Canning Tomatoes

I didn't have enough room in the raised beds this year to plant tomatoes. I did plant a few cherry tomatoes in the hydroponics. So when I wanted to try canning tomatoes, I had to buy them at the local farmer's market.

I bought 9-1/2 pounds of tomatoes for $12. I'm not sure how this compares to the store price. I also bought 3 pounds of cherry tomatoes for dehydrating (post to follow).

After chopping them roughly into quarters, I cooked them for about 20 minutes. Then I used the tomato press to separate the skins and the seeds from the juice. I put the juice back in the pot and simmered it until it had reduced by half.

I filled my clean warm jars with the warm tomato sauce. The Blue Book recommended adding a little citric acid to each jar. This amount only filled 3 pint jars. Then I processed them in a hot water bath for 35 minutes.

One pint of tomato sauce cost $4.

This is the rule book for canning.

When you do any canning, you have to follow the recipe carefully.

I bought four bags of tomatoes at $3 a bag, each weighed over two pounds.

I chopped them roughly and removed the core.

I cooked the tomatoes without any added water for about 20 minutes.

This is an amazing contraption.

I ladled the stewed tomatoes into the top, and the sauce comes out one side.

The seeds and the skins come out the other side.

The sauce is simmered until reduced by half.

I used the end of a wooden spoon to measure the depth of the sauce.

When it was about half it was ready.

I filled the jars with about one inch space left at the top.

I ended up with three pint jars of sauce.

I labeled them and put them on the shelf.