Guest Post from Bakergirl Creations: Canned Tomatoes
Fall in September has been stunning. Gardens are still producing. But in a few weeks the weather will turn, it will be raining, a lot cooler and the days a lot shorter. One of things I love about having a garden is that you can take the bounty of today and “put it up” for tomorrow.
The last few years I have canned with some good friends every September. We did it again this past month. It was the usual garlic dill pickles, spicy pickled beans, and garlic jelly. With the bounty of our tomatoes, and the generosity of a good friend I had over 50 lbs to do something with. I made our spicy tomato salsa again, yum and then just some simple canned tomatoes to be added to stews, soups and sauces. I love how they look in my pantry, all lined up waiting to be used!
© 2009 Bakergirl Creations
I know you can buy canned tomatoes for pennies really from the store, but there is a huge sense of satisfaction from picking from your own garden to pulling them off your shelf in the cold months of January and February and know where they came from and what’s in them.
There are several ways you can can tomatoes: raw packed with no liquid, crushed tomatoes, herb seasoned, packed in water and so on. This option is just raw packed with no liquid. I think it is the easiest and as you can see from the picture, there is lots of liquid in the tomatoes already, no need to literally water it down.
© 2009 Bakergirl Creations
Ingredients:
Tomatoes, any variety
1 lb tomatoes usually results in about 500 mL prepared, so plan according to your volume
Salt (optional)
Bottled lemon juice
*reference point 21lbs of tomatoes produces about seven 1L jars.
Materials
Canner
Rack
Canning Jars, ring and snap lids
Tongs (canning tongs preferably, but other tongs work ok, just use them carefully)
Dutch oven pot, full of boiling water to assist with peeling of tomatoes
1 large bag of ice
Directions:
- Prepare canner (large pot that will cover the jars with water by at least 2 inches). Fill with water, bring to a boil, be sure that there is a rack on the bottom of the pot as you don’t want your jars directly on the pot above the burner.
- Sterilize jars. You can do this by running them through the dishwasher, if they are already clean you can put them in an oven and let them sterilize at 250F for at least 10 minutes.
- Follow the directions on your snap lids to prepare them according
- Ensure your dutch oven of boiling water is fully boiling.
- In a clean sink , fill with cold water, and half of the ice – you will need to replace half way through.
- Wash and prep tomatoes: make a small ‘x’ in the bottom of the tomato with a pairing knife.
- In small batches, immerse prepared tomatoes in boiling water. Leave them there for about 6o seconds until skin starts to loosen or crack.
- Remove and plunge into ice bath in sink, slip skins off.
- Remove cores and any bruised parts – you can leave whole, half or quarter.
- If canning in I L jars add 2Tbsp bottled lemon juice to each hot sterile jar and if using salt, 1 tsp.
- Raw pack tomatoes into prepared jars to within a generous ½ inch of top of jar. You will need to press tomatoes into the jar, until the gaps are filled with the juice from the tomatoes.
- Remove air bubbles with a non metallic stick, such as wooden spoon. Adjust for headspace, you might need to add one or two more tomatoes.
- Wipe rim, centre lid on jar and screw the ring on, to fingertip tight.
- Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to boil and process for 85 minutes(for 500 mL and 1 L jars). Remove canner lid, wait 5 minutes then remove jars and cool.
- You will hear “pop” as the lids seal. You can test for done-ness by pushing down on the centre of the lid, if it goes up and down, you don’t have a safe seal.