It is Tomato Time in Tennessee, so we are setting the table with tomatoes. First, I (Amy) share how to home-can or freeze tomatoes. Also, news of the Tomato Jam Celebration, August 13th, 2022, at the Blount County Public Library, Maryville, TN. This event features Tomatoes, a tomato-tasting contest, 4-H participants with an ugly vegetable contest, Master Gardeners group on hand to answer questions, music, and food. Our guest today is master gardener Janine Brouillette, one of this event's coordinators. Janine also describes the state-wide Tennessee Extension Master Gardener Program. Note: None of these organizations advertise on this program.
Links:
Directions for home-canning or freezing tomatoes:
To can tomatoes:
First, get your jars and water bath canner ready.
You will need to wash, and sterilize your quart of pint canning jars and bands. The lids are not made to be used more than one time. I do fill up a small saucepan with boiling water and put the new lids in the sauce pan. I have been told, you don’t have to do this, but I do anyway to make sure that any bacteria that may be on the lids are killed.
At this point I also wash my canning equipment. My jar lifter, canning funnel, magnet wand for getting my lids out of the hot water, my plastic bubble remover, and get plenty of kitchen towels out and ready to use.
You will want to get your water bath canner out and fill it 1/2 way to 3/4 the way full and bring it to a full boil. Once it reaches that temperature, I keep the lid on it so it can quickly be brought back to a boil.
Give the tomatoes all a good wash, cut out any bad places and take the stems off and the little black pointy part off the bottom of the tomato, meanwhile, get a great second large pot out and bring that pot of water to a rapid boil.
Get your sharpest little paring knife out, and on each tomato, starting at the bottom of the tomato,,cut very lightly through the skin an X shape that goes almost to the top of the tomato. Don’t cut it too deep. This is just to score the skin, so when it is dipped in the scalding hot water, it will separate the skin from the tomato.
Get a slotted ladle out and a few at a time, dunk the tomatoes in the boiling water for less than 1 minute until you see the skin begin to separate from the tomato. I usually do this 3 at a time. Don’t over boil, because you don’t want the tomatoes to start cooking.
Set the tomatoes batch by batch until you have them all done in a big baking sheet so they can cool off a bit.
Get a real big glass bowl out, and when the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, pull the skins off as much as you can with your fingers, and then cut the tops and cores out. They won’t all come off easily, and you will end up with quite a bit of tomato juice and parts of tomato in the bottom of your big bowl, but, most will stay whole. I usually then cut my tomatoes up in rough pieces over this huge glass bowl. Some people cut them on a cutting board, but I just use 1 big glass bowl so I don’t have to transfer the tomatoes back and forth to another surface.
Look at about 1/6th of these tomatoes, take out a big wooden spoon and mash a 6th of this mixture to get plenty of canning tomato liquid.
Place a large pot on the burner and set to medium heat, pour in the whole bowl of tomatoes. Heat and story these tomatoes until they come to a boil for 5 minutes.
At this point, you can either freeze these or can them.
To freeze them:
Remove from heat, and cool the tomatoes in a non reactive glass bowl. Let them cool , then place these in zip lock bags to freeze. My grandmother always had one of those old, square plastic containers that she would place her plastic bag in, and she would then ladle the tomatoes into the bags. This helped her to get a consistent quart amount, and helped to hold the bag while she was filling it.
To can them:
To your hot sterilized jars, sdd your acid and salt right before adding tomatoes.
- Either 2 T. lemon juice and 1/2 tsp. of citric acid.
- If you are using pint jars, it only takes 1 T. lemon juice and 1/4 tsp. citric acid.
- If you wish, add 1 tsp. salt to quart jars, or for pint jars, 1/2 tsp. salt.
- Using a canning funnel, fill your hot sterilized quart sized jars with the tomato mixture leaving 1/2 inch of headspace.
- Wipe lids: It is very important to wipe off the top of the jar with a clean, hot cloth before placing the lid on and adjusting the band to finger tight.
Process jars in hot water bath:
- Bring your water bath back to a boil.
- Be sure your wire jar holder is in place in the water bath.
- One by one, careful place the jars in the water bath with the jar lifter.
- Be sure to keep everything on a simmer until you have all jars in the water bath.
- You will want at least 1 to 2 inches of boiling water above the tops of the jars.
- Put the cover on the pot, bring pot back to a boil and begin processing according to the Ball Blue book directions and the altitude where you live.
For instance, in East, Tennessee:
A pint jar of crushed tomatoes takes 35 minutes to process in a water bath.
A quart jar of crushed tomatoes takes 45 minutes to process in a water bath.
Resources for proper home-canning and water bath crossing times:
I recommend that you might purchase the Ball Blue book for proper processing times and complete instructions:
https://www.healthycanning.com/ball-blue-book
Also, this is a helpful link for processing times and altitude. Processing takes longer at higher altitudes.
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/tomato_crushed.html#tble1
After the water bath processing:
Remove the jars carefully with a jar lifter, place on an absorbent towel and place in an area free of drafts to cool.
When the jars cool, you will hear them pop which means they are sealed.
Be sure to press all of the seals and if there are jars that don’t seal, either freeze those or refrigerate and use within 4-5 days.
Note: Follow safe handling practices with all foods, sanitation and follow complete processing directions for safe and healthy home-canning. The advice I have written in this guide is a general guide only. You personally are responsible for the proper handling and processing of your home-canned food, and the Tennessee Farm Table, and myself (Amy Campbell) bear no responsibility in any way or form for your home-canning outcomes.
