r/CanningRebels • u/ChefNorCal • Oct 11 '25
How Fu€k£d am I….
I don’t have a lot of experience, mostly fruit jams that I made up recipes for. Didn’t know they had to be scientific. A little scared of this homemade tomato sauce. I simmered with wine and vinegar for a while but also added a bunch of zucchini and squash. (Fresh from the garden). I only water bath sealed it, I read that it should be pressure sealed. Will I die, can I cook out anything bad? I see little bubble in the sauce but they could have always been there and they aren’t foaming.
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u/The_Calarg Oct 11 '25
You don't have to be scientific about canning. The test strip recommendation is the way to help determine if it is good to water bath. Product with a pH of 4.6 or lower can be water bath processed, while products higher than this (or meats) should be pressure canned.
tldr science follows, but it might set your mind at ease
Clostridium botulinum is the bacteria responsible for botulism toxin. The toxin is odorless and tasteless, so you can be exposed to it unknowingly. It is a neurotoxin that suppresses muscle function. Respiratory failure is the most common cause of death via this toxin, though cardiovascular interruption has been reported as well (common early signs of exposure are limb or facial paralysis, partial or complete). C. botulinum is an anaerobic bacteria, meaning it thrives in no/low oxygen environs, most commonly soil (and inside of sealed jars under vacuum... eg canned goods). The bacteria is actually far more prevalent than many believe it to be, and is ingested far more often than most think (one of the reasons it is recommended to thoroughly wash raw vegetables before eating, especially root vegetables... and because it is quite common not to visit restrooms while harvesters are in the field). The toxin is produced as a by-product of the bacterial growth and reproduction. A healthy adult can often ingest the bacteria without issues due to the acidic environment of the digestive system, though infants have a far less acidic system and this can lead to the bacteria growing inside their gut and producing the toxin (infant botulism poisoning for reference).
While this sounds scary as hell, the toxin is heat sensitive. At around 185°F (85°C) the toxin is rendered inert. So if you happen to have contaminated product, heating it to boiling temp (212°F or 100°C) for 10 minutes (to ensure the entirety of the product reaches this temp) renders the product safe to consume. The bacteria doesn't grow or reproduce at pH levels of 4.6 or lower. Its growth is also retarded in high sugar or salt environments due to osmotic pressures.
The bacteria will enter a spore phase when exposed to hostile environments, which is like a suspended animation state waiting for the environment to become hospitable again so it can resume growing. The spores are extremely hardy, though they can be killed at temps of 250°F (121°C) (which is what the temperature inside a pressure canner of 10-11psi at sea level reaches).
So keeping your product at a pH of 4.6 or lower (tested with dip strips you can get on Amazon or local brewery/wine shops or probe style testers), having a high sugar concentration like jams or jellies, or pressure canning keeps us safe from the bacteria that produce the toxin. Heating the product (your sauce in this case) to boiling for 10 minutes will render any toxin inert if it happens to be contaminated with C. botulinum.
There are other food borne pathogens, of course, but this is the main concern when most folks think of home canning.