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-2 (21:51):
That sounds amazing.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_ (21:53):
It's.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-2 (21:54):
That sounds so good.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1 (21:55):
It's just so low.
It's so low effort not to belike a lazy bum, but sometimes
you don't have time to do allthe things and those just freeze
really well.
of course you wanna be able touse peaches for something other
than smoothies, but you couldlet them defrost and cut them
off and do something else.
I should mention my dad's, theseparticular peaches are cling
(22:18):
stone.
Which means they're really stuckto the pit.
Some peaches, some peach rice.
That should be your number onequestion.
If you were going to go buypeaches, are they cling stone or
free stone?
Free stone peaches.
The pit just pops right outthere, like out of a toaster.
If they're cling stone, you'llbe cutting the flesh off of that
pit one way or the other.
(22:39):
So.
To me it was like that was theonly thing I could, was going to
have time in a kitchen to do,was to freeze the peaches.
And that's my golden tip to you.
other than planning to freezesome peaches, they should be
ready here pretty soon.
I did pick, we put, I madecherry syrup a few weeks ago,
which was a few weeks ago.
I think all my canning happensjust a tiny bit after Anna's.
(23:01):
I feel like Anna starts canningevery season a little before me.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-2 (23:04):
Hmm.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (23:05):
but yeah, the big stone fruit, the
peaches, and then theblackberries are coming on early
this year, so I'll be doingblackberry next.
What about you, Anna?
What's next for you?
Canning.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (23:14):
Oh, nice.
you know, we're the same.
I don't know what happened thisseason, but everything seems to
be about two weeks early, whichis just insane.
I went through the last twoyears of photos on my phone just
to see if I was losing my
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-202 (23:29):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-2 (23:30):
man, apricots seem like they're
coming on really early.
and it was legitimately twoweeks early.
So right now I'm working withBlackberries.
I had friends reach out that hadcurrent.
So I'm doing a black currentjelly, which is something new.
I haven't done that before, sothat'll be fun.
(23:50):
I've done red current before,but I've never done black
current.
we're starting to see peaches atthe farmer's market and I've,
I've been getting a few in myCSA box and I've made some
favorite jam ever, which ispeach, lemon verina jam.
It.
Like such a premium jam andsimple syrup.
(24:10):
I have some in the fridge andI've just been drinking it with
club soda and ice and it's justso refreshing and lovely.
And then I also am picking someearly apples.
It's called a loie variety.
And it's perfect for applesauceand apple pie filling.
So rest for the wicked.
I've got my seasonal fruitcoming on hot.
(24:33):
I'm a little jealous of peoplewho talk about all of the
relaxing they do in thesummertime, and I'm like, I'll
sleep when I'm dead.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-202 (24:40):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (24:41):
busy, busy, busy in the summer and
then.
and winter is usually the timethat I'm able to relax.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1204 (24:47):
I haven't, because we've had this
big home renovation kind of toeating out the last two summers.
I'm facing the reality that Ineed to can some tomatoes.
We have not had canned tomatoesin a long time, and it's like
dire straits.
I have to do some tomatoes thisyear.
and we have a little rentalhouse in town, so I live out of
town and our little rental houseis in town and the Blackberry's
(25:09):
in the yard there Long, it'slike a shared fence in town with
a very nice older lady.
So it's like the back of herbarn and the, our side fence
have these blackberries growingand probably just as often do
people have blackberries growingin their yards as you do as
Ogden has apricots?
I would almost say there's justa lot of blackberries,
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (25:31):
Oh, okay.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1 (25:32):
when it's time for us to clean the
rental, I sent my kids out, turnthe sprinkler on, do this, do
that outside.
And they're like, mom, theblackberries are already ready.
I was like, wait a second.
What?
So, the in town, theblackberries are ready even
sooner than the town, the out,out town.
Blackberries, I don't know ifthey just got a lot more direct
sun or I'm doing a better jobwatering the lawn maybe.
But yeah, those blackberries arecoming on at night.
(25:53):
There's not enough there toprobably can a whole lot out of,
but definitely to eat and, yeah,this is the time, like right
now, this is being recorded thefirst week of August and this is
when I like put the buckets inthe car, start getting serious
about really canning a lot.
Any canning even happens before.
This for me is more incidentalfor funsies.
Some weird thing I wanted to trybought from the grocery store
(26:16):
and about now is when it's okay,gangbusters.
Go.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (26:19):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_ (26:19):
Which is not as handy for a person
whose life still revolves aroundschool'cause it's also back to
school time.
So it feels a little extra, alittle bit extra busy.
but I'm excited.
This year I finally have akitchen to do all this in like
an actual kitchen that has allthe park that you're supposed to
have.
So I'm super jazzed, but Nextepisode, I think we're gonna be
talking about something a littlebit controversial, so you'll
(26:41):
have to be sure to tune in nextweek for an exciting topic that,
that, I'm kidding.
It's not really verycontroversial, but it might get
a few, few disappointedcomments, or
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-202 (26:52):
it might be,
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_120 (26:53):
it might, it might be the hottest
thing since, don't water Glassyour eggs, Anna.
And I really love acontroversial topic.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (26:59):
ah.
Oh boy.
Well tune in next week.
We're glad you're here.
We love talking about foodpreserving, and again, if you
have any food preservingquestions, email perfectly
preserved podcast@gmail.com.
That's our show.
We don't want you to miss anepisode, so please be sure to
subscribe.
(27:20):
If you found this episodehelpful and informative, please
give our show a rating andreview.
It only takes a few seconds andit really helps our show grow.
Follow us on social media atSmart Home Canning and at the
domestic wildflower.
Email your preserving questionsto Perfectly Preserved
podcast@gmail.com and we will doour best to answer your
(27:41):
questions on the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
Stay tuned for our next episodereleased every week.
Welcome to the PerfectlyPreserved Podcast.
I'm your host Jenny Gomes.
And I'm Anna Cash.
Here we come together to bringyou a podcast all about
preserving food safely, easily,and dare I say, perfectly.
At home.
ready to can like a masterpreserver.
Let's get into today's episode.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-0 (00:18):
Welcome back to another episode of The
Perfectly Preserved podcast.
I'm Anna here with my co-host,Jenny, we wanna thank you so
much for being here.
Today's episode is gonna be allabout acidification, why you
need it, when to use it.
kind of products you can use forthe best results.
And we appreciate this episodebecause one of our listeners
(00:39):
emailed in with this specificquestion.
But before we get started, Iwanna thank everybody for
leaving a really nice positivereviews on our podcast, wherever
you listen to your podcasts anddownload them.
And then also you can find us onYouTube.
We started that this year and Iam slowly learning how to do it.
I'm not very good yet, soplease.
(01:01):
Be gentle with your comments.
Jenny, why don't you start usoff?
What are we gonna hit on today?
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_ (01:08):
Okay, so our wonderful listener, Amy,
thank you for emailing Amy.
She said that she is wonderingif there's an easy guide for
safely switching out theacidifying agent in recipes.
For example, she has anapplesauce recipe and Anna, and
I don't know where thisapplesauce recipe came from.
and she has an applesauce recipethat calls for four tablespoons
(01:31):
bottled lemon juice.
But can she use citric acidinstead?
And if so, how much do I use forevery one tablespoon of lemon
juice?
she has an a lemon allergy.
She'd love to be able to easilyalter safe recipes that call for
lemon juice.
And we thought that was such aspecific question that we've not
(01:51):
covered at all.
and we're gonna dive in if thisis your first episode.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Anna and I are master foodpreservers and we love sharing
safe, tested, trusted info sothat you guys can preserve all
the things, all the safe waysthere are to preserve them.
And this is such a Great.
question.
I'll start by saying that allfoods have a pH value.
(02:14):
And you might remember back tolike seventh or eighth grade
science, maybe you dipped alittle strip into some liquid to
test a litmus paper.
Right.
To measure how acidic or howalkaline something is.
it's a scale that goes from oneto 14.
Water is seven.
So you think of like neutralitybeing at seven, or you can kind
of keep that in your mind.
(02:34):
And then the more acidic a foodis for our canning and food
preservation purposes, the lowerthe number.
And the magic number that wehave to keep in mind when we are
preserving is 4.6.
So we need all the food that wewater, bath can.
To some acidity, has to be a 4.6or greater, which is a smaller
(02:56):
number.
we have a whole episode allabout acid and canning.
You can scroll back to seasonone and binge those, beginner,
episodes because we'll explainin super detail all things acid.
But that's the, like the magicnumber you keep in mind.
We preserve safely, lots offoods that are more alkaline
than 4.6, and we do that withincreased heat.
(03:16):
So acid is part of this magical,trifecta that creates an
atmosphere in the jar wherespoilers can't grow.
And if you have not quite asmuch acid, then you need to
increase it.
Or you increase heat so that theenvironment inside the jar
cannot grow.
spoilers, most notably, we don'twanna create a low acid
(03:38):
environment where the Cbotulinum can produce its toxin.
So you don't have to understandanything acid necessarily, but
as long as you understand youneed to follow a trusted recipe
that calls for acidifying,ingredients for some types of
foods.
So we're gonna talk about allthe ways that you can answer
this question of if I can't dolemon juice or don't have lemon
juice, can I use citric acid?
(04:00):
And how do I do that?
and we're also gonna talk alittle bit about why lemon juice
is afr common go-to item, andwhy it should be bottled.
And Anna's gonna take, take itaway.
I think.
Anna, what's, what's, first onyour list?
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-2025 (04:13):
I love this question and I
appreciate Amy sending it inbecause.
are one of the main reasonsthat, people can, can, right?
They want to know what's exactlyin their food.
And so this is a great question.
yes, you can swap out lemonjuice for citric acid because
citric acid carries a muchhigher pH and it.
(04:36):
Really sour, you're gonna usequite a bit less.
So the conversion rate for onetablespoon of lemon juice is one
quarter teaspoon of citric acid.
I think that's really importantto know because I, we were
actually playing around withsome citric acid the other day
because we're doing these likenaturally flavored drinks.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (04:58):
Mm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (04:58):
And my son was like, oh, we could
add some citric acid to punch upthe flavor.
'cause he was watching a YouTubevideo about it, you know, and so
he added, oh, I would say a fulltablespoon to a drink, 16 ounce
drink.
And we.
It was like sour patch kids so,so sour.
(05:20):
so when you're doing a swap out,just make sure that you're doing
that quarter teaspoon onetablespoon of lemon.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_ (05:28):
Super great.
Tip.
Okay.
So you can swap out in a recipebottled lemon juice.
If it calls for one tablespoon,you can instead use one quarter
teaspoon citric acid.
citric acid is a white powderthat you would buy probably in
the canning baking aisle.
(05:49):
The aisle of kind of like, Ialways find it next to the
baking aisle.
you can order it online throughAmazon or through other
retailers.
Ball brand has, one you can getlarge quantities, small
quantities.
It's, it's readily available.
It's not tasteless, as Annaexplained.
It definitely is that tartflavor that you get from all the
(06:10):
candies that are tart.
That's that flavor and it's canbe naturally occurring as well.
But by adding that acid, you areincreasing the acid in that
whole jar to that safe.
4.6 or lower number.
there's another acidifyingingredient that a person can
use, and depending on whatyou're making, you may choose
it.
What is that other acidifyingingredient?
(06:32):
Anna?
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04 (06:33):
that's a commercially made vinegar, and
I wanna make the distinction
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-202 (06:37):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-0 (06:38):
vinegar is great for vinegarette or
cooking, but when you're doingcanning, it's really important
that you use that 5%.
Acidity vinegar commerciallymade that you get at the grocery
store.
in this vinegar, I, you caneither use white vinegar, you
can use apple cider vinegar.
You just wanna make sure thatyou have that 5% acidity.
(07:00):
If you're making pickles, ifyou're, if you're trying to use
a homemade vinegar, that's notgonna be acidic enough.
So it's important to use that.
that's really the onlyapplication that I can think of
that you would use vinegarinstead of a citric acid or a
lemon juice.
Can you think of any otherapplication you would use
(07:21):
vinegar in Jenny?
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_120 (07:23):
So the National Center for Home
Food Preservation UniversityGeorgia website has a great
article about tomatoacidification directions, and
tomatoes are like a, a specialcategory of foods because
they're the most commonly cannedfood product in America.
And they, tomatoes are naturallyone, they have a great
(07:43):
variability from tomato totomato, from plant to plant,
from one part of the country toanother.
There's a great variability inhow acidic they are.
so all up to date tomato canningrecipes will call for an
acidifying ingredient to just tobring that acid level up and
that number down so that yourtomatoes are properly acidified.
(08:06):
So that is oftentimes like the II would say that is the change
that you need to look for ifyou're looking for an, if you're
using an older canning recipe,all safe canning recipes for
tomatoes specifically call foran acidifying ingredient.
But back to this website,national Center for Home Food
Preservation, they have a greattable that tells us how to
(08:27):
acidify tomatoes and it shareswhat we've shared already so
that you could acidify a pint oftomatoes with either.
One tablespoon lemon juice, onequarter teaspoon citric acid, or
two tablespoons of 5% vinegar.
So the thing that you woulddecide, right in our listener,
(08:48):
Amy's case, she can't do lemonjuice because she's allergic.
So she would choose eithercitric acid or vinegar, and
maybe you're making a recipewhere vinegar would be very
welcome and would tastedelicious, and you could.
You might be very glad to choosethat, but other types of recipes
you would not.
So it would probably just dependon taste.
(09:09):
If you're not opting for storebought bottle bottled lemon
juice, then your options areonly 5% vinegar or citric acid.
But that's the, I'm trying tothink of another food type where
you would be like excited touse.
Where you'd be excited to tryvinegar other than vegetable
pickles?
I can't really think of one.
Can you, Anna?
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (09:28):
Well, I was just remembering that I
used vinegar for my salsa.
Like I put
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_ (09:33):
Yeah.
squadcaster-7310_1_08- (09:34):
homemade salsa.
and I know that's a tomatoproduct, but a lot of times
people might not
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-202 (09:39):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-2 (09:39):
that vinegar would go in a salsa.
But I would prefer vinegar in asalsa over lemon juice or citric
acid, just because the flavor'sdifferent.
It's a different flavor profilefor vinegar.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025 (09:52):
Right.
Right.
I wonder if our listeners aregoing to ask, can lime juice be
used instead of lemon?
And I would think that theanswer would be yes.
If on the bottle it says 5%acidity.
Do you agree with that, Anna?
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (10:06):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_120 (10:08):
So if you are a person who's
swapping, you have to read yourlabels.
a lot of times we get this inthis conversation, Anna and I
get the question, can I justsqueeze fresh lemons?
And it's again, coming from areally awesome place in their
heart where they wanna use freshand not use store-bought.
even lemons have greatvariability in their acid
levels, where they were picked,how long they were ripened for,
(10:31):
and the riper and moredelicious.
It's probably the less acidicthey will be, right?
So it's really important thatyou use 5% acidity.
Store-bought bottled lemon juicefor acidification.
Now there's lots of recipeswhere lemon is part of the
recipe.
It's not required foracidification, and if that's the
case, a good canning recipe willsay lemon juice, and it might
(10:55):
say fresh squeezed.
If that is indicated in thatrecipe, then you know, oh, this
is not for acidification, thisis for flavor.
So I think just last week wetalked about adding lemon to
blackberry or other fruitrecipes.
Fruit are generally very acidic.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (11:14):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (11:14):
all the berries, cranberries,
they're all quite acid.
So the addition of lemon ispurely for flavor and not for
food preservation, purposes.
So in those cases, you can usesqueezed or you could swap it
out for grapefruit or lemon or,I've done raspberry jam with
grapefruit juice and I, it'slike a little different, but not
a lot different, but it is areally great combination.
(11:35):
Of course, lemon is deliciouswith raspberry too, but you can
play around when your base isalready very acidic, which would
be most fruit, then you can,feel comfortable playing with
your citrus additives.
But if the lemon juice is, if itsays bottled use bottled.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (11:51):
And I think this would be a good
time also to say that the bookthat Jenny is referencing, or
the website is one of the bestsources of tested recipes that
we have.
The University of GeorgiaCooperative Extension does so
much food testing.
They do it for the USDA and theymake sure that their recipes are
(12:12):
totally safe, so.
We'll put that in the show noteso that
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-202 (12:15):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (12:16):
where to go.
'cause I think a lot of timesyou maybe just grab a recipe
that's a family recipe like
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-202 (12:22):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (12:23):
and not be acidification for a
tomato product.
And you're like, what's the bigdeal?
And, having a good resource inyour back pocket is really,
really important.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1 (12:33):
Yes.
I'll link, we will link in theshow notes.
I have a chart that you candownload of all the food groups
and their acid values.
So if this is all brand new toyou and you would like an idea
of okay, what's high acid?
What's not high acid?
it's a free download.
You can just download it.
Refer to it if it's helpful toyou.
just to give you an idea of whattypes of foods are really high
(12:56):
in acid and which ones are not.
Tomatoes in particular arealways thought to be really
acidic, and they're not.
They're the ones that areactually the least acidic of the
water bath, canning safe foodtypes.
So it's especially important tofollow a tested recipe if you're
preserving tomatoes.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (13:13):
Yeah, and it's almost tomato season.
I've got some tomatoes that arestarting to come on right now,
but it's gonna be tomato seasonhere in the blink of an eye, and
people are gonna be wanting somereally good recipes.
I am just looking through mybook, so easy to preserve
thinking, oh, maybe I should cana barbecue
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (13:33):
Mm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (13:34):
Chili sauce, I don't know, hot sauce,
all kinds of things, I wouldhighly recommend that, website
and then also the book, so easyto preserve.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1 (13:43):
Yes.
second that both the websitesand the book are so excellent,
so helpful.
What is your go-to acidifyingingredient in tomatoes, Anna?
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-202 (13:52):
So when I do crushed tomatoes, the
one that I do probably the mostof, for tomato products, I use
citric acid.
Yeah, it's, I find it easy toadd it at the end, like after I
put the tomatoes in, I just plopit in every single jar.
And then I also.
counteract that sour taste.
(14:12):
I will actually add a teaspoonof salt as well, or you could
also add a teaspoon of sugar, tooffset that sweetness.
But I like adding salt.
about you, Jenny?
what do you normally do?
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1204 (14:25):
I do the same.
And I think it's important tothink about or plan out.
If you're canning tomatoes andyou're new to this, when are you
going to add your citric acid?
So most of the time, all of youringredients are just all
together, right?
Or they're very obviously eitherin the jar or they're not in the
jar.
So if you're a beginner, it's athing to think through.
(14:46):
Am I going to put this quarterteaspoon, this little bit of
something in the jar?
When the jar is hot but empty?
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (14:52):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_120 (14:53):
Am I going to put it in on top of
the tomato?
And then it will very quicklydisappear before your eyes and
you won't be able to, you won'tknow, did I already put this in?
So it's a thing to thinkthrough.
It's not, I wouldn't say it'slike a hard part, but it is a
thing to think about.
Am I gonna put this in?
In every empty jar, in everyfold jar, am I gonna do how?
How am I gonna do it, and how amI gonna make sure that I do it
(15:16):
in every jar?
And I always tell people, ifyou're not sure, put another
quarter teaspoon in becausethere's nothing bad's gonna
happen.
Put your teaspoon of salt in.
Like Anna said, there's nothingwrong with double acidification.
Right?
Just might be like a little moretart than you were thinking,
but.
It's important to think through,how will I be sure that all of
my jars are properly acidified?
(15:38):
And same thing if you're adding,the lemon juice.
Same, same question.
How will I, what will my processbe so that all the jars are
properly acidified?
And again, it's not hard, butthink it through.
And then I would say do itexactly the same way every time.
Have your countertop set up thesame way so you're, you're
measuring spoon and your bottledlemon juice are right here,
right next to where you set yourjar, or.
(15:59):
Whatever your flow is in yourkitchen, have it exactly the
same every time.
Like if I can somewhere otherthan my kitchen, I can't help
but set it up exactly the samebecause then I'm just marching
through the steps.
Never missing a jar.
And again, if you ever think,oh, did I put this in here?
Did I add this?
Add it again, and like Annasuggested, add the salt and put
(16:22):
your lid on and process.
But, I.
I can't remember if I've toldyou this story, Anna.
I, there was one salsa recipewhere I did not add the
acidifying ingredient, and Irealized it after I had already
put it in the, into the pot, andI canned it on purpose and I put
a big black X on top
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-202 (16:39):
Oh no.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (16:40):
and I put it at the top of my shelf
to see what would happen.
And it's important to note thatthe C botulinum toxin is
tasteless, odorless.
You would never know it if youate it.
This is not a test of would Iget deadly Ill or not.
It was just, I, I thought, Iwonder what will happen to the
rest of this.
Oh, it was like a pineapplesalsa or a peach salsa.
(17:00):
It was a fruit salsa I made.
So it actually did end upbecoming a volcano of mold,
which only tell is only likewarning the eater of Don't
that's a very obvious thing.
Don't eat this.
You're gonna get a belly ache.
But it would not again.
You would have no indicationthat you had accidentally grown
the C botulinum toxin.
(17:22):
So anyway, that just is one, onething I've done.
And it did create a totalvolcano of gross brown mold and
it actually broke the seal andthe whole thing.
But my kids were tiny and theyweren't gonna like climb up and
eat it
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-202 (17:34):
So you, do you think, was it a lid
failure then?
I.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_ (17:39):
Well.
I couldn't say for sure.
I guess I don't think so, but itwas, it was like siphoning out
blackness.
it came out over the top, so itmay have been, but the other
jars that I've preserved of thatsame recipe did not have lip
failure, so.
it was just a thing I did.
It was like almost 10 years agoI did this.
I realized, oh, wait a minute.
I didn't do this.
And I thought, what the heck?
(17:59):
I'll just, I'll just can it andput an X on it and see what
happens, because I was curiouswhat it would look like.
Maybe it was because it was likethere was a lot of fruit in
there too.
I don't know.
But don't do it.
Don't let me be the weird oneswho did that.
squadcaster-7310_1 (18:12):
interesting.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_120 (18:13):
do it.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (18:14):
Oh, that's funny.
I'm trying to think if there'sanything else that I would use
vinegar for as a, as anacidifying agent than, pickled
veggies or tomato products.
And I just don't think thatlends itself to like jams
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (18:31):
you would be pretty thoughtful about
your vinegar choice.
And I think, actually this is agood vinegar comment.
We have a couple episodes aboutmaking pickles that you should
definitely check out if you'dlove like pickled veggies'cause
we have some good, wholeepisodes all about that.
But, I have a friend and family,member who I just was texting
with her about, she said, well,which vinegar should I use?
And I explained just one thatsays 5% and you can get as
(18:53):
fancy, expensive.
As wild as you want with thevinegars, as long as
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (18:58):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1 (18:59):
that 5% you have to read on the
label.
And this is a couple years ago,I think, like in the post COVID
madness of grocery stores, therewas, you might recall a lot of
vinegars being sold that wereessentially being cut with
water.
So they were cheaper for thecompany to, to make that were
like 4%.
Right.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-0 (19:17):
Mm-hmm.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (19:17):
you again, you have to keep an eye
out on.
The vinegars you purchase think,is this something I wanna eat?
Like maybe smell it if you can.
If you can smell it before youbuy it or if, is this something
I would definitely consume withmy mouth and not wash my windows
with?
I think you can get like jugsvinegar at Dollar General or
like our very like cheapygrocery store kind of option.
(19:38):
But you wouldn't probably canwith it.
You would clean your windowswith it.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (19:41):
Sure.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_120 (19:42):
So you can get fancy, you can get
different, you can get,flavored, you can get different
things.
But the most important thing isthat percentage on the label.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-2025 (19:50):
I think that's a great point.
I, I do know that there, likeI've been to olive oil and
vinegar shops
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-202 (19:57):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (19:58):
and they might have a different
percentage of vinegar.
If you wanna get fancy right anddo a champagne vinegar just make
sure that it's that 5% acidity.
that's, I interesting though,that during COVID they were
trying to cut it with water andmake it a little less vinegary
and acidic.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1204 (20:19):
I think we can all agree that was,
those were wild
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04 (20:22):
before we finish this episode, Jenny,
what, have you been canninglately or have you been doing
food preserving in any way?
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (20:30):
So, it's getting to be peach season
where we live.
And I, maybe I've shared thistip before, but I feel like this
is the thing I would text myfriends immediately Peaches are
so inviting and there's, thetrees are so shady and like you
might get invited to go pick amillion pounds of peaches.
here's my golden tip.
can freeze a whole peach, thewhole thing.
Okay.
(20:50):
You don't have to cut anythingoff of it.
Just I would rinse the bird poopoff and pat it dry and you can
put that whole peach in thefreezer.
And I did it on cookie sheets.
In my chest freezer.
So I just set them in there andyou can leave them kind of
several days if you want, if youdon't get to it.
And then I put them in a verylarge Ziploc bags and suck the
(21:12):
air out the best I could with mymouth, like a heathen.
I don't even have a machine.
They suck the air out of plasticbags and they last so long.
And I did this because my dad'stree had a super huge glut of
peaches and I was the only onetaking them and I couldn't let
them go to waste.
So I froze all of them.
'cause I, at the time I didn'teven have a kitchen.
This was came out of necessity.
(21:33):
So all school year long.
I would, teach my morningclasses at the high school, come
home and take out three peaches,let them sit for five minutes on
the counter, hack off every bitof peach off the pit, put'em on
a blender with milk and proteinpowder, and I had a free three
peach smoothie every day.
So that's my tip.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-2 (21:51):
That sounds amazing.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_ (21:53):
It's.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-2 (21:54):
That sounds so good.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1 (21:55):
It's just so low.
It's so low effort not to belike a lazy bum, but sometimes
you don't have time to do allthe things and those just freeze
really well.
of course you wanna be able touse peaches for something other
than smoothies, but you couldlet them defrost and cut them
off and do something else.
I should mention my dad's, theseparticular peaches are cling
(22:18):
stone.
Which means they're really stuckto the pit.
Some peaches, some peach rice.
That should be your number onequestion.
If you were going to go buypeaches, are they cling stone or
free stone?
Free stone peaches.
The pit just pops right outthere, like out of a toaster.
If they're cling stone, you'llbe cutting the flesh off of that
pit one way or the other.
(22:39):
So.
To me it was like that was theonly thing I could, was going to
have time in a kitchen to do,was to freeze the peaches.
And that's my golden tip to you.
other than planning to freezesome peaches, they should be
ready here pretty soon.
I did pick, we put, I madecherry syrup a few weeks ago,
which was a few weeks ago.
I think all my canning happensjust a tiny bit after Anna's.
(23:01):
I feel like Anna starts canningevery season a little before me.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-2 (23:04):
Hmm.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_12 (23:05):
but yeah, the big stone fruit, the
peaches, and then theblackberries are coming on early
this year, so I'll be doingblackberry next.
What about you, Anna?
What's next for you?
Canning.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (23:14):
Oh, nice.
you know, we're the same.
I don't know what happened thisseason, but everything seems to
be about two weeks early, whichis just insane.
I went through the last twoyears of photos on my phone just
to see if I was losing my
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-202 (23:29):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-2 (23:30):
man, apricots seem like they're
coming on really early.
and it was legitimately twoweeks early.
So right now I'm working withBlackberries.
I had friends reach out that hadcurrent.
So I'm doing a black currentjelly, which is something new.
I haven't done that before, sothat'll be fun.
(23:50):
I've done red current before,but I've never done black
current.
we're starting to see peaches atthe farmer's market and I've,
I've been getting a few in myCSA box and I've made some
favorite jam ever, which ispeach, lemon verina jam.
It.
Like such a premium jam andsimple syrup.
(24:10):
I have some in the fridge andI've just been drinking it with
club soda and ice and it's justso refreshing and lovely.
And then I also am picking someearly apples.
It's called a loie variety.
And it's perfect for applesauceand apple pie filling.
So rest for the wicked.
I've got my seasonal fruitcoming on hot.
(24:33):
I'm a little jealous of peoplewho talk about all of the
relaxing they do in thesummertime, and I'm like, I'll
sleep when I'm dead.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-202 (24:40):
Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (24:41):
busy, busy, busy in the summer and
then.
and winter is usually the timethat I'm able to relax.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1204 (24:47):
I haven't, because we've had this
big home renovation kind of toeating out the last two summers.
I'm facing the reality that Ineed to can some tomatoes.
We have not had canned tomatoesin a long time, and it's like
dire straits.
I have to do some tomatoes thisyear.
and we have a little rentalhouse in town, so I live out of
town and our little rental houseis in town and the Blackberry's
(25:09):
in the yard there Long, it'slike a shared fence in town with
a very nice older lady.
So it's like the back of herbarn and the, our side fence
have these blackberries growingand probably just as often do
people have blackberries growingin their yards as you do as
Ogden has apricots?
I would almost say there's justa lot of blackberries,
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (25:31):
Oh, okay.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_1 (25:32):
when it's time for us to clean the
rental, I sent my kids out, turnthe sprinkler on, do this, do
that outside.
And they're like, mom, theblackberries are already ready.
I was like, wait a second.
What?
So, the in town, theblackberries are ready even
sooner than the town, the out,out town.
Blackberries, I don't know ifthey just got a lot more direct
sun or I'm doing a better jobwatering the lawn maybe.
But yeah, those blackberries arecoming on at night.
(25:53):
There's not enough there toprobably can a whole lot out of,
but definitely to eat and, yeah,this is the time, like right
now, this is being recorded thefirst week of August and this is
when I like put the buckets inthe car, start getting serious
about really canning a lot.
Any canning even happens before.
This for me is more incidentalfor funsies.
Some weird thing I wanted to trybought from the grocery store
(26:16):
and about now is when it's okay,gangbusters.
Go.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04- (26:19):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_ (26:19):
Which is not as handy for a person
whose life still revolves aroundschool'cause it's also back to
school time.
So it feels a little extra, alittle bit extra busy.
but I'm excited.
This year I finally have akitchen to do all this in like
an actual kitchen that has allthe park that you're supposed to
have.
So I'm super jazzed, but Nextepisode, I think we're gonna be
talking about something a littlebit controversial, so you'll
(26:41):
have to be sure to tune in nextweek for an exciting topic that,
that, I'm kidding.
It's not really verycontroversial, but it might get
a few, few disappointedcomments, or
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-202 (26:52):
it might be,
jenny-gomes_1_08-04-2025_120 (26:53):
it might, it might be the hottest
thing since, don't water Glassyour eggs, Anna.
And I really love acontroversial topic.
squadcaster-7310_1_08-04-20 (26:59):
ah.
Oh boy.
Well tune in next week.
We're glad you're here.
We love talking about foodpreserving, and again, if you
have any food preservingquestions, email perfectly
preserved podcast@gmail.com.
That's our show.
We don't want you to miss anepisode, so please be sure to
subscribe.
(27:20):
If you found this episodehelpful and informative, please
give our show a rating andreview.
It only takes a few seconds andit really helps our show grow.
Follow us on social media atSmart Home Canning and at the
domestic wildflower.
Email your preserving questionsto Perfectly Preserved
podcast@gmail.com and we will doour best to answer your
(27:41):
questions on the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
Stay tuned for our next episodereleased every week.
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