Canning Tomatoes

Our tomato crop is coming in and we're eating them almost as fast as they come in.  One problem we're experiencing, though, is that the crop isn't as pretty as in previous years.  The stink bugs and worms are giving the tomatoes (and the people who eat them) fits.  I feed many to the chickens each day as I harvest because of holes from bugs and birds.  The ones that I do take in show damage from bugs.

Would you look at this doggone worm eating my tomato!

So when we get a handful or so that we haven't eaten, we've started to can a few.  Here's how we do it.  We use Tattler brand lids to can with and they come with rubber gaskets and can be used and re-used many times.  You can check out their website here: Tattler Lids  The first thing you want to do is sterilize the lids and gaskets by scalding them.  We watch the temperature to ensure that you get the water temperature to around 150 degrees Fahrenheit to kill any bacteria that might be lurking around.


Scalding the jar lids and gaskets

We also sterilize our jars.  We use our jars again and again and prior to canning, we want to make sure they are squeaky clean.

Sterilizing the jars

We have a container that has a variety of tomatoes that need to be canned before we lose them, so let's get busy.


Tomatoes from the Garden

We drop them into boiling water for about a minute.  You'll notice a couple of the tomatoes have
'green shoulders.'  Those are ripe Black Krim variety tomatoes.  They are ripe - their shoulders remain green though.

Putting the 'maters in boiling water

After they've been in the boiling water for about a minute, use a slotted spoon to remove them and immediately dunk them in some ice water so that the cooking process comes to a halt.



Chillin' Out

You will notice in the photo above, the skin of the blanched tomatoes looks sort of like yours looks when you've been at the beach too long.  When you put one on the cutting board, you simply pull and the skin all comes off.  For some, you may have to use a knife to get the process started.  Just remove all the skin and you'll be left with a skinless tomato.

Pulling the skin off

Now comes the messy part.  Take a sharp knife and core the tomato, removing the hard part in the middle of the tomato where the stem was.  Try not to lose too much tomato juice, but some of this is just unavoidable.

Coring the tomatoes

Next we quarter the tomatoes and add to our sterilized jars.  It is important to have a dishrag around for this part of the job.

Cutting up the 'maters and putting them in jars.

Leave a 1/2 or so of head space in each jar.  The green shoulders of the Black Krim tomatoes almost make these look like we've added some peppers and made our own Rotel Tomatoes - which doesn't sound like a bad idea (note to self).

Jarring them up

Finally, before putting the lids and rings on, we add a 1/2 teaspoon salt to each jar.  Yep, that's the old Betty Crocker spiral cookbook that Tricia is using to make sure everything is up to Betty's specifications.


Adding Salt

Now there's nothing to it but to do it.  Put your lids, gaskets and rings on and put the tomatoes in boiling water and allow them to boil for 45 minutes.

A watched pot never boils

When your timer goes off, remove the jars of tomatoes using your canning tongs and place them on a cooling rack.  When thoroughly cool - 12 hours or so, put the jars up in your pantry where they'll wait until you decide to cook that next spaghetti or other dish using tomatoes. 

The Storehouse