It’s apparently the happening thing to test your body’s pH (which stands for potential Hydrogen), basically measuring the acidity or alkalinity of the body. All kinds of websites promote checking the pH of your water pH to make sure it’s not too acidic as they claim that overly acidic water has a detrimental effect on health. Others promote checking your saliva and urine pH as something that indicates overall health and how dietary choices affect the pH of the body. It’s not really the type of thing this blog focuses on.
Believe it or not, there are a couple of really good reasons to be able to accurately test pH—and they’ll be critical in a collapsed society as we strive to rebuild. This is going to be a three-part series, because I try to keep articles here short and to the point so that readers can learn something new each day without becoming overwhelmed. The next post will address measuring pH in gardening and medicine, and the last will focus on the pH test strips and meters and how to use them.
Canning
The first reason for being able to test for pH is in canning. Now those of you who can food regularly may be thinking, “Do I really need to be able to test the pH of my food if I follow the USDA guidelines in my canning, if I am sure to pressure can those low-acid foods?” After all, many of us have been water bath and pressure canning for years and never used a single test strip or meter to verify the acidity of our foods. And we are still alive to talk about it! And I’m definitely not going to assert that we need to start testing all our foods. Far from it. But there are a few instances where you may want to be able to test your foods.
The first and perhaps most familiar reason involves canning tomatoes and tomato products. As you may recall, some concerns have been raised with the safety of water bath canning tomatoes, which has traditionally been considered very safe because tomatoes are a high-acid food. Or they were. Over the last decade or so, new varieties of tomatoes have been developed that are not as acidic. Some have even crossed that magic line into the territory of a low-acid food that must be pressure-canned for safety. How are you going to know whether your home-grown tomatoes are safe to water-bath can? You have to test the pH.
You may also recall that when you make jams, or jellies, or salsas, you sometimes need to add lemon juice. And we are always cautioned that it must be commercially-bottled lemon juice, never fresh lemon juice. Why is this? Because of the range in acidity of fresh lemons. If the fresh lemon juice is not acidic enough, it won’t bring our food into the safe pH range for canning. And if our food is actually low-acid but we process it as if it is high-acid, we run the risk of botulism. Not good.
And finally, we may also find ourselves having to make our own vinegar for canning and/or disinfecting purposes. And to be effective as a disinfectant and safe for use in canning, vinegar also has to have the right pH. When we buy vinegar, we know the pH is right. When we make our own, we have to be able to test it for efficacy.
Stuff I didn't know. I thought tomatoes and lemon juice were just that. Didn't realize they had changed that much. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThere is evidence that, as grown in modern times, some heirloom tomatoes have pH’s above 4.6. https://www.healthycanning.com/heirloom-tomatoes-acidity/ This reputable canning website does not do any original research, they report on published research and tested recipes. I personally prefer to use citric acid when I can tomato sauce and whole tomatoes. It is very shelf stable if kept dry and doesn’t seem to change the flavor as much as vinegar. This posting reminded me that I need to purchase some more, just in case.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you, Jennifer. I have grown Amish paste tomatoes for years, and I didn't believe that the pH was high enough that I needed to add additional (citric) acid. So I bought pH test strips, and lo and behold, my tomatoes were NOT acid enough. No one ever got sick from my water bath tomatoes, but I now add citric acid to each jar to lower the pH.
ReplyDeleteYep, I feel much better knowing I can test the pH of my tomatoes and other foods.
DeleteI came face-to-face with this issue recently over elderberry juice. I've steam-juiced elderberries three times over the past couple of years and canned the juice as it came out of the juicer, without any additions.
ReplyDeleteThen a few weeks ago I was told that that wasn't safe because of the pH level of the juice. We HAVE been consuming the juice with (fortunately) no ill effects, but I'll be changing my method in the future. I like the idea (in the article you posted today, for being able to KNOW what the acidity actually is and I'll also be looking into that for the future.
I think many of us unknowingly can foods whose acid pH levels are higher than the safe levels. I also believe the cooperative extension offices allow for a margin of error and that's why we've been safe. But I also feel a lot better off knowing I can test my levels.
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