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My wife was recently canning tomatoes, and her aunt asked if she was on her period because supposedly that will ruin the batch. Her grandmother is the one that taught her aunt, but neither of us had heard anything like that.

A cursory search turned up tons of anecdotal evidence, but it's entirely possible (likely?) that it's just people trolling. For example:

Some outlandish reader-suggested myths:

“Growing up Italian, a yearly chore would be helping with canning tomato sauce.. in September. The only way to get out of it.. was to be on your period. If you were on your period, you would be excused as they believed that you would ‘SPOIL’ the sauce.”

“If you were on your period and you touched a plant, you would cause the leaf to turn brown. So no touching any plants during your period.”

— Angela Fabiano

Period myths: Gynecologist separates science from superstition

In any case, we didn't find any kind of scientific evidence one way or the other.

Does canning (tomatoes) while on your period ruin or in some other way affect the canning process?

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Wayne Werner
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    Can you cite a notable claim? – gerrit Jan 31 '18 at 15:48
  • @gerrit a quick Google search turns up plenty of message boards with people echoing the claim. The myth was published https://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2012/12/10/period_myths_gynecologist_separates_science_from_superstition.html but without explanation on whether or not it was valid. – Wayne Werner Jan 31 '18 at 16:08
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    *Why* would it cause the leaves to brown, or the tomatoes to go bad? – BruceWayne Jan 31 '18 at 23:59
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    A [2013 survey](http://www.jkmc.com.np/issue/5/122-128.pdf) of Indian secondary school girls shows this is notable - 56% weren't allowed to cook during menstruation. – Oddthinking Feb 01 '18 at 03:19
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    I think the difficulty in answering this is going to be [it is easy to find people asserting it is an untrue myth](http://msmagazine.com/blog/2015/05/28/the-5-biggest-myths-about-menstruation/), but where can we find *evidence*? – Oddthinking Feb 01 '18 at 03:21
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    @Oddthinking too silly and inconsequential to debunk? – Andrew Grimm Feb 01 '18 at 03:29
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    @AndrewGrimm: No, I don't think so. Silly, perhaps, but consequential! – Oddthinking Feb 01 '18 at 04:58
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    Someone supporting the claim needs to provide a plausible mechanism for this. There are many superstitions around the world (especially India) relating to menstruation, but most of them would be laughable (if they weren't being employed to keep women "in their place"). – Daniel R Hicks Feb 01 '18 at 13:32
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    "Does canning (tomatoes) while on your period ruin or in some other way affect the canning process?" -- Only if you are *absolutely terrible* about personal hygiene... but then, it wouldn't matter much whether you're menstruating (or even a women) or not. So... my guess would be this myth is a) mysogynistic / religiously motivated, and / or b) some remnant from a time when "sterility" wasn't a thing (?). – DevSolar Feb 01 '18 at 15:53
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    @DanielRHicks worth noting - in some societies that are sufficiently sexist in other ways, things like this can actually take the pressure off a bit, as they generally mean that the poor women at least get a break for one week a month... and those around them have a chance to learn to appreciate what they do. Admittedly, it does add extra inertia to the sexism that is there once the society starts trying to pull out of it. – Ben Barden Feb 01 '18 at 17:34
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    Oh please, this is ridiculous! When I menstruate, I do not cause the environment around me to change. Animals, like dogs and bears, are more interested in how I smell, but other than that, this is a relic from the western world middle ages, and also in the past and present in other societies. In modern orthodox Judaism, and maybe in some other cultures, women who are menstruating are considered ritually unclean, but we don't make tomatoes spoil or milk go sour. – Ellie Kesselman Feb 01 '18 at 19:02
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    @EllieKesselman that was exactly the thought *I* had - but we couldn't find any studies that actually addressed it. I mean, different levels of hormones and things change, but it really didn't sense. – Wayne Werner Feb 02 '18 at 01:07
  • @AndrewGrimm Yes, you are correct on both points. – Ellie Kesselman Feb 02 '18 at 02:31
  • @WayneWerner did you notice your reference (thestar.com) lists it under "other myths"? – hdhondt May 08 '19 at 03:52

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