I'd like to can a bunch of my green beans, peppers, peas, and so on for use later in the year. But I don't want to pickle them, I just want them to be like a can of veggies you'd buy from the grocery store. Can this be done without a pressure canner? I have the water bath canning setup already and I'm hoping that's enough. From what I have read it seems like you need to use vinegar and/or lemon juice to add enough acid to kill bacteria (which confuses me because I thought that's what boiling the stuff was for). But If I add vinegar, isn't that gonna make the veggies taste different when they are reopened?
I have only canned tomato sauce and salsa in the past with the understanding that tomatoes already have enough acid in them, so there is no need to worry about adding any. Any info?