OK so I've already canned some jam. It really didn't count as they weren't my peaches and they weren't my blueberries. I had to buy them at the farmers market. But yesterday I canned my first tomatoes of the season. I had piles of Heinz on my counter and since I'd just picked piles more, they had to go. Last year Heinz was my favorite paste tomato. It was so delicious. This year they are just OK. Nothing special. The Amish Paste this year has them beat by a mile. At least to me. I had some neighbors over last night for dinner and their little girl kept eating the Heinz. I was saying they weren't the best and not quite ripe (I'd used all the ripe ones for sauce making). But she disagreed with me. I'll have to bring over some real tomatoes for her this coming week.
So at 9:30am I started washing tomatoes. Then I quartered them and tossed them in my huge stock pot. I only cooked them enough to soften them. To sweeten up the pot since the Heinz weren't so good this year, I put in some Amish Paste, Cherokee Purple, Purple Calibash, and some cherry tomatoes too. The cherries especially can sweeten up a sauce. I don't want to use too many since it would take forever to boil them down. They are very moist compared to a paste tomato.
Then I ran them through my Victorio strainer. The gadget is ancient and the screens tend to rust. I would really like a new one that doesn't leak all over and make me clean the rust off of it before I use it. I'm sure someone makes one with a screen with good stainless steel.
I had a nice photo of the sauce boiling down on the stove, but almost every photo I took of that area was blurry. That corner of the kitchen tends to be dark. I used two pots to start with. I could have fit it all into my 12 quart pot. I think I had about eight to nine quarts total, but they boil off and thicken faster if I use more surface area. I boiled until the sauce started to get thick. Sadly the jars weren't ready yet. I had the canning water boiling; the lids boiling; the sauce ready. But the dang dishwasher needed 15 more minutes to finish up. It is how I sterilize and heat up my jars.
But when they got out I started filling them up. You might notice some white powder in the bottom of the jars. That is citric acid that I use. A lot of people use lemon juice but I never have. So this time I tried it with one jar. I added it to the bottom of the jar. Then ladled in the hot sauce. With a sterile spoon I mixed it up and tasted it. Well it tasted like lemon juice to me so the rest were made as usual with citric acid. And it will be interesting when I get that jar randomly. I don't know which one it is. So something is going to taste a bit like lemon juice.
Then they were canned. They were put in at about 12:15 as you can see on my clock. 35 minutes later they were done. I always wondered how long it took me to do a batch. Now I know. If I time the dishwasher right it takes just over three hours.
It is a lot of time, though I'm not really working except for the washing and straining. But an hour's worth of real work for seven little jars. Sometimes I think I'm a crazy person. Sometimes it is better not to look at the numbers. I've got a lot more tomatoes to can yet this year.
It always takes a few batches until I can get into the grove of canning. The first few are always messy and unorganized. Well...they all are a little messy, but at least I become more efficient after a few times.
ReplyDeleteI just love garden fresh tomato sauce.I have never tried to make it though. I just can whole tomatoes and make salsa. However, I don't think I will have enough tomatoes to do either this year!
ReplyDeleteDo you know that you can actually cook things in a dishwasher? I have heard of people cooking a whole Salmon in one!
ReplyDeleteI love that you have 'Daphne's Dandelions' on them. Are they for gift giving? I'm sure they're really tasty for all the effort you put into them.
ReplyDeleteGrafixMuse, weirdly enough I think this batch of canning went as smoothy as any I've done have. Or any thing that takes a strainer to do. Jam is so much easier. Well jam that I don't want the seeds out of. When I do raspberry jam I always strain out the seeds. I don't mind a few, but lots of them bother me.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Pickles. I've never canned whole tomatoes. I might try some chopped tomatoes this year though. In tomato sauce probably, for when I want something chunky.
Mark, I've eaten salmon cooked in a dishwasher. One of my husbands cousins used to do it that way. It very good that way, but I've never done it.
RandomGardener, no they aren't for giving away. I just like to label them. I'd say 3/4 of the jars in the pantry are labeled like that. Though occasionally something does get given away when I don't expect it. I've brought applesauce, jam, and salsa to parties. But never tomato sauce.
Ok, so I definitely have to try Heinz next year. My two paste tomatoes this year are Amish and San Marzano.
ReplyDeleteTomato sauce is one thing I don't can, mainly because adding lemon juice just ruins the sweet flavor in my opinion. Does the citric acid as a sourness to the sauce as well?
All our our tomato sauce gets stored in our little chest freezer. I would love to be able to can it but I don't know if my sauce recipe would be acidic enough.
Thomas, I wouldn't plant many if you do grow it. I found that this year it was really bland. Amish Paste was a lot better. Last year it was the other way around. I'll need a third year I think to make up my mind if I toss out Heinz all together and just go with Amish Paste. I need a bad year though to make sure. We haven't had one in the last two years. Not that I'm asking for the summer of 2009 again, but you know at least a normal year to figure out which ones grow better here.
ReplyDeleteAnd I hear you on the taste of lemon juice. citric acid doesn't change the flavor really. It does make it harder on my stomach though. I neutralize it with a bit of baking soda when I open the jar. I might be freezing some sauce too this year. I might make my spaghetti sauce up which has meat. So I'll have to freeze. I find it a really easy meal when I have some frozen and ready.
I'm hoping to can tomatoes for the first time this year. i've made lots of jam so far and still much more to go. I also want to make some pickles, salsas, chutneys and marmalades. Yummmm!
ReplyDeleteTHanks for the great post!
The cans look great! Does the strainer take care of removing the peels?
ReplyDeleteSo, where do I place my order for some of that sauce? :-D
ReplyDeleteCanning is something that I'm starting to think about, and this post is helpful in exacerbating that. :)
That's super efficient for an hour's work. I'm not into canning, I roast my tomatoes remove the skins and toss them into quart size freezer bags.
ReplyDeleteI used lemon juice last year, and we don't like it at all. My tomato juice is sour, my sauce is sour. I don't really notice it in the diced/crushed tomatoes though. I'll try citric acid this year...IF I get enough tomatoes to even bother with.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, that all sounds so good. I want to do a few jars of pickles. I don't like the canned variety nearly as much as the fresh variety, so I won't make many.
ReplyDeleteVanessa, yes it removes the seeds and peels. It makes processing tomatoes very fast.
Ben, lol at $10/jar I don't think anyone would buy it. And of course it would be illegal for me to do that in Massachusetts. Here we are only allowed to sell canned things from a home kitchen if you don't have to add acid to it. So jams would be fine, but not pickles or tomato sauce. And I'd have to get my kitchen inspected. Canning is a lot of hot work, but fun too. I highly recommend a strainer if you do a lot of it. It can get seeds out of berries. It keeps you from peeling things. When I do applesauce in the fall, I just quarter the apples and cook them down. Then run them through the strainer. It saves a lot of time. So easy. And the peels make the sauce a pretty pink.
Mac, I've done that too, but now I've got too much stuff in my freezer to freeze everything.
Granny, Hey and there is always that new freezer you have.
How funny that you mentioned all the time it takes for so few jars. Belle has been canning around here too. She said exactly the same thing to me last night. But the jars are certainly stacking up!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness these look wonderful!! I am hoping that our tomatoes look that good when they start turning red!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful harvest. My tomatoes are a least a week or two from ripening. Your jars of sauce are a true picture of goodness.
ReplyDeleteHey, hey! I have an ancient Victorio too...really really ancient, but it still does the trick, so I can't bring myself to buy another one. :)
ReplyDeleteIt definitely takes a lot of time to can...but, it is well worth it! I can plain tomatoes and salsa. I would never be able to add lemon juice to anything tomato. "The Italian" would not like it for any of his cooking. I made season tomato puree one year and canned it and he didn't like to use that either.
ReplyDeleteThe color is beautiful. I was so hoping to make salsa this year, but the greenhouse got going to late and I won't have the tomatoes to do it. We are already cooling off, in the rainy season and starting to prepare for snow that won't be far off.
ReplyDeleteYour sauce looks wonderful! I love how it looks canned--so much prettier than what I do which is freeze bags of it.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful work Daphne. I like to pressure can my tomato sauce so I can avoid adding the extra acid to it. I don't mind the chunk tomatoes with the lemon juice added but the sauce just tastes off with it.
ReplyDeleteI just love canning season! Your tomato sauce looks delish! I tend to pressure can mine like kitsapFG so that I don't have to worry about using the extra acid. But the tip about the citric acid instead of lemon juice might come in handy for some of my family that tends to waterbath can, thanks!
ReplyDeleteJody, I think it is really bad to think about the time put in. Better to look at the jars that are done.
ReplyDeleteAlicia, tahnks
Karen, thanks
Hanni, I know how you feel. Supposedly the new version of the Victorio doesn't have the flaws of the older versions, but I haven't been able to bring myself to buy a new one.
Robin, I keep thinking about a pressure canner. It would solve the issue of what to add. Then it could be adding nothing.
Gayle, it must be hard gardening in Alaska. Though very strange since you have such a long day near the solstice.
Sarah, thanks
Laura, I keep thinking of buying a pressure canner. I would love it for the tomatoes, but also for beans.
Canning jar lids, Some year I swear I'm going to get a pressure canner.
I can't wait until I'm overflowing with tomatoes so that I can start canning sauce too!
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