# Mrs Wages Salsa, Anyone add onions or garlic cloves?



## DENALI (Mar 25, 2008)

I am going to can just one batch of mrs wages salsa mix to try it. Has anyone added onions and/or garlic cloves to it? Would this be a problem? Thanks


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## RLStewart (Sep 10, 2006)

Well I always do and haven't had a problem.


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## judylou (Jun 19, 2009)

Yes there is a problem. You are adding additional low acid ingredients to a mix that is already borderline for pH safety and BWB processing. Since both onions and garlic are low acid foods adding them will change the pH of the salsa, making it even more low acid and potentially unsafe for shelf storage. 

How much change is unknown but since the citric acid in the Mrs. Wages mix is proportional to the ingredients it already contains it clearly wouldn't be enough. For safety you would have to 
1) add additional acid in the form of bottled lemon or lime juice, citric acid, or vinegar and there is no way to know how much acid you would have to add. It would depend on how much onions and garlic you added.

2)you will have to pressure can the salsa instead of using a BWB. Pressure canning time is also just a guess but it would need to be at least as long as the BWB time called for or

3) freeze the salsa, not can it.

Freezing the salsa is clearly the safest option.


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