Is It Safe To Use My Own Recipes for Canning? Ask the Guest Expert: Canning Questions for Marisa McClellan

Q: How do you can something when you didn't make it specifically from a canning recipe? I make all kinds of soups I would love to can but they're not from a canning recipe book.

— Question asked by Graciela

Marisa: Graciela, it's very tricky to get into pressure canning soups that are not from canning cookbooks. This is because the recipes in those books have been heavily tested by food scientists in order to guarantee their safety. There are so many low-acid ingredients and other variables in soups, that determining processing time and pressure is best left to the experts. A master food preserver would tell you simply that you should not can soups that have been made from untested recipes.

Marisa McClellan, our guest expert this week, is answering your questions on canning and preserving. Marisa writes Food In Jars, a blog devoted to canning, preserving, and other food in jars. She also teaches canning workshops.

Marisa couldn't get to all of your questions this week, but she's going to answer a few more of your questions over at her blog this weekend. So make sure to check in there and see if your canning question was answered!

Previous questions about canning answered by Marisa:

• Is It Safe to Can Meat Sauces?
• My Strawberry Jam Went Bad! Why Did That Happen?
• Is It OK If There Are Air Bubbles In Finished Jars?

(Image: Emily Ho, of Pomegranate Lentil Soup)

Marisa--I'm a newbie canner as well--so far I've made nectarine jam and italian plum preserves, and I'm really enjoying myself.

Does what you say above about soups also apply to tomato-based sauces? I live in southern CA, and I'm planning on buying lots of tomatoes at my local farmer's market to make and store some homemade sauce. I'd love to be able to use my own family/tried-and-true marinara sauce recipe...

posted by jooleeyet on September 11th 2009 at 1:21pm
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I'm surprised by this information. For things like soups and sauces, you'd think half the fun would be using your own recipe and not one that's from a book. I could see if the advice was to only do that if you were using a pressure cooker, but that's not safe enough? Bummer.

posted by asinner on September 11th 2009 at 2:35pm
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Just freeze them.

posted by Emily G. on September 11th 2009 at 2:49pm
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jooleeyet,

What I've said above about canning soups partially applies to canning marinara sauces. If your marinara sauce contains lots of onion, garlic and peppers, it's definitely not safe to can with a boiling water canner. Chances are that there are tested pressure cooker recipes that are similar to your family recipes though. I would check out books like the Ball Blue Book of Preserving and So Easy to Preserve.

asinner,

Unfortunately, there are lots of safety concerns to consider when preserving food. The fun of it really is to find ways to work safely while still canning delicious things.

Emily G.,

You're right, for a lot of things, the best way to go is to freeze.

posted by Marisa McClellan on September 11th 2009 at 3:53pm
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Emily G., I freeze all kinds of things, but I'd like to give away jarred sauce as a gift (especially to family members who don't know how to cook it themselves and would appreciate a little flavor-visit from my grandma's kitchen...). Freezing means you have to use it yourself, at home.

posted by jooleeyet on September 11th 2009 at 4:17pm
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