Minimum procedure for sterilizing mason jars for canning My wife and I are about to do some tomato canning tomorrow. We have a bunch of mason jars that we didn't have time to sterilize.  She thinks that just washing them in hot water is enough. After searching around all instructions require boiling.

What is the bare minimum necessary?
Washing them in hot water is most certainly not enough. Sterilization via boiling under pressure is guaranteed to kill every harmful pathogen, particularly Clostridium botulinum, the beastie responsible for botulism. The "hot" water from your tap is not enough to kill the spores. C botulinum spores must be heated to 250 F for at least three minutes to guarantee they are killed.

Please do not compromise here under any circumstance. Canning requires sterilization, not sanitization. Botulism can paralyze and kill you.