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Show Canning season is here By DENNIS HINKAMP Consumer Information Writer Utah State University Listen out any window, and you can hear the sounds of jars clinking, water boiling and the profanity resulting from harried use of sharpened paring knives. Whether it be peaches, tomatoes, com or those alien Life forms we pass off as zucchini, zuc-chini, the signs of the canning season are upon us. Don't ever change an approved canning recipe, said Charlotte Brennand, Extension food scientist in the Utah State University College of Family Life. This is not the time in your life to get creative. If you want to be creative, do it with foods you preserve by freezing. Brennand said what you may consider as just spicing things up or making better use of leftover vegetables can dangerously change the chemistry of your canned pro- : duct. I'm getting a lot of calls for salsa and chile sauce recipes this year. Tomato-based canned products are tricky because tomatoes' acidity is i only marginally high enough for canning. Most recipes call for add-I add-I ing extra acidic ingredients, she said. Putting extra celery or onions in canned tomatoes can lower the acidity of the recipe and encourage the growth of botulism. Adding i extra constarch, which changes the thickness, can alter the heat transfer ) and prevent the product from being sterlized properly, Brennand says. i |