The bottled lemon juice has a controlled amount of acid which is why they recommend you use that rather than juicing your own lemons.

I haven't even watched the video yet but I wanted to say that I misread the title as 'Learning how to ferment and pickle Feminist Reserve' and I was very interested! 😅

Washing jars in a dish washer won't sterilize them -- the temperature is not high enough. For that you have to either put them (with lids) in the oven for about 15 - 20 min (100 Celsius) or cook them in a pot in water for similar amount of time counting from the moment the water starts to boil (it's best to put a cloth at the bottom of the pot for that and put the jars in the pot while the water is still cold -- this way the glass won't break). Sterilizing jars in the pot is easier and safer, especially if you are a beginner.

I am a gardener and a canner and I have a little tip. After washing your tomatoes make a small cross with a sharp knife in the skin on the blossom end of the fruit. Put the tomatoes in the freezer for at least four hours. I freeze a large amount of tomatoes, usually a week or so worth out of my garden and do a big batch. Then place a strainer over a large bowl and put the frozen tomatoes in the strainer to thaw. The tomatoes with release a delicious juice into the bowl as they thaw. Once thawed, just slip the skins off. Then take the skinned tomatoes and cook them as you like. They won’t need to be cooked quite as long as fresh which I find tastes better. The juice can be drunk fresh or canned as well. I usually get at least 11 quarts of delicious tomato juice per summer to drink and enjoy through the winter. My favourite use is as a broth substitute…so much umami! The skins can be dried and ground to a powder which adds a delicious depth to food. The tomato’s will be thick and delicious too. So no waste and it saves me energy by doing one day of continuous canning whenever I have enough and I can wait til cooler months to not cook myself out of my home! Another new tip from this year is grow nasturtiums and make yummy food from them. You can dry the leaves and flowers and process them with some good sea salt and make your own delicious peppery salt. I learned this from Gaz Oakley, a vegan KZreadr, chef and gardener. I have a surfeit of nasturtiums this year so I have already pickled many jars of nasturtium seeds, eaten loads of flowers and leaves in salads. Sorry for the ramble, I am very passionate about gardening, preserving food and reducing food waste. Cheers. Fresh lemon juice is not consistent in its acidity, citric acid or bottle lemon juice have a consistent pH. I just use a basic canning pot and have since I first learned to can when I was little. I have nerves had a problem! Best of luck with your new adventures in food preserving and canning.

Pressure canning is required for any food with a ph higher than 4.6. Anything lower is considered safe as the primary concern with canning food is botulism. These include green beans, corn, peas, squash, beets, carrots, dry beans etc... Foods 4.6ish require acid to assure they are safe (tomatoes, quince) which drops the ph. These are citric acid, vinegars and lemon/lime juice. These should be bottled to assure consistent ph. Where this is gray is for foods with an already high ph like blue berries. Then it's mostly a matter of getting to set point quicker. Traditional jams have less sugar more fruit (including green) and fresh lemon/lime juice. If canning pie filling only clear jel has been FDA approved as a thickener.

It’s funny how, after discovering pickled red onions, there’s really no going back to life without them!

You have the best canning book there is, so if you follow it, you'll know what you can can without a pressure canner. Low acid foods require a pressure canner. Consider getting a steam canner for your acidic food canner. They use less water than a water bath canner, and you're not fishing jars out of a big pot of boiling hot water.

When I have an abundance of tomatoes, I run them through my blender, minus the cores and process. I then dehydrate and end up with the most tasteful tomatoe flakes.😊

You are correct about bottled lemon juice more concentrated I have been canning for a long time I don’t remove the seeds or skin from tomatoes anymore if you blend they almost disappear especially if you use sauce tomatoes. You can dehydrate the skins if you remove them to make tomato powder. You need a pressure canner for most preserving you can also use the pressure canner for water bath canning just leave off the weights. I have a basic Presto pressure canner it was under a hundred dollars easy to use and works great. Happy preserving. ❤

You only need a water bath canner (or just a regular pot) for anything acidic. That book you have is the perfect resource. For anything not acidic (veggies) you need to pressure can. I've found the presto electric pressure canner to be AMAZING. It is very expensive but if you are serious about the canning lifestyle, I think you should dive right into the electric canner rather than the intimidating stovetop pressure canner.

Home canner here from way back… here to make a few suggestions (if you’re interested). I would 💯 recommend to put off purchasing a pressure canner as it is not required for most canning unless you are processing meat, poultry, fish, or seafood (unlikely, right!). Here is what I recommend for the essential tools & supplies for most home canning:

Hi! I make my own tomatoe sauce every year (here in Italy). Let me tell you how because you definitely don't need citric acid or anything like that at all. Just wash the tomatoes and put them whole in the pot and cook them as you did. They will start releasing water, drain that away and put back the tomatoes cooking untile very soft (as you did). Add onions, garlic, salt. You can add also pieces of celery and carrots if you like. When everything is soft, it's done. You need a type of machine to remove the tomatoes' skin, but it's ok using the blender as you did, it will be more rich and I have to say I prefer it that way. Once you have done that, put the sauce in the jars, add a basil leaf and cover the sauce with extra virgin olive oil. Close the jars, put them in a large pot and cover till the edge (before the lids) with cold water and put them on the stove. Let the water boil for about 20/30 minutes. Be careful, the water needs to boil gently otherwise the jars will crash. After 20/30 minutes, turn off the heat and let it cool. When the water is completely cold, you can remove the jars (maybe you will hear a sound like a small shot. It's the lid that is creating air vacuum). This sauce last the whole winter, you don't need any chemicals to preserve it or any lemon juice. Trust me ;-) This is a traditional recipe my family has always made.

Thanks for acknowledging us farmers and how hard we work.Much appreciated ❤️🇨🇦

You need 5% acidity for canning. The Companys are leveling it out so you have 5% vinegar and 5% bottled Lemon Juice. Lemons can vary in acidity because of ripeness, sort etc. I love Melissa K Norris to learned about the savety about canning etc😊

Hello friends! If you're canning with second hand jars, please check the jar for any cracks and chips especially around the rim. You want to get a good seal and any defects in that area could be the difference between botulism and yummy safe to eat things. A few channels on youtube I love are Melissa K. Norris, Acre Homestead, and Homesteading Family.

I grew up canning and preserving with my mom on our homestead! My advise, you really only need a pressure canner when you’re canning meat. Otherwise, canning on the stove top in a stock pot is just fine. So enjoyable watching this series :)

Hi, just wanted to say how much I’m enjoying this new series x

I don’t peel my tomatoes when I make sauce. I use a stick blender and wiz them up. Then when I put them into the jars I add one tablespoon of cider vinegar to each quart jar. It always comes out great! I do water bath can them. They last until we eat them all up.

I've never canned but I like to make jam (It's a way to preserve fruit so I thought to mention it.). This year I made strawberry jam and red current-strawberry jam. I buy jam sugar (usually one part sugar and two parts fruit) and do everything as instructed on the package. However, I also add some lemon juice. That's a tip I got years ago from a seller at a farmers' market. The lemon juice ensures that the jam turns solid. I love jam making because it makes me proud, tastes better than storw bought jam and is a nice little present whenever you are invited to someone's home. Plus it's super easy (Canning looks a lot more complicated!) albeit quite a bit messy.

From what I've seen and experienced, the US consensus is that high sugar or high acid recipes (jams or pickles) can be water bath canned (pot on stove). For anything else (tomatoes, garden veg, soups, salsa, etc) you need to pressure can.