Posted on 08/18/2009 5:57:47 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Hillard Green has the right idea. The old adage "Waste not want not" applies for sure in these days of exorbitant food prices. And those of us who grow our own have always known the value of preserving nature's bounty for off-season use.
Since tomatoes are easy to grow and often plentiful, you may find yourself up to your ears in the ripe, scarlet fruit as frost approaches—and a few hints on the preservation of the harvest may be welcome. I've also taken the canning jar shortage into account in preparing this article, and have included some guides to the use of alternative containers (along with directions for a couple of preservation methods which require no jars at all).
Canned Tomatoes
Tomatoes are really a fruit and have always been canned accordingly—by the cold pack method, in a boiling water bath. Until recently, the high acid content of all garden tomatoes made this practice perfectly safe.
Now, however, low-acid varieties of the fruit have been developed, andifyou've heard nasty rumors about the possibility of botulism even in canned tomatoes, these new types are the culprits. If you're putting up such tomatoes, either raise their acidity by adding vinegar or process them in a pressure canner as you would any other low-acid food. The home economist at your county extension office can give you detailed instructions for handling of doubtful cases.
Better still, start with a good old reliable tart variety of tomato and proceed as follows: Prepare the jars for canning according to the manufacturer's instructions; or wash the containers in hot, soapy water, rinse them well, and boil or scald them (I simply dip mine in boiling water and set them aside).
Select only firm, ripe tomatoes, place them in a colander or wire basket, and dunk them into boiling water just long enough to loosen the skins (usually half a minute or so). Remove the fruit from the hot bath, let them drain, and pull off the skins with the aid of a knife (try not to injure the flesh). Then slice the tomatoes — I cut them into quarters — and pack as many chunks as possible into each jar, pressing them down with your fist or fingers. Leave about half an inch of clear space at the top of the container. Add 1 teaspoon of salt (or substitute sugar, if you like) per quart. You might want to experiment with various other seasonings: garlic salt, oregano, basil, etc.
Adjust the lids on the jars according to the maker's instructions and process the containers in a boiling water bath for 35 minutes (or for 10 minutes at 5 pounds pressure in a pressure canner). (Many authorities recommend that pint jars of tomatoes be processed in boiling water for 35 minutes, and quart jars for 45 minutes. For more specific details of canning methods, see a reliable guide such as the Kerr Home Canning Book or The Ball Blue Book.—Mother.) Remove the jars from the canning kettle and seal the lids, if necessary, as directed by the manufacturer.
Glass containers of tomato products should be kept in a cool, dark place and wrapped in paper, if need be, to exclude light.
Tomato Juice
Some folks prefer to can tomatoes and then make juice from the preserved fruit during the less frenzied days of winter. If you want to put up juice at harvest time, however, here's a good method:
Wash, scald and peel ripe tomatoes. Remove their cores and cut the fruit into eighths, simmer the sections to softness, and put the pulp through a fine sieve. Collect the juice andpour it into hot jars to within a quarter inch of their tops. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt per quart and process the containers for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for handling lids.
A possible alternative is suggested by Helen Nearing, who puts up tomato, rose hip and raspberry juices in 1- and 2-quart commercial orange juice bottles (the kind with the spongy plastic ring in the cap (also used to hold prune and cranberry beverages). Her procedure — described in a letter to Organic Gardening and Farming magazine — is to fill the hot, sterilized containers to the top with boiling juice, screw the covers on tight, let the contents cool, and store the bottles without processing them at all. (See"How to Beat the CanningJar Shortage (And Come Out Ahead!), below,for further details on using recycled jars.)
Sauces
Many delicious tomato mixtures such as chili, taco, or vegetarian spaghetti sauce may be canned if you have sufficient jars. (Some of these products may also be frozen.)
To put up a favorite sauce, just prepare the food as you would for immediate use—but cook it a little more briefly than usual to allow for the heat of processing. Pour the hot mixture into hot jars and process the containers for 45 minutes in a boiling water bath, or for 10 minutes at 5 pounds of pressure in a pressure canner.
Many sauce recipes call for not only tomatoes and spices but onions, celery, and peppers—all low-acid vegetables. Until recently, most cooks canned such combinations by the boiling water bath method and served them with confidence, knowing that the finely chopped or ground additional ingredients had been thoroughly penetrated by the acid tomato juice. These days, if you're not sure of your 'maters' acidity, processing in a pressure canner is the wisest course. If you plan to include any vegetables other than those I've mentioned, it's best to follow a good canning guide's recommendations on method and timing.
Sauces and other tomato specialties are often reduced to the desired thickness by "cooking down." If done over direct heat, this process requires constant watching and stirring to prevent the ingredients from sticking to the kettle. An easier method is to pour the juice or pulp into shallow pans, skillets, roasters, etc., place the containers in a 350° oven, and stir the liquid every 15 or 20 minutes until it reaches the consistency you want— which should take 1 to 3 hours.
The oven cooking-down method takes much of the bother out of recipes such as the following, which makes a spicy product that can be used as a catsup, steak sauce, flavoring for baked beans, etc.
Mary JeanColby's Chili Sauce
Enough ground ripe tomatoes to fill a large mixing bowl 1 or 2 medium-sized green peppers, ground 1 or more medium-sized onions, ground 1 cup vinegar 1 1/2 cups sugar, honey, or molasses 2 tablespoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon allspice 1/8 teaspoon cayenne (red) pepper 1/4 teaspoon cloves Salt to taste
Cook down all ingredients to the desired thickness (this recipe makes a sauce, remember, not a paste). Pour the product into clean, hot jars, process the containers 10 minutes in a boiling water bath, and seal them — if necessary — according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Soup
The following recipe produces a concentrate, which is diluted before serving to make — as Ruby says — "a creamy, flavor-filled soup."
RUBY HOOPS' REGAL TOMATO SOUP (Yield: 10-11 pints)
6 medium onions 1 bunch celery 8 quarts cut-up tomatoes 3/4 cup sugar (or honey) 1/4 cup salt 1 cup butter or margarine 1 cup flour
Chop the onions and celery and put them into a large kettle with just enough water to start a good boil and prevent scorching. Add the tomato pieces and cook the vegetables until they're tender. Then put them through a food mill to remove seeds and chunks, and return the pulp to the kettle along with the sugar and salt. Cream together the butter and flour, add the well-blended mixture to the boiling purée, stir thoroughly, and continue to simmer the combination until it thickens slightly (to about the consistency of thin gravy). Pour the product into hot jars and process them in a boiling water bath for 45 minutes, or in a pressure canner for 10 minutes at 5 pounds. At serving time, empty the concentrate into a saucepan, add 2 pinches of, soda per pint, warm the tomato mix slightly, and dilute it with an equal amount of milk or water. Then heat the soup to eating temperature.
Continues at link...
ping
Here is my favorite:
1. Go to kitchen and retrieve a clean, wet, dishcloth and a shaker of salt
2. Go out to garden
3. Pick one ripe tomato.
4. Wipe tomato with the wet dishcloth.
5. Insert tomato in mouth, bite lightly on the tomato skin, and while holding tomato skin in teeth pull back about one inch.
6. Shake salt on exposed tomato meat.
7. Eat tomato.
8. If one tomato is not enough then repeat steps 3 to 7.
It’s either that or my neighbors are stealin’ my tomatoes!...................
:oO
self-ping
Your tomatoes blooming and lacking fruit can be do to air temp. either too cool or to hot. Also, as another poster noted, to much nitrogen in your fert. can be a problem.
My tomatoes are hanging on and starting to ripen.
Looks like I’ll get something out of the garden.
On another note....
I’ve let some beans go to ripen for seed. How do I tell when they’re done ripening and when I should pick them? And do they need to cure before taking out the seed?
I’ve noticed that the apple orchards here in NYS are looking really nice.
That’s great because we had a couple really late freezes and frosts, after the trees bloomed, and people were worried about it.
It’ll be applesauce and apple crisp time before you know it.
Each individual kernel must be pollinated kernels that don’t receive pollen will not fill out. Also could be insufficient soil moisture or potassium deficiency.
Thank you. We’ll look into that.
Good info...thanks! :-)
The Mother Earth News and Fox Fire! I read them all back in the day and may still have them stashed away in some musty place. Also Prevention and Organic Gardening, Oh My Diana, we are really dating ourselves here. I dropped MEN when they got too radical for this lifelong conservative and I think they still owe me a refund now that I think about.
Now we get Cooks Illustrated, Fine Cooking, Garden Gate and Fine Gardening etc. We are going to the Farmers Market this morning to pickup some Cherokee Purple tomatoes and whatever strikes our fancy then to my Cardiologist for my 5 year checkup...
Florida Panhandle right where Claudette came ashore..............about a mile from my house.............
Thanks for the article. I’m new to canning this year, and can use all the ideas/help I can get.
Can anyone give me advice on converting recipes from water bath to pressure canner? Or perhaps recommend a recipe book with mostly recipes for this kind of canner? I understand you’re supposed to go strictly by recipes, but I’ve been having trouble finding some recipes for the pressure canner. Since the pressure canner is safer, and I already own one, I’d rather just use it. Are there some things that just shouldn’t be canned in a pressure canner? Thanks for any advice.
That happened to me back in the early 70s and I learned it was lack of pollination so now I walk through the patch 2 or 3 different times when the pollen in on the tassels and the silk first appears on the cob and I shake EVERY plant.
You should not be having a temp. problem then. Get some Miracle Grow - Bloom Booster. It might help out. It is a 15-30-15 (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium ) fert. it has the phosphorus and potassium you may need.
And my favorite...Apple Cider!
My mom gets this publication, and I always love to read the column the guy with the bowtie (Kimball?) writes.
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