Silly canning question...

[greenmagick]

So I know you have to be pretty careful with recipes when canning with water baths.

If you pressure can, does anything go?

I have read up and canning and for some reason just cant quite figure this out

[lmonter]

Um, not exactly sure what you mean.
You can't safely pressure can pureed pumpkin and such at home, along with a few other things.
Or the processing times for pressure canned tomatoes vs. pressure canned chicken pieces are a bit different.

If you can get your hands on the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving/Canning it has a bunch of water bath and pressure canning recipes - I haul mine out all the time, if for nothing else to check to make sure I'm doing the correct processing times and doing vinegar wipes on the rims on the correct stocks and stuff.

[greenmagick]

I meant as far as the recipes....the problem I am having with canning say salsa for example, is I have a lot of recipes for steam bath canning, but none of them are really what I want. I know you are supposed to follow the recipe exactly with steam bath cannning, but what about with pressure canning. Could I add extra garlic or tomatillos to a recipe safely if pressure canning?

[Leta]

I would avoid fresh garlic no matter what method you use to can. Granulated garlic works and the risk is basically nil. If you have homegrown garlic that you want to use, I'd dry it (oven or dehydrator) and then pulverize it in a coffee grinder/food processor/mortar and pestle, and only then use it an canning recipe.

Some things can't be canned due separation issues, even with pressure canning. Like pumpkin and homemade mayo. However, things like salsa, that you can pressure OR hot h20, the recipe should stay the same except the time it takes to pressure can it should be much less than the hot h20 bath. Stuff like green beans, homemade soup, meat, and marinated veggies must be pressure canned.

HTH

[Leta]

Tomatillos should be no problem at all in a pressure canner. I've used them in h20 bath salsa and not killed anyone yet.

[zensven42]

This site is good: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_home.html

especially this part:
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...ions_usda.html

If the food is not listed, it is likely that it can not be canned.

[gardenmom]

I think that at this point in time, particularly if you're new to pressure canning (I've never done it) that to follow a recipe exactly is the way to go. I also think that steam bath canning is rarely used/not recommended any more, though I may be wrong.

I use fresh garlic in my salsa recipe, which is hot water bath canned.

There are a lot of experienced and great ongoing discussions on canning at gardenweb in the harvest forum.