How To Can Tomatoes

homesteadhippy (63)in #homesteading • 5 years ago

Are you planting a garden with lots of tomato plants this year? Learn how to can tomatoes without a pressure canner!

When you are planting a garden, it will be very common to plant lots of tomatoes. As a matter of fact, from all the people I talk to, the average number of tomato plants in their garden was 12.

Each tomato plant can produce at least 25 pounds of tomatoes per season, and that can add up fast! When you have the red beauties flowing in your kitchen, you have a couple of options.

Eat them as fast as you can
Share them with your neighbors and family
Preserve them

Now, in my neighborhood, my neighbors go running as fast as they can when they see me coming with grocery bags of tomatoes. There’s just so many they want to take off my hands. And eating them for all 3 meals a day only lasts so long.

Then, it’s trying to gag them down. Not a pretty thought.

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For many of us, the answer will be to preserve your tomatoes. One of the easiest ways to preserve your tomatoes is by canning.

When you can your tomatoes, they are shelf stable and can sit on a pantry shelf, or be stored away without worry of loss of refrigeration or freezer. The best part? Open a jar, add to your recipe and you are good to go!

Most tomatoes are high in acid, and can be safely water bath canned. However, there are a few caveats to this. Soil health and tomato seed quality have changed over the years. This means that there can be a difference in the amount of acid each tomato plant and fruit can have.

To be on the safe side, when you water bath can your tomatoes, it’s recommended that you add a bit of acid to the jars. You can lemon juice to accomplish this task with ease. Lemon juice will not change the color of the tomatoes, nor will it change the flavor.

For someone learning how to can tomatoes for the first time, canning them whole is a great recipe. To can tomatoes whole requires less prep work, and the end results will give you a versatile product for later on. Think spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, and cooked stews. YUM!

For home canning tomatoes without a pressure canner, you will need:

clean quart jars, washed and sterilized in boiling water for 10 minutes. You can run them in the dishwasher and keep them on “hold” or “heat dry” until you are ready to use them. OR, you can hand wash, and place in the water bath canner full of water as you are heating that water as well.
New lids. This is crucial that you don't try and reuse canning lids (tattler are an exception) as that may cause them to not seal correctly. Soak the lids in simmering water to help loosen the sealing ring and get them ready to seal the jar.
Bands for the jars. You can reuse bands, as long as they aren't warped or rusted out. Warped bands can lead to seal failures.If that occurs, toss them or repurpose them.
Water bath canner and lid
Jar tongs
canning funnel
bottled lemon juice
measuring spoon
boiling water to cover tomatoes once in the jar
clean, damp dishtowel
pot holder
rubber spatula
clean towel to place hot jars on
timer
tomatoes-The best kind of tomatoes for canning are the larger ones, like roma, big boy, early girl and mortgage lifter.

To begin, wash your jars and sterilize like described above.

As they are sterilizing, begin preparing your tomatoes. This is the step that takes the longest, yet really is the easiest.

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil
Wash the tomatoes carefully, removing any dirt.
Cut the core from the tomatoes carefully and compost
Place the tomatoes in a sink, with the drain hole plugged
Once all the tomatoes are cored, pour boiling water over all them and allow to sit in the water for 10 minutes.
Drain the water (carefully, as it can still be hot) and replug the sink.
Run cold water and add ice cubes to the tomatoes.
Allow to sit in the iced water for about 5 minutes while you finish your beverage.
Drain the ice water, grasp a tomato and with the core opening facing toward you, run your thumbs across the skin and the tomato skins should slip right off for you. Save the skins in a bowl (I'll show you what to do with those later)
Place the now peeled tomatoes in a bowl and set aside until all tomatoes are peeled.

Now, we are ready for canning tomatoes water bath style.

Take a hot jar, and using a slotted spoon, fill with the hot tomatoes.
Push them through the funnel and they will “suck down” into the jar.
For larger tomatoes, you may have to cut them into ½ to get them to fit into the jar.
Fill the jar about ¾ full of tomatoes.
You can push them down a bit to get more into each jar, if desired. This may “crush” them, but it's perfectly fine.
Add ½ teaspoon lemon juice to each jar. Again, this is to ensure enough acid to water bath safely.
Cover with boiling water, leaving ½ inch headspace. This is the second thread from the top on your jar.
Slide your spatula around the jar and tomatoes to remove any air bubbles. Add more water if necessary to keep the headspace at ½ inch.
Carefully wipe the top of the jar with the damp towel to remove any food that may have spilled on to it.
Add the lid and screw the band on finger tight.
Repeat the steps until you have enough to fill your canner with jars, or you run out of tomatoes.
Processing time in the hot water is 40 minutes. Start the timer AFTER the water comes to a full, rolling boil.
Once the timer goes off, use the canning jar tongs to remove the hot jars and place on the towel in a non drafty area to cool.

You should starting hearing that beautiful “ping-ping-ping”, signaling that your jars are sealing.

After 24 hours, check the seals by pressing carefully down the middle of them. Those that pop back are not sealed, and should be stored in the fridge to use within 3 days. Those that stay sealed can now have the band removed, the jar washed and stored on your pantry shelf for up to 12 months.