Fishman speaks with BDN for article about canning tomatoes
Lisa Fishman, regional supervisor and nutrition education professional with University of Maine Cooperative Extension, was quoted in the Bangor Daily News article “Canning tomatoes like your grandmother did isn’t a good idea.” Tomatoes today are less acidic than tomatoes 50 or 60 years ago, so older canning recipes may no longer yield food that is safe to eat, according to the article. “We hybridize our seed supplies so that we can grow less acidic tomatoes and seedless cucumbers … We don’t necessarily know how acidic a tomato is anymore,” said Fishman. This means tomatoes cannot be water bath canned as a sauce, whole, diced or in any other way unless acid is added, the article states. Fishman recommends bottled lemon juice, which is held to certain acidity standards. “Food preservation is a science,” she said.