Canning tomatoes.

[gator gar]

Just thought I would post a few pics of what I've been doing today. A visit to a good friends yesterday, yielded me two Wal-Mart bags full of tomatoes. So I decided to can them. I made a big pot of rice and what wouldn't fill the last jar up, I kept to pour over my rice. I love a bowl of rice and tomatoes, with some black pepper.

There were three different types of maters. Yellow Boy, celebrity and one other I can't recall. Anyway, they're done and I hope you enjoy the pics.

[Norm]

Good job!

Do you run them through a food mill?

[gator gar]

Good job!

Do you run them through a food mill?

Nope, I wash them good, core them, then put them in the blender, skins and all. After I do each batch in the blender, I pour it in the pot. It goes in, kind of a pale pink and cooks with foam on top. I cook it down til all the foam is gone. I run my jars thru the dishwasher and when done, I stick them in a 200 degree oven, on stanby.

When my tomatoes are cooked to my desire, I grab a jar out of the oven with a set of tongs. I fill the jar with the sauce, add a 1/2 tsp. of citric acid and put the lid on and set it aside. You can use 2 tbls of lemon juice instead of the citric acid, if you like.

I don't run them thru a water bath or a pressure canner. I just set them aside until they seal. The only way to do it this way, is to make sure you cook all the foam off, other wise you would want to pressure can it or put it in a water bath. They usually seal pretty quick.

When I do this, the sauce is still simmering and the jars are at 200 degrees, when I add the sauce to them. It all works out good and you don't have to peel tomatoes.

[thecfarm]

Mine are just blossoming. But I do have peppers.

[Norm]

Ours are just starting to blossom too. Thank you for the great write up on how you process them.

[jim king]

As we have food growing naturally year round there has never been the need to preserve food and there are no canning jars available and what there is has plastic caps which I don´t think would be safe.

I love canned food but just not possible.  We do have a freezer, do you think canned tomatoe sauce could be faked by freezing it or is the aging process in the jars the key to the taste ?

[Patty]

You certainly can freeze tomatoes. Cook it up into a sauce with all your spices as you like it and then freeze it in freezer baggies. Let the sauce cool before putting it in the baggie, and then I lay the baggies down flat on the freezer shelf or on a cookie sheet in the freezer. That will give you more space in the freezer, they will freeze more quickly, and they are easier to thaw. They look like tomato plates or boards when frozen this way. 

[LOGDOG]

Have any of you found an efficient way to separate the seeds out?

[Norm]

I sure haven't Logdog, best I've found is to cut them open and squeeze out what you can and then run through a fine sieve food mill. I wouldn't want to do a bushel full that way.

[Roxie]

Have any of you found an efficient way to separate the seeds out?

If you don't want to use a food mill, you can pour the tomato's through a mesh screen colander.  The colander is much quicker and neater than using cheese cloth. 

[jim king]

I have never understood why people who buy bread with sesame seeds on top don´t like tomatoe seeds ?