A wonderfully flavored canned roasted tomato sauce that is safe to preserve in a boiling-water canner to be shelf stable. Having jars of this sauce in your pantry makes amazingly easy weeknight dinners that also makes any day remind you of summer!

It is critical when home canning tomatoes, whether they are whole, crushed or juiced to acidify them during the canning process. Adding the recommended amount of lemon juice (or citric acid) lowers the pH of all tested varieties enough to allow for safe boiling water bath canning.

Four tablespoons of 5% -acidity vinegar per quart may be used instead of lemon juice or citric acid. However, vinegar may cause undesirable flavor changes. Acid is added to tomato products even if the tomatoes are pressure canned.

But it definitely adds a nice tang. Lemons are a flavor enhancer just like salt but without all the sodium. A fresh squeeze brings out the acidity of the tomatoes and enhances the flavor of the noodles, making the entire dish more savory.

But say the tomato’s acidity is muted, its flavor a tad too close to cloying. A shot of red wine vinegar might do the trick here, but that adds its own flavor; a small splash of humble lemon can brighten the sauce exponentially without stealing the spotlight.

The simple answer is yes, you may use lemon (or lime juice) in place of vinegar in home canning recipes, as lemon and lime juice are slightly more acidic than vinegar. Some people prefer the tastes of lemon or lime juice over vinegar, as they feel it has a milder flavor.

Commercially available cleaning solutions break down dirt and clean surfaces because of their pH. They’re not strong enough to burn your skin, of course, but they’re sufficient to clean surfaces in your home. Distilled white vinegar has a pH of about 2.4 and a strength of about 5%. Lemon juice has around the same pH.

The most significant difference between lemon juice and vinegar is the type of acid. Lemon juice is on average five to six percent citric acid. Vinegar, on the other hand, is comprised of acetic acid. In terms of PH, vinegar is slightly more acidic than lemon juice.

Lemons contain two acids- citric acid which is a weak acid and ascorbic acid which is generally known by the name vitamin C. Vinegar is acetic acid which itself is a member of weak acids family. Lemon juice is stronger in comparison to an acidic measure of vinegar, it acts as a better cleaning agent than vinegar.

It can neutralize the smell of vinegar. Try mixing in lemon juice—it’ll help tone down the smell a little bit, and still give you all the cleaning power you need. Plus, that lemon-vinegar mixture can come in particularly handy for certain cleaning tasks, but we’ll get to that in a sec.

It aids digestion Some people drink lemon water as a daily morning laxative to help prevent constipation. Drinking warm or hot lemon water when you wake up may help get your digestive system moving. Ayurvedic medicine says the sour lemon taste helps stimulate your “agni.”

How much lemon water should you drink? Stephens recommends using the juice from two to three lemons (about four to six tablespoons) throughout the day, and drinking one or two glasses of lemon water with meals, and one glass in between meals.