Help!!!! Canned tomato sauce taste too acidic?

[Cosmo spring garden]

So lat year I canned up many quart size jars of tomato sauce from garden fresh tomatoes. The tomatoes were a combination of heirloom and hybrid: slicers, cherries and paste. I washed the tomatoes, cored, cooked them and pureed with a stick blender.
I added the recommended 1/2 tsp of citric acid to each jar before water bath canning.

I have tried handful of jars and each jars content taste so tomatoey? Basically it tastes horrible without adding tons of sugar to the recipe.

I added a pinch of baking soda to the recipe last time i used the sauce because Google said it would neutralize the acid. It didn't help!

Has this happened to anyone else? I have over 50 jars of tomato sauce! Is it all compost material now?

Help! What should I do to make it edible?

The smell is fine and no mold or anything yucky growing on it. The jars have good seal on them.

 

[flowerbug]

oh dear! too tomatoey!?! that's impossible for me. i'm easily more on the acidic and bitter end of this scale than the other. tart tomatoes. yes, please. if you were closer i'd offer to buy them from you (after tasting first ).

what size jar? per quart or per pint?

my intuition is that perhaps you were used to more mild tomato sauces to begin with and this is quite a difference. my other intuition is that perhaps you could just cut them with store bought canned tomatoes (even at 2 to 1 you're still coming out ahead and not wasting a lot of hard work and great flavor).

for next season my suggestion would be to test the acidity before adding any additional acid. almost all the canning of tomatoes we've done over many years we do not add any acid to unless i have some idea that that particular batch might be iffy to begin with (a lot of inclusions or tomatoes that aren't tasting very good to me - since i like tart if a tomato isn't good to me it is probably not very acidic). if you are not seeking out low acid tomatoes you should be ok on canning them without additional acid, but until you get more experience doing an actual acid test would probably be good. i only have used lemon juice and not that much. i don't really want to use vinegar. the citric acid might have been stronger than you expected? i'm not sure.

and yes adding some sugar is a common thing to do, Mom does it, but only a little bit to a huge pot. i never do that myself.

 

[heirloomgal]

I would try to get the tomatoes to caramelise their sugars a little. Very low, slow cooking is about the best way to sweeten vegetables of any kind. I'm not sure how sour they are due to the citric acid, but you can sweeten the tomatoes naturally, up to a point.

 

[ducks4you]

So last year I canned up many quart size jars of tomato sauce from garden fresh tomatoes. The tomatoes were a combination of heirloom and hybrid: slicers, cherries and paste. I washed the tomatoes, cored, cooked them and pureed with a stick blender.
I added the recommended 1/2 tsp of citric acid to each jar before water bath canning.

I have tried handful of jars and each jars content taste so tomatoey? Basically it tastes horrible without adding tons of sugar to the recipe.

I added a pinch of baking soda to the recipe last time i used the sauce because Google said it would neutralize the acid. It didn't help!

Has this happened to anyone else? I have over 50 jars of tomato sauce! Is it all compost material now?

Help! What should I do to make it edible?

The smell is fine and no mold or anything yucky growing on it. The jars have good seal on them.

Stop adding citric acid to tomato canning!! Somebody in the government is CMA bc people mishandle food and they Don't want their advice coming back to bite them.
Would you Really eat something that combined tomatoes and lemons?!?!?
I have canned tomatoes for OVER 20 years and I have Never used citric acid or ANY additive, my tomatoes don't ever taste too acidic.
I have successfully canned tomatoes, zucchini and onion, and that makes a nice pint snack.
Every time I open a jar of tomatoes I give it a smell test. It reminds me that the work is worth it.
Btw, I don't puree it ahead of time, although I Do puree it when I am canning beans adn Using a quart of my tomatoes.
Last winter we ate tomatoes from a quart canned in 2015. No bad smells, just lovely tomato aroma.
THIS IS NEW:
Directions

1. Prepare boiling water canner. ...
2. Wash tomatoes. ...
3. Cut tomatoes into quarters to measure about 2 cups. ...
4. Add ½ tsp Ball® Citric Acid or 2 Tbsp bottled lemon juice to each hot quart jar. ...
5. Pack hot tomatoes into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of top of jar

 

[ducks4you]

People homemade canned for many decades before this nonsense started.
Notice how "Ball" wants you to buy THEIR product?!?
IF your produce has spoiled, the lid will buckle, OR you will discover that the lid has lost it's seal.
IF you like the taste of your tomatoes, use them.
If not, compost them.
Who recommended baking soda?
The ONLY thing you might add to your jars is a teaspoon of salt. I prefer not to, but many canners like the taste.

 

[R2elk]

Stop adding citric acid to tomato canning!! Somebody in the government is CMA bc people mishandle food and they Don't want their advice coming back to bite them.
Would you Really eat something that combined tomatoes and lemons?!?!?
I have canned tomatoes for OVER 20 years and I have Never used citric acid or ANY additive, my tomatoes don't ever taste too acidic.
I have successfully canned tomatoes, zucchini and onion, and that makes a nice pint snack.
Every time I open a jar of tomatoes I give it a smell test. It reminds me that the work is worth it.
Btw, I don't puree it ahead of time, although I Do puree it when I am canning beans adn Using a quart of my tomatoes.
Last winter we ate tomatoes from a quart canned in 2015. No bad smells, just lovely tomato aroma.
THIS IS NEW:
Directions

1. Prepare boiling water canner. ...
2. Wash tomatoes. ...
3. Cut tomatoes into quarters to measure about 2 cups. ...
4. Add ½ tsp Ball® Citric Acid or 2 Tbsp bottled lemon juice to each hot quart jar. ...
5. Pack hot tomatoes into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of top of jar

I have never added citric acid when canning tomatoes. I do add one teaspoon of salt to each quart of tomatoes before I seal them.

 

[HmooseK]

Just a suggestion. When you open a jar and start to heat it up, add a pat of butter and let it melt. Taste.

 

[baymule]

I’m 67 and have never added citric acid or lemon juice to canned tomato anything. Only salt.

Now you know don’t do that again. You puréed skins and seeds?

Problem; what to do with what you have worked so hard on….. What are you making with the sauce? Spaghetti would require spices, for soups you could add meat, vegetables and seasoning.

 

[flowerbug]

Stop adding citric acid to tomato canning!! Somebody in the government is CMA bc people mishandle food and they Don't want their advice coming back to bite them.
Would you Really eat something that combined tomatoes and lemons?!?!?
I have canned tomatoes for OVER 20 years and I have Never used citric acid or ANY additive, my tomatoes don't ever taste too acidic.
I have successfully canned tomatoes, zucchini and onion, and that makes a nice pint snack.
Every time I open a jar of tomatoes I give it a smell test. It reminds me that the work is worth it.
Btw, I don't puree it ahead of time, although I Do puree it when I am canning beans adn Using a quart of my tomatoes.
Last winter we ate tomatoes from a quart canned in 2015. No bad smells, just lovely tomato aroma.
THIS IS NEW:
Directions

1. Prepare boiling water canner. ...
2. Wash tomatoes. ...
3. Cut tomatoes into quarters to measure about 2 cups. ...
4. Add ½ tsp Ball® Citric Acid or 2 Tbsp bottled lemon juice to each hot quart jar. ...
5. Pack hot tomatoes into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of top of jar

unfortunately there are some varieties of tomatoes which are lower acid and to be on the safe side from botulism poisoning it is recommended to add some sort of acidifier to make them acidic enough to be BWB canned.

this isn't the goobermint CMA they're actually giving sound advice. if you do not know the tomatoes you are canning are acidic enough you can do a test to find out or you can add some sort of acidifier.

 

[heirloomgal]

unfortunately there are some varieties of tomatoes which are lower acid and to be on the safe side from botulism poisoning it is recommended to add some sort of acidifier to make them acidic enough to be BWB canned.

this isn't the goobermint CMA they're actually giving sound advice. if you do not know the tomatoes you are canning are acidic enough you can do a test to find out or you can add some sort of acidifier.

What's CMA?

The belief that some tomatoes are less acidic has actually been proven false. Some tomatoes only taste more acidic than others; the variation in what have been so called 'low acid' tomato varieties is that they actually have higher sugar levels in them. The pH is more or less the same in tomatoes no matter the taste or type. It's about 4.3 to 4.9 I think.