— JULIE PERLMUTTER

When it comes to adding acidity, usually in the form of vinegar, uh, sometimes lemon juice, uh, it does vary. It varies a lot. And, you know, the, the guidelines, um, really are to use a recipe that's been tested and is known to be safe, okay, uh, uh, in the canning environment and is at, at room temperature, if that's what we're thinking about, right? Um, and, uh, you know, there are, there's some information on, on online, and lemme just, uh, you know, give you a, a, um, a website to go to. It's called the National Center for Home Food Preservation. And there's some great information there, uh, and some sample recipes, uh, many of them actually to choose from. Um, and, uh, but, but, uh, you're right, the amount of, uh, acidity that's added will vary based upon the ingredients. And, um, different ingredients have different, uh, pH levels. Um, and, and so the ratio of different ingredients can create a, a, you know, different pH levels in the, uh, entire container. Um, and so the vinegar amount or the acidity, um, uh, added acidity, you know, via lemon juice or vinegar, certainly does vary. Okay? Now, the other approach is for you to do your own testing. Um, and it just takes time. It takes a lot of, uh, note keeping as if you're conducting any other experiment, okay? I, and you can do it across different, uh, time, uh, benchmarks to see if your celsa has a shelf life of four weeks or six months or 12 months, you know, for example. Um, and, um, yeah. And then go from there. The, uh, the alternative is, um, to freeze the product. Okay? And if you're in doubt at all, then the safest way to handle the salsa, uh, is to freeze it. And, uh, same thing. Uh, you know, same rules apply as, uh, the lobster, uh, moments ago. And that is label it and date it and try to use it as soon as you can, you know, I'd say within say, uh, three months or so.

National Center for Home Food Preservation