FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF AUG. 13, 2000:
How can I avoid food-safety problems with canned salsa?
Most salsa recipes are a mixture of low-acid vegetables—such as onions and peppers—with higher acid tomatoes. To safely process salsa in a water bath canner, you must provide the required amount of acidity by using a recipe that contains the right proportion of ingredients.
You’ll find tested recipes in the pamphlet, "Salsa Recipes for Canning," a Pacific Northwest regional extension bulletin available through University of Idaho Ag Publications.
Sandra McCurdy, UI extension food safety specialist, recommends this bulletin not only for its many different salsa recipes but because of its important safety reminders. For example, it reminds canners not to can overripe tomatoes or tomatoes from dead vines—whose acidity is lowered—and to make certain that their acid sources are adequate. The vinegars used in canning should be at least 5 percent acid and the lemon juice should be bottled, not frozen. In addition, salsas should not be thickened with cornstarch prior to canning, although they may be thickened just before use.
You can get a copy of "Salsa Recipes for Canning" by calling Connie King of UI Ag Publications at (208) 885-7982, faxing her at (208) 885-4648, sending e-mail to cking@uidaho.edu, clicking on web site http://info.ag.uidaho.edu, or sending a letter to Ag Publications Building, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-2240. Cost to Idaho residents is $1.55, including tax and shipping. A Spanish-language version is available for $1.03.
I’ve found a few-inch-long beetles with red upper bodies and black wings crawling around inside the blossoms of my perennial plants. Are they harmless or harmful?
If they’re slender with leathery—rather than hard—wing covers, what you’ve most likely found are soldier beetles. Their heads and necks are reddish brown and their squared-off wing covers tend toward black, with white fuzz.
What should you do about them? "Not much," says Ed Bechinski, University of Idaho extension integrated pest management. "Don’t bother them: give yourself a pat on the back for providing a good habitat for them."
Soldier beetles won’t damage your flowers, he says. They feed on pollen and aphids and their immature, subterranean larvae will eat root maggots.
Indeed, most garden insects are either beneficial or "totally innocuous," Bechinski says. "Only the tiny percentage are pests." Even if you do see damage, it’s not appropriate to condemn the nearest insect. "Check with your county extension educator to make sure the insect you see is the one that is causing the damage," he says. "It may be chasing the same culprit you are."
Our daughter, who has always been shy, is starting kindergarten this fall. How can we best prepare her for taking this big step? Should we talk to her about the things we expect she’ll find frightening? We suspect she’s worried she won’t make new friends right away.
As they say, don’t meet trouble halfway, advises Harriet Shaklee, University of Idaho extension family development specialist. Ask your daughter how she feels about the coming change, so she can share her fears if she wants to, but also discuss the fun that lies ahead: how nice it will be to learn to read, to play new games and to participate in new activities with new friends. Think of this as a chance to acknowledge her concerns but also to help her balance her anticipation with the positives ahead.
"Once she starts school, it will be important to give her a chance to talk to you about her anxieties," Shaklee says. "Sometimes the way to do that is to ask what’s the best thing that happened today and what’s the worst thing that happened. That will give you a window on what’s making her happy and also on what’s making her nervous, sad or apprehensive."
As she begins to form new friendships, you might also guide her in that process by talking with her about who her new friends are, what she likes best about them and what qualities make someone a good friend. "And if she’s gone to school a whole week and still hasn’t made a friend, reassure her that friendship takes patience. The advantage of kindergarten is that everybody is new," Shaklee says.
[READERS: Do you have a question about your home, yard or garden? Send it to HomeWise, University of Idaho Ag Communications, Moscow, ID 83844-2332 or e-mail it to homewise@uidaho.edu. Mention of proprietary products or firms does not constitute endorsement by the University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System or imply approval to the exclusion of other suitable products or firms.]