Canning tomatoes

[DanM]

I am about to receive about 25 lbs of roma and other small tomatoes from a local farm at a stunning $1 per pound. I am going to can them, which looks pretty easy. Does anyone have advice on canning them?

Thanks!

Dan

[heidih]

I am more of a "toss them whole in the freezer" person, but this older topic might flesh out any new information you get.

[Brasshopper]

I've canned tomatoes before, in fact, Romas, precisely once in my life. First question:

• Whole?
  
• Chopped?
  

• Peeled?
  
• With Skins?
  

• Are your tomatos Acid?
  
• Do you need to add Vinegar?
  

I decided to peel my tomatoes, to put them in whole, and to add three tablespoons of vinegar to each jar, and about 1/2 tsp of dried basil to each bottle.

To peel tomatoes, briefly scald and remove skins while still hot - fingernails help as do . I imagine commercial kitchens put the skins into the paste, you probably won't get enough.

You should maintain at least one bottle for chopped tomato - I ended up putting jalapenos and making a simple sauce with the few I broke.

Your final question is, "Boil or pressure." With pressure, you won't need to worry about acid as much, with a boiling water canning, you need to keep the tomatoes acid. Tomatoes used to be acid enough, now more varieties are being made sweeter and sweeter, and you need to insure that they are a bit acid. PH 4.5 is what I've read - and that might be hard because I've also read that pure apple cider vinegar is required to make a PH of 4.5 - it might be that the vinegar I added was just for flavoring. The problem is that botulism spores can live in boiling water temperatures, it takes a pressure bath that thoroughly heats the contents to properly can the stuff.

But this is all a mosh of information and none of it can really be trusted. The USDA used to publish recipe pamphlets and such, and you could buy books of recipes. Now people look online. I'd go to a site like this one: http://extension.psu.edu/food-safety/food-preservation and stick with scientifically tested recipes - too much chance of death if you don't. It is that simple.

[Ashen]

we can tomatoes most years.. Hot water bath..

blanch , ice water bath , peel skin, into a pot , then crushed using a potato masher. heated to boiling for about 5 mins

hot pack into mason jars that are clean. new snap lids are essential . I don't bother sterilizing beforehand because if process time is over 10 mins you don't need to pre sterilze. I add 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid powder to bottom of empy jars for food safety and 1/4 teaspoon of ascorbic acid to help avoid colour changes . 1/2 teaspoon salt for flavour.

55 mins for quart jars..

I add 10 mins to the standard 45 mins because where I live is just over 1000 ft about sea level

[Paul Bacino]

I think you can add bottled lemon Juice.. instead of citric acid if you wish.

[slkinsey]

Is there any need for acidulation if the tomatoes are pressure canned?

Also, I've seen a lot of canned tomatoes in my day that looked more or less like tomatoes and a layer of tomato solids floating on top of clear liquid. I've been given to understand that there are some methods to counteract this. Any suggestions?

[KarenDW]

Is there any need for acidulation if the tomatoes are pressure canned?

Also, I've seen a lot of canned tomatoes in my day that looked more or less like tomatoes and a layer of tomato solids floating on top of clear liquid. I've been given to understand that there are some methods to counteract this. Any suggestions?

The short answer re: acidulation, is no; if pressured canned, then you don't need to. But pressure canning takes so much longer than standard hot-water bath method, that I consider the addition of citric acid to be a good compromise. The stuff should be available at the local pharmacy, or possibly in the grocery store, branded as a fruit preserver such as fruitfresh.

Hot packing the fruits should help with maintaining balanced distribution within the jar.

[DanM]

I packed 25 lbs of tomatoes today, carefully following the instructions. I guess I did not get all of the air voids out of the jars as some have 2"+ of headroom with the tomatoes floating above the liquid. I assume that I will need to open these jars tomorrow morning, add more liquid, and process again? I am tempted to make room in the freezer and just stick them in.

Dan