Lemon juice? I never put lemon juice in canned tomatoes. In fact, I never even heard of it, and I’ve canned my share of tomatoes.
my mother in law is an Italian immigrant (came here legally 50 years ago, took the test became American citizens)....she cans tomatoes every year and never uses lemon juice...just confirmed it with my wife who gave an emphatic “NO” to the lemon juice question...
I agree. I’ve canned thousands of quarts of tomatoes. A pinch of salt in each jar, that’s all. Never heard of this lemon juice thing, and won’t be trying it.
Ditto
It did not used to matter.Then it was the orange or yellow tomatoes that were low in acid. But recent years even red tomatoes have been bred specifically to be low acid. Certainly lemon juice will work as well as vinegar.
It totally depends on the tomatoes. As has been posted, the safest thing besides using them in cooking quickly- would be to start over- new flats. It does sound like you have your hands full. Good luck with the little one coming.