Canning tomatoes in mason jars.

[Gary350]

In the past people has asked how to can tomatoes in mason jars. I canned tomatoes yesterday and took some pics and kept track of my time. This is a process not a recipe so I assume the thread belongs her not in recipes.

I started off with several different types of tomatoes, Beef Steak, Big Beef, Beef Master, Jet Star, German Johnson. I wash the tomatoes and throw out any tomatoe that is more than 1/2 bad it is a waste of time to salvage a small piece of tomato.



Next I cut the tomatoes in pieces and cut off bad places and the core.



All the tomatoes go into two 3 gallon pots to cook until they boil.





After the tomatoes boil I skim off the skins and save the juice that drips off the skins as they drain. This is a much faster way to remove skins than dipping each tomatoe in hot water 1 at a time. Now the tomatoes are ready to put in jars. Up to this point I have 1 hr 5 minutes work in this project.



Now I put the tomatoes in mason jars. I fill the jars up to the bottom edge of the funnel. The canning book says to add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to each jar but I never do that. My wife is watching her salt because of high blood pressure and I like to season vegatable soup, chili, other soups, sauces and other things at the time they are made. If the salt is already in the tomatoes I can not get it out if a recipe calls for less salt.



Now I put on the lids. I never boil lids of jars. I rinse the dust off the jars and make sure the seal lip of the jar is not chipped. Screw on the rings and place all the jars in pots with about 1/2" of water above the top of the jars. Up to this point I have 1 hr 45 minutes work in this project.



Next I boil all the jars for 20 minutes. I don't use a pressure cooker on tomatoes. It takes 20 minutes for both the water bath and pressure cooker to boil. It takes 20 minutes for the pressure cooker to come up to pressure and the water bath is already finished by then. It takes another 10 minutes for the pressure cooker to cook 10 minutes. It saves me time not to use the pressure cooker plus I only have 1 large pressure cooker. I don't have to hang around for this I can do other things. I have 2 hrs 5 minutes work it this project. I have learned to do this faster over the year just from practice.



After the jars all cook for 20 minutes I turn off the heat and let them set. In about 5 hours they will be cool. Remove the jars from the pot, rinse, dry, label with date, store in pantry. I have 22 pints of tomatoes on this batch. Next time I will do all quarts.



I try not to keep tomatoes in the pantry longer than 5 years. Tomatoes in a freezer would have freezer burn after 1 year plus I would have to pay for electricity for that freezer too. Salt in the tomatoes is suppose to keep them from turning brown after 5 years. I have all the jars dated and I have nothing in the pantry older than 3 years most of the time. The tomatoes taste just as good as the day they were picked in the garden.

I can other things. I canned 65 pints of green beans last summer and still have 30 cans in the pantry so I won't can many beans this year. I have 6 jars of blackberry jam from last year and 10 quarts of apple pie filling from the year before. I still have 6 jars of taco sauce from several years ago I might can some taco sauce this year.

My canning book says, for high acid tomatoes process in boiling water bath or pressure cooker. Cook time for cold pack in hot water bath is, 45 minutes for quarts and 35 minutes for pints. Cook time for hot pack in hot water bath is 30 min for qt and 25 min for pt. When using a pressure cooker with 15 lbs of pressure times can be reduced by 10 minutes. When canning low acid tomatoes on vinegar or citric acid is needed if canned in a pressure cooker 15 lbs. for 45 minutes.

[Ozark Lady]

Great teaching photos and guide.

I noticed that you cook and then remove the skins, contrary to the usual advice of dipping whole tomatoes in boiling water, quick chilling, to remove the skins, and then cut them up for boiling. I assume that you have discovered this way to be more efficient. I am amazed at your time frame to do this. To me it always seems to take longer than that.

Please keep us posted on your canning. The how-to books are one thing, but seeing folks actually doing the canning should encourage many folks to try it.

[applestar]

This is a great tomato processing guide!

There was also a wonderful thread about canning recently, in which many canning experts weighed in... now where was it? .... Ah! here it is
http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... hp?t=27562

Here's a guideline for acidifying:

Acidify tomatoes.
To ensure safe acidity in whole, crushed, or juiced tomatoes, you must add bottled lemon juice or food grade citric acid to each jar before processing. For quarts, use 2 tablespoons lemon juice or 1⁄2 teaspoon citric acid per quart. For pints use 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice or 1⁄4 teaspoon citric acid. Food grade citric acid is available at some food stores or drug stores. Do not substitute ascorbic acid for citric acid. If the canned tomatoes are too tart for your taste, add a little sugar or sweetener before serving. Four tablespoons vinegar (5% acidity) per quart can be used instead of lemon juice or citric acid but may cause undesirable changes in flavor.

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/publications/pm638.pdf

As I mentioned in one of the posts in the linked thread, I used red wine vinegar last year with some of mine and they turned out yummy.

Examples of higher acid canning tomatoes are traditional varieties like Roma and San Marzano. I wonder if there's a list somewhere of other higher acid varieties

[Gary350]

Great teaching photos and guide.

I noticed that you cook and then remove the skins, contrary to the usual advice of dipping whole tomatoes in boiling water, quick chilling, to remove the skins, and then cut them up for boiling. I assume that you have discovered this way to be more efficient. I am amazed at your time frame to do this. To me it always seems to take longer than that.

Please keep us posted on your canning. The how-to books are one thing, but seeing folks actually doing the canning should encourage many folks to try it.

You are right it would take a lot longer if you follow the instructions in most canning books. I learned several short cuts that makes it much faster. I never dip tomatoes in boiling water anymore to remove the skins. I never boil the jars or lids. I don't waste time trying to salvage damage tomatoes. I get several pots going all at the same time I can reduce cooking time by 1/2 with 2 pot. I can reduce boil canning time by 2/3 if I use 3 pots. I save time by not using the pressure cooker. It is rare to loose a jar. Last time I lost a jar it had a piece of tomatoe under the seal. These tomatoes have plenty of acid so water bath works best. I don't use water bath on beans but my canning book says I can. It is too much work and the loss of my vegatables to loose any jars by not doing a good job. Tomatoes are the only vegs I do water bath on they have acid other vegs don't.

[gixxerific]

Nice Gary but you are still talking a foreign language to me to me. I got a pressure cooker for Christmas but still haven't used it. Basically because I have no real idea of how to do what safe. But I will figure it out and thank to this I am one step further.

As far as what you did when you drained all the juice out. I suppose you just took the meats of the fruit that was left for canning. What do you use this kind of stuff for? I'm wanting to make canned spaghetti sauce myself for the beginning wouldn't you save the sauce as well? But Than again you would probably have to cook up the toms with all spices and what not before canning something like that right?

Thanks

[Ozark Lady]

Gixx, he is canning whole tomatoes, or diced tomatoes.
To make sauce or paste he would need to cook it and condense it down alot. He can save the juice and can it up as tomato juice, or add vegetables and can it as a veg soup base and then pressure can it, lots of uses for the left over juice too.

Many folks use a crock pot for making the tomatoes into a sauce.
If you add onions, and peppers to the tomatoes, then you no longer have an acid food and must pressure can it.

What would he use the whole tomatoes for? Spaghetti sauce, chili, macaroni and tomatoes, soups, all kinds of things.
When I make spaghetti, I make my sauce while the noodles cook and I use tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste all three.

If you just can the tomatoes with nothing added you can use them like you want to. If you make 10 spaghetti sauce, 10 chili sauce, 10 ketchup etc. You will likely use all of one and wish for more, but have other items that go to waste. But leaving them pure tomatoes you can use it as you wish.

[gixxerific]

Good point OL like I said I'm a virgin to this.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Gary, thank you for this thread. What a great help!



HG

[Ozark Lady]

We will help ya through it Gixx.
I do suggest that you get the Ball Blue Book.
It will teach you safety and the basics, and then, you can see short cuts and determine if they are safe for you to use and how much time it will save you.

Also, check with your county, they all have an agricultural department with canning guides that are free. Knowledge is power!

In your canning, the more uses you have for the product, like the tomatoes, the less is the likelihood of all of your hard work, being dumped out as food that just wasn't ate.

I have dumped many cases of food, that just sat in the pantry year in and year out... this is how we learned.

For instance, one year I canned a lifetime supply of cherries... they didn't keep for a lifetime... lesson learned... it wasn't worth my time and effort.

This year, I have enough plums to can a lifetime supply, will I do it? No way! I learned that lesson. No way will I can more than a dozen jars of plum jam or preserves.

I will have to find creative ways to use up lots of plums. Plum pudding? Plum ice cream? There has to be lots of ways to use up a tree that went crazy in production this year! I am tired of eating plums by the way! The freezer is looking plum red! ha ha I have my jars, but only 12 will go for plum jam or jelly. 12 for Elderberries, 12 for peaches, well maybe 18 since we really like peach preserves, 12 for strawberry, you get the picture, not 48 jars of plum jam! Plum/Strawberry jam? Hmm?

You just really need to look at your eating patterns and don't can alot more than you can eat before they go bad.

Hey, folks check out Tractor Supply... I found really nice 8 quart buckets there for .99 and a huge plastic container 7 gallons, that I will use to make homemade sauerkraut with my cabbage (I will be starting over) for $2.99. So, for maximizing your gardening, you gotta watch for bargains and they can be in odd places, like Tractor Supply... I was looking for a stainless steel bucket for milking... hmm hit the jackpot.

[MaryDel]

For sauces w/o chunks like Pizza sauce , I don't skin mine either I cut bigger ones in half and put the smaller ones in the blender whole. I grind them up fine and run them through a steel meshed collander to get the skins and seeds out, then I cook them down.

For spagetti sauce w/t chunks, I use the same method but add chunks of skinless, seedless tomatoes at the last 1/2 hour of cooking time.

[Gary350]

Ozark Lady is right pure tomatoes can be used to make anything you like. I like to cook and I like cooking much better in the winter. In the past I canned things like 10 quarts of chili, 10 quarts of vegatable soup, 6 pints of ketchup, etc. but now days I just can pure tomatoes then if I am in the mood for chili I open a quart jar of tomatoes to make it. Plums make the best wine. I have been looking for plums for years but no luck. I planted a plum tree 2 years ago but no plums yet. I wish I could get enough plum juice from you to make 5 gallons of wine. Pears also make some fine wine.

The to person with the pressure cooker. I guess I assume too much if your still in the dark I need to explain it better. Inspect your jars for dirt and damage. Run your finger around the top to see if there are any chips. If the glass is chipped trash the jar. Clean the jar after each use next time you want to use them all you need to do is rinse out the dust. That special funnel I use if for canning it keep the top edge of the jar clean. Fill the jars up to 1/2 inch from the top. Make sure the top edge of the jar is clean then place a lid on top then screw on the ring. Tighten the ring fairly tight. Place your jars in the pressure cooker. Fill the pressure cooker with water 1/2" above the jars. There are many different size presure cookers that hold 5 to 15 jars. Put the pressure cooker top on then place the weight on tip. Some pressure cookers give you the option 5, 10 and 15 lbs of pressure. Use 15 lbs of pressure. If your vegatables are already hot in the jars be sure to use hot tap water to fill the pressure cooker because cold water sometimes will crack the jars. If the vegatables in the jars are cold the fill the pressure cooker with cold water. Turn on the stove and let the pressure cooker heat up. It may take 20 to 45 minutes to get hot depending on how large your pressure cooker is and if your doing pints or quarts and if the water inside it cold or hot tap water. After the steam starts to build up the weight on top will start to release pressure and it make a sound sorta like an old Steam Locomotive. Turn down the heat but keep it hot enough to keep the steam coming out of the pressure cooker. Let it cook for the correct about of time according to the vegatable and jar size your canning. When the time is up turn off the heat. Next it if very important to let it set there and cool down all by itself. Do not force cool it with cold water or ice. It about 2 hours you can remove the top of the pressure cooker. In a few more hours you can remove the jars. Tighten the ring slightly, wash the jars, dry jars, label jars, put jars inpantry. If your still in the dark let me know. Buy a canning book at the book store it will tell you the cooking times you need to know for each vegatable.

I revised the original thread. I see I did not explain it well a couple folks didn't understand the part about the skins and juice. Juice stays with the tomatoes I was only draining the juice off the skins so I could return the juice to the tomatoes. Another thing I learns from past experence if you fill jars with cold tomatoes then after canning the jars are only about 2/3 full. Tomatoes must have air trapped inside. Cooking the tomatoes first releases all the air so the jars are full after canning.

[Ozark Lady]

Another reason for pure foods is: Some spices and flavorings change with time, whether you freeze it or can it.

[Halfway]

Gary, thank you VERY much for the effort you have put into this thread. This will be our first year canning and your method and simplification will be put to use!!

I am curious as to your techniques on the "taco sauce" you mention.

We intend on making several batches of salsa as our garden is mainly tomatoes and various peppers. We have a good recipe, but no canning method for any long term storage.

Thank you again!!

[hit or miss]

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/ is a great resource for canning information and recipes.

Gixx, go to wally world and buy the Ball Blue Book. It's a great starter for water bath canning and pressure canning.

Be careful of "good salsa" recipes. Not all of them are suitable for canning. Compare your recipe to a proven canning recipe first. Acid content is a major concern for water bath recipes.

Gary, if you are filling your pressure canner with that much water you don't really need to. 3-4 inches in the bottom before you put the jars in is enough. It takes less time to get the canner up to heat and pressure that way too. I lower the heat after the canner is up to pressure so the jiggler rocks several times a minute, you'll not have to worry about cooking the canner dry that way.

If anyone needs help let us know, there is lots of brain power on the forum.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Yes, there is, HM. Yes, there is...

HG