                   How To Evaluate Recipes - Procedures



Here are five sample recipes taken from two home canning
cookbooks on the market.  Use the questions and procedures from
Fact Sheet EHE-705, Evaluating Home Canning Recipes For Safety,
to evaluate them.  You will also need the USDA Complete Guide to
Home Canning.

I.   Pepper relish

     2 C chopped sweet red peppers           4 C cider vinegar
     2 C chopped sweet green peppers         4 C sugar
     4 C shredded cabbage                    4 T mustard seeds
     2 C chopped onions                      1 T celery seeds
     3 small hot red peppers, chopped        4 T salt
     
     Mix all the ingredients and let stand in a cool place
overnight.  In the morning pack in sterilized jars and seal. 

II.  Picnic Relish

     12 sweet green peppers, seeded          6 C sugar
     12 onions, peeled                       2 t dry mustard
     12 green tomatoes                       1 t allspice
     1/2 C salt                              1/4 T red pepper
     4 C cider vinegar
     
     Put all the vegetables through the medium blade of a food
chopper, sprinkle with the salt, and let stand 4 hr. drain, rinse
in clear water, and drain again.  In a kettle combine the vinegar
and sugar. Bring the liquid to a boil, add vegetables and spices.
Boil for 10 min. and seal in hot jars.

III. Chili Sauce I

     24 large ripe tomatoes             2 C cider vinegar
     1 small bunch celery, chopped      2 T salt
     6 onions, chopped                  1 t pepper
     3 cloves garlic, minced            1 t dry mustard
     3 sweet red peppers, seeded and chopped 
     2 T whole allspice, tied in a bag  1 1/2 C light brown sugar

     Scald, peel, core, and quarter the tomatoes.  Squeeze out
the seeds and excess juice and chop the pulp finely.  Put the
pulp in a large kettle, bring to a boil, and boil rapidly until
the tomatoes are soft.  Ladle off the clear liquid that comes to
the top of the tomatoes while they  are cooking.  Add the
remaining ingredients and cook for 30 min. Discard the spice bag
and continue to cook for about 1 hour longer, or until thick,
stirring occasionally.  Seal in hot sterilized jars.


IV.  Chili Sauce II

     4 qt ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
     1 C chopped onions                      2 sticks cinnamon
     1 1/2 C chopped red peppers             2 C vinegar
     1 1/2 C chopped green peppers           1 C sugar
     1 1/2 t whole allspice                  3 T salt
     1 1/2 t whole cloves

     In a large preserving kettle, combine the tomatoes, onions,
and peppers.  Add the spices, tied in a bag, bring the mixture to
a boil and cook until it is reduced to half its volume, stirring
frequently.  Add the vinegar, sugar, and salt and boil rapidly
for 5 min., stirring constantly.  Discard the spice bag. Pour
into hot jars and seal.


V.   Shirley's Sweet-Sour Sauce

     10 C chopped, ripe tomatoes        2 C sugar
     2/3 C chopped green peppers        2 C 5% acid cider vinegar
     2 C chopped onions                 2 T canning/pickling salt

     Dip tomatoes into boiling water 1/2 min. to loosen skins. 
Cool in cold water. Remove skins and cores. Blend or put through
food chopper. Place in 8-qt. kettle. Remove stems, membranes and
seeds from peppers and peel onions before chopping.  Add to
tomatoes; stir in sugar, vinegar and salt. Simmer, uncovered,
stirring frequently, for 2 hours or until thick and sauce begins
to round up on spoon. Ladle into 3 hot pint jars, filling to
within 1/8" of jar top. Wipe jar rims: adjust lids.  Process in
boiling water bath 15 minutes.  Start to count processing time
when water in canner returns to boiling.  Remove jars and
complete seals unless closures are self-sealing type. Makes 3
pints. ANALYSIS OF THE RECIPES

I.   Pepper Relish 

     A.   First, as it stands, there is neither cooking nor
processing. The recipe can not be used as is. Can it be made
useable?  Here's how to try. 

     B.   What are the vegetable:acid proportions?   Add the cups
of vegetable.  There are 10 C vegetables.  The 3 small hot
peppers are negligible so they do not need to be counted.  There
are 4 C vinegar.  Notice that the recipe did not specify 5%
acidity.

     C.   What is the most similar USDA recipe?  While the
Piccalilli recipe (p. 18) might look similar because they both
have shredded cabbage, it really is not, because it has green
tomatoes, an acid product, and the questionable recipe has no
acid foods. So, the USDA recipe to use is the Pickled
Pepper-Onion Relish (p.18). 

     D.   What are the USDA proportions? Twelve cups of
vegetables to 6 C vinegar.

          recipe    10 C veg : 4 C acid = 2.4 C veg : 1 C acid
          USDA      12 C veg : 6 C acid = 2.0 C veg : 1 C acid

          Therefore, this recipe does not have enough acid to be
          safe. 

     E.   What recommendations can be made? 

          If the vinegar were increased to five cups, the ratio
would then be 2 C veg : 1 C acid (10:5). So, to use this recipe:

          a. increase the vinegar to 5 C
          b. use 5% acidity vinegar
          c. boil the mixture for 30 min. to use USDA procedures
          d. presterilize jars
          e. process the filled jars for 5 min. in boiling water 

     OR:  f. make the recipe as directed, do not seal it,         
             refrigerate. 
          
     Note that the recipe all ready has much more sugar (4C) than
the USDA recipe, so the increased vinegar should still be
acceptable. However, the sugar could be increased still further
to counteract the vinegar increase if desired.

     If the recipe is made in its original form, the jars should
be covered but the lids should not be sealed.  There should be no
vacuum in the jars. Since nothing has been done to kill or
inactivate any Cl. botulinum spores or cells, air should be left
in the jar. The air will prevent its growth.


II.  Picnic relish
     
     A.   What is the most similar USDA recipe?  In this case,
the Piccalilli (p.18) is the reference recipe to use.  Both the
ingredients and the procedures are similar.  It does have green
tomatoes, it does call for soaking the vegetables in salt water
and draining them, and it does call for simmering them before
packing.  So, while the times are not quite the same, the next
step is to look at proportions.

     B.   What are the vegetable:acid proportions?  With this
recipe it is not as simple as adding the quantities, because this
one only specifies numbers of peppers, etc., and not cups.  Use
the equivalencies table in fact sheet (705) to estimate how many
cups of produce it uses.

       12 peppers; 9 peppers = about 3 C,       so 12 = about 4 C
       12 onions;  4 onions = about 3 C,        so 12 = about 9 C
       12 tomatoes; 3 tomatoes = about 1.5 C,   so 12 = about 6 C
                                 
          TOTAL VEGETABLES =            19 C

          4 C vinegar         
          TOTAL ACID=                    4 C

          In the USDA recipe there are a total of almost 19 C of
vegetables, but the vinegar amount is  4.5 C. 

          Recipe:   19 C vegetables :    4 C   acid
          USDA:     18.75 C vegetables : 4.5 C acid

     C.   So, to correct the proportions, the acid must be
increased at least to 4.5 C, or better yet, to 4.75 C of vinegar. 
This recipe also has much more sugar than the USDA recipe, so the
increased vinegar might not be noticeable.  If it is the sugar
may be increased as desired.

     D.   What recommendations can be made?

          a. use 5% acidity vinegar
          b. increase the vinegar from 4 C to 4.75 cups
          c. mix the salt in, do not just sprinkle it on top
          d. increase the time of soaking from 4 hrs to 12 hrs
          e. increase the simmering time from 10 min to 30 min
          f. use presterilized jars
          g. process the filled jars for 5 min in boiling water

     OR:  h. use the recipe as is, do not seal, refrigerate the
             product

III. Chili Sauce I

     A.   The procedures in this recipe are so different that
there are no USDA recipes to use for reference.  It can not be
considered safe.

     B.   Explanation and analysis: 

          When the juice is removed from tomatoes by mechanical
means  (squeezing, ladling off the clear liquid) the acid balance
is changed.  With the juice removed, it will take less time for
the sauce to become thick when it is cooked.  But, that means
that there is less cooking time to kill bacteria and mold spores. 
Also, because it is thicker the heat will penetrate and kill the
spores more slowly.  So, the product going into the jar has a
greater likelihood of still having live spores present.  And, if
it were processed, because it is thick, it would need more than
the usual process time to kill them.

     C.   The only recommendation that can be made with a recipe
of this type is to refrigerate the product without sealing, or
freeze it. It can not be canned safely.


IV.  Chili Sauce II

     A.   First look at the procedures in this recipe.  The
tomatoes and vegetables are boiled together until it is thick. 
But, the mixture is not sieved or put through a food mill. All
the skins and seeds are left in.  Therefore, this has to be
considered in looking for a similar USDA recipe.  There are
several possibilities; the Spaghetti Sauce without Meat (p. 13),
or any of the Ketchup recipes (p. 16-17). 

     B.   So, go to proportions and see which matches best. 

      Chili Sauce       Spaghetti           Ketchups
          ?          Sauce     Regular  Western   Blender
tomatoes   16 C      30lb=45 C 24lb=36C  36C        36C
onions      1 C      1 C       3C        --       (2 lb = 6C)
red pepper 1.5 C     --        --        5chili   (1 lb = 3C)
grn pepper 1.5 C     1 C       --        --       (1 lb = 3C)
mushrooms  1 lb=6 C            --        --        --

TOTAL VEG:
          4 C       8 C       3 C       0 C       12 C
TOTAL TOMATO
          16 C      45 C      36 C      36 C      36 C
TOTAL ACID
          2 C       --        3 C       2.6 C           9 C

     C.   Spaghetti sauce: the proportions do look the closest.
          Half of each quantity is 4 C vegetables to 22.5 C
          tomatoes. However, looking at the directions, it
          specifically states: "Caution-do not increase the
          proportion of vegetables."  So, for an exact match, the
          amount of tomatoes in the chili sauce recipe would have
          to be increased to 22.5 C.  You might say "Yes, but the
          chili sauce has vinegar added." That is true, but there
          is no way of knowing if the added vinegar is enough to
          compensate for the fewer tomatoes.  (Both are acid.) 
          If you adapt to the spaghetti sauce recipe, the vinegar
          becomes optional.

          Next, notice that the tomatoes in the spaghetti sauce
          are sieved to remove the seeds and thick pulp.  This
          would have to be done for the chili sauce too.The skins
          have been removed in both recipes.  Also, notice that
          the spaghetti sauce recipe only has directions for
          pressure processing.  Many consumers do not have or do
          not want to use a pressure canner for their tomato
          products.  The other vegetables remain, so the sauce is
          chunky.

     D.   So, if the spaghetti sauce recipe were used the
          recommendations would be:
     
          a. increase the tomatoes to 22.5 C
          b. sieve to remove the seeds of the tomatoes. 
          c. process in a pressure canner, 10 psig for 20/25 min.
          d. the vinegar is optional, use it for flavor
     
          All the chili sauce spices would remain the same, so
          the flavor should be quite similar to the original.

     E.   Now, look at the proportions of the ketchup recipes
          compared to the chili sauce in question.
 
     chili     1 C veg.  :    4 C tomato     :    0.5 C acid
     Regular   1 C veg.  :    12 C tomato    :    1 C acid  
     Western   - C veg.  :    14 C tomato    :    1 C acid
     Blender   1 C veg.  :    3 C tomato     :    0.75 C acid

          Of the ketchups, we can eliminate the Western, because
          it has no added vegetables at all.  It is essentially
          spicy tomato sauce.  The regular ketchup has a much
          higher proportion of tomato to vegetable, and more acid
          as well.  This is what happens when the solids are
          removed (sieved out). 

     F.   What can be done with the blender ketchup recipe?  The
          amount of vinegar would have to be increased from 2 C
          to 3 C.  There are more tomatoes than needed, but that
          only increases the safety margin.  So, they do not have
          to be changed.  The spices and cooking procedure could
          be left the same, with the exception of blending the
          tomatoes and vegetables together.  This would insure
          that all the pieces are small enough to coincide with
          the USDA recipe.  It becomes a smooth rather than
          chunky product but all the original solids are still
          present. And finally, the product would have to be
          processed.

     G.   The recommended changes in the recipe would be:

          a. specify 5% acidity vinegar
          b. increase the vinegar from 2 C to 3 C
          c. blend the tomatoes and vegetables together before   
             cooking
          d. process the product for 15 min in boiling water
     
     OR   e. use as is, do not seal, refrigerate or freeze the
             product


V.   Shirley's Sweet-Sour Sauce

     A.   Begin with the procedures.  The tomato skins are
          removed, the rest of the tomato is blended, the onions
          and peppers are chopped, added to the tomatoes, and the
          mixture is simmered until thick.  It is not sieved.  Of
          the USDA tomato recipes used in the previous section,
          the Blender ketchup is again the most similar in
          procedures. 

     B.   Look at the proportions.

     sweet-sour  2.6 C veg :    10 C tom  :    2 C acid

     or to reduce it to lowest common denominator (divide all by
     2.6):

     sweet-sour  1 C veg   :    4  C tom  :    0.75 C acid
     Blender     1 C veg   :    3  C tom  :    0.75 C acid

          So, this is an almost perfect match.  The sweet-sour
          sauce has more tomatoes than necessary for minimum
          safety, the acid and vegetable are balanced correctly.
          The long boiling times match, the final processing
          times match.

     C.   What recommendations are necessary?

          The only thing that could be said would be "Be sure the
          vegetables are chopped finely, to approximate the
          blending used in the Blender ketchup." Most people
          wouldn't mind using a blender to chop the vegetables,
          so it is a minor change.

Remember, if there is no similar USDA recipe, the only
recommendation can be to freeze or refrigerate the product. 


Prepared by Mary A. Keith, Foods and Nutrition, September, 1991
Revised by M. Susan Brewer, Foods and Nutrition, June,
1992EHE-705 Supplement

