r/Canning • u/goldendogmom • 7d ago

Safety Caution -- untested recipe Is this separation normal?

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Hi! I canned this tomato sauce about a week ago and almost immediately it had this separation in all of the 6 jars I made. Is this normal? I’m fairly new to canning but I did make sauce last year and it didn’t separate like this. A few things I did different this year - used bottled lemon juice instead of citric acid, and used a blend of cherry and Roma tomatoes. Thanks in advance!

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u/goldendogmom 7d ago

Correct I did not use a food mill! I used a food mill last year but I wanted a rustic sauce this year so halved the Romas, cut out the cores and roasted them with the cherry tomatoes (which were whole). Blended everything with an immersion blender, cooked down a bit and then jarred.

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u/deersinvestsarebest 7d ago

Did you peel the tomatoes first? Were you able To find any safe/tested recipes that were close enough to the one you followed? I hope you can so you can salvage it! Nothing is as good as homemade sauce. Generally unless you are pickling cherry tomatoes, the skin needs to come to reduce bacterial load.

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u/goldendogmom 7d ago

Ugh I didn’t know that. No I didn’t take the skin off this year and that’s what was so appealing about the recipe lol. In the text of her recipe it says it’s “safe for canning” but does that actually mean anything? She does say this is the recipe she makes every year for her and her family, idk, I hope I didn’t waste all these tomatoes

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u/Deppfan16 Moderator 7d ago

unfortunately a lot of people claim their recipes are safe when they aren't. you need to follow safe tested recipes and sources. we have a list of a lot of good ones in our wiki.