I’m sure just yet if I find it amusing, insulting, annoying, or all three. After reading a post about canning tomatoes, someone posted this in a group I belong to on LinkedIn:

Urgent! Jerri, This is NOT a safe and approved method to can tomatoes. Research in food safety shows that it is vital to add bottled lemon juice to each jar before processing to ensure the correct level of acidity for safe water bath canning. Add 1 Tablespoon per pint – 2 Tablespoons per quart. The processing time is for under 1,000 feet elevation. For altitudes 1,000 to 3,000 feet add 5 minutes processing time, for 3,001 to 6,000 feet add 10 minutes, for 6,001 to 8,000 feet add 15 minutes and from 8,001 to 10,000 feet add 20 minutes.

These are instructions from an earlier time before we understood that tomatoes vary greatly in their acidity. Variety, soil fertility, weather conditions and ripeness all factor into PH levels in tomatoes.
Please use only the most recently approved methods. They can be found at The National Center for Home Food Preservation.
[http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html|leo://plh/http%3A*3*3www%2Euga%2Eedu*3nchfp*3publications*3publications_usda%2Ehtml/sYEi?_t=tracking_disc ]

Here’s the thing. The instructions are from an earlier time, and they work just fine. Not an approved method? Not approved by who?

Why is it urgent? Are rural folk dropping dead because they ate canned-tomatoes without lemon juice? Geez, maybe we should start digging graves before winter gets here, what with low-acid tomatoes and swine flu and all.

I don’t put lemon juice or anything else besides salt in my tomatoes. But, readers be advised that the government-approved way is to add lemon juice. There, I said it. But I don’t do it. If I drop dead tomorrow, you’ll know why.