Pressure canning peah salsa - HELP!

[Toolip]

x posted in the "canning 2009" thread over in diggin'

I am in desperate need of some advice. I made a huge batch of peach salsa last night that I want to can in a pressure canner. I never even thought that it might be a problem but I cannot find advice on how to process. It isn't a tested recipe and I didn't realize that was such a mistake.

Here's roughly what is in it (most to least):
Peaches
Tomatoes
Onions
Garlic
Jalapenos
Lime juice
Salt

Can anyone advise me on the pressure and how long I need to process (1/2 pints) and is this really a bad idea?

[elanorh]

I would suggest freezing it instead.

[Toolip]

Originally Posted by elanorh

I would suggest freezing it instead.

Why not can it? I'm out of freezer space

[elanorh]

Because I haven't ever seen a pressure canning recipe for peach salsa in any of the tested recipe sites (USDA or Ball Blue Book - Ball Blue Book link below, there are more recipes in their book itself but not one for peach salsa) - nor have I seen a waterbath salsa recipe in their books/sites:

http://www.freshpreserving.com/pages...=216&pageNum=1

Since your recipe contains tomatoes (which are a questionable acid food, and could be either low or high acid), it's just very difficult to know how long you'd need to process your salsa. Your hunch to use a pressure canner instead is a good one; it's just that I don't know what would be best for how long it would need to be processed etc. Obviously your altitude is going to impact processing time/pressure, but the item being processed also impacts that.

You could try contacting your local Cooperative Extension Office (should be under "County" in your government pages) and see whether their FCS Educator has different advice. But personally - I think the safest way to handle this salsa, so you don't have to worry, is to just freeze it. I suspect that's the advice they would give you, as well.