You Say Tomato, I say Tomahto

Our garden is finally really starting to crank things out. It has been rainy followed by a very dry/hot season - not good for most of my veggies. But, my tomato plants have flourished!

We have 8 tomato plants this year - 6 Marzano (Roma  type for tomato sauce/canning), 1 Beefmaster (Hamburgers, salsa, etc), 1 cherry tomato (sweet eating). The Marzano have grown WAY beyond my expectations! They have topped out at just shy of 9 feet tall!!So, needless to say, I have a LOT of tomatoes to can & for my family to eat. 

9 foot tall Tomato Plant!

For anyone who has ever wanted to can - it can be intimidating, but trust me it isn't that hard. To actually preserve things you need to deep freeze them or can them. There are two main ways to can veggies - water bath or pressure canned. Tomatoes (and other non acidic items like veggies) need to be pressure canned so they don't spoil. Here is how you do it:

Our first real crop of the season weighted in at 20 pounds (We are processing 15 pounds worth).

1. Wash Tomatoes

2. Cut tomatoes into quarters

3. Put in Tomato Press (I used the Wiliam Sonoma Tomato Press I got for Christmas - $38). Turn the wheel and the the press does the work. The pulp & juice comes out one spot & the peels & seeds come out another. You dump the peels & seeds back through the machine a couple times to make sure you get all the good pulp!

NOTE: You do not need a tomato press, it just makes the job easier. If you don't have a press, here is how you do it: cut an "X" in the bottom of tomato, drop in boiling water for 1 minute, put in ice water for 2 minutes. The skin will easily come off. Cut & scoop out seeds. Boil in large stock put, using a fork or masher to break it up occasionally. Follow the rest of the instructions below. 

4. Put the tomato juice/pulp in large pot & simmer until it is reduced by 1/3 (for thin sauce) or 1/2 (for thick sauce)

5. Sterilize your canning jars, lids & lid rings either on the quick rinse cycle of your dishwasher or by putting them in boiling water for a minute.

6. Fill your sterilized jars with tomato sauce & 1 TAB lemon juice (to preserve flavor & keep from spoiling) for each Pint size (2 cups/16oz) jar. Stir with spoon. Leave 1/2"-1" room at the top.

7. Wipe off top of jar (if not the jars will be ridiculously hard to open!!

8. Put on sterilized lid & ring; tighten.

9. In pressure cooker put: rack in bottom, 3 Quarts (12 cups) boiling water, and 2 TAB white vinegar (to keep jars looking fresh). Place jars inside pressure cooker. Close lid.



10. Turn heat to high and cook until pressure indicator reads 11 pounds of pressure. Adjust heat to maintain 11 pounds of pressure.

11. Cook for 15 minutes. Turn off & move pan off of heat. Allow to thoroughly cool; don't rush it or the jars may break. Once it is cool, open the pan & put jars on towel to finish cooling.

TADA! You now have delicious, fresh tomato sauce ready to use whenever. There is no BPA leaching into your tomatoes from the cans you buy at the grocery store. You are using tomatoes in their season when they are full of nutrients! And for me, this is the first of MANY times canning this season. For my $3 pack of seeds I am going to easily yield over 100 pounds of tomatoes!





Let me know if you try it! Happy Canning! Beth