Show Us Your Tomato!

[meatburner]

Picked this beef master to finish to ripen on the kitchen counter top. Going to make a great BLT in a few days.

 

[canesisters]

Wow! That's a beauty!

 

[dewdropsinwv]

Sooo.. Blanch, can whole? Or blanch, peel, can whole? Or blanch, peel, dice, can?

We can them whole, blanch peel and quarter, all the above. I never have a problem with my tomatoes breaking down or turning to mush after we can them. I guess it would depend on the type of tomato you can? This year Monty planted brandy wine, Rutgers, and our never fail roma's

 

[meatburner]

dewdropsinwv, thanks for that information as I was going to ask about freezing them and then can them when I have enough ripe at one time. Have you done them that way? Didn't sound like Ridgerunner was a fan of doing it that way but I don't have enough ripe at one time to process much. I have a ton on tomatoes coming on at different times is my problem. Thanks.

 

[dewdropsinwv]

dewdropsinwv, thanks for that information as I was going to ask about freezing them and then can them when I have enough ripe at one time. Have you done them that way? Didn't sound like Ridgerunner was a fan of doing it that way but I don't have enough ripe at one time to process much. I have a ton on tomatoes coming on at different times is my problem. Thanks.

Yes I have frozen tomatoes. What we do if we don't have enough for canning is just hold them in the fridge for a day or two then see if we get enough. If we don't, we just blanch and freeze the ones we got in the fridge.

 

[canesisters]

Dew - can you post a receipe of just how you do it?
I've got about a dozen in the fridge and more coming in soon.

 

[meatburner]

Good info, and thanks for the help.
Keith

 

[desertlady]

Oh... I'm sorry. That was just a picture I found. They ARE mouth watering though, aren't they?

seriously?? Just Kidding yes they look good!!

 

[dewdropsinwv]

Dew - can you post a receipe of just how you do it?
I've got about a dozen in the fridge and more coming in soon.

We just blanch and freeze....no receipe if you want to add spices to it.... then just add your spices before you freeze them. MMMM good

Now canning is different!


For a PINT JAR
blanch, cool, peel add
1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon of salt (optional).



For QUART JAR
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon of salt for each quart


Had to refer to my ball book, couldn't remember exactly how much salt..... if you want to use salt. We like to add spices to our tomatoes. Thyme, parsley, stuff like that.

 

[Ridgerunner]

dewdropsinwv, thanks for that information as I was going to ask about freezing them and then can them when I have enough ripe at one time. Have you done them that way? Didn't sound like Ridgerunner was a fan of doing it that way but I don't have enough ripe at one time to process much. I have a ton on tomatoes coming on at different times is my problem. Thanks.

Wrong. I certainly gave the wrong impression if you think that. I practically always freeze mine until I have enough tomatoes or time to process. Since Im going through a Squeezo I just core them and cut out the parts I dont want to eat, then put them in a gallon freezer zip-loc. When I need freezer space or have a good chance, I take four or five gallons out, cook them down, and run them through the Squeezo and then a food mill to get as much pulp as I can.

Then I either go ahead and can them or cook them down some more to reduce volume and refreeze until I get around to final canning.

I dont blanch them before I freeze them. Im guessing Dew does that to remove the skins? The way I do it, I dont have to remove skins.

I stir them a lot when Im cooking them down, especially after a reasonable amount of moisture is gone and they start to thicken. I burned about 8 quarts of corn several years ago by not stirring it enough so now I over-stir everything.