Even though our garden didn’t produce much produce (ha) this summer that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been canning like crazy.
We have purchased well over 300 pounds of tomatoes in the past month for $89.50. While this was a great deal it sure seems strange to pay for tomatoes when I usually want to give them away by this point in the season.
(There was another set of boxes that my husband picked up on Friday that I didn’t even take a picture of.)
So, what did I do with that many tomatoes? I canned over 100 jars of tomato juice and sauce (mostly quarts). I also made a few jars of salsa and we enjoyed some fresh spaghetti sauce for a few meals.
To make tomato sauce I usually cook the sauce in the oven all day.
I process pints for 35 minutes and quarts for 40 minutes in a water bath canner.
When I can tomato juice I bring it to a boil in a large pot on the stove and boil it for about 10 minutes.
For tomato juice I process pints for 40 minutes and quarts for 45 minutes in a boiling water bath.
I also add 1 Tbsp. of lemon juice before adding the tomato juice to the jars.
Canning takes a lot of work, but it is so worth it to have a pantry full of organic tomato juice and sauce to use for soups, spaghetti, and other meals.
If you want to know more about how I can tomato sauce I suggest reading this post. I do want to make a note about making the job of juicing the tomatoes easier.
(I have included a couple of affiliate links in this post. If you purchase something from one of those links I will get a few cents and you will get a great deal.)
In the past I have simply cut the tomatoes and then run them through my juicer . However, these past few weeks I have been taking my mom’s advice to boil them for a few minutes before running them through the strainer.
After the tomatoes have boiled I let them cool a little and then run them through the juicer (affiliate link). It is amazing how effortless the job is when I take the time to do this first.
However, I still end up making a mess sometimes.
No, this isn’t a crime scene, it’s tomato juice. 🙂
Processing all of these tomatoes is one of the reasons my blogging has been sporadic of late. For me, real life takes precedence over computer time.
Anyway, I think I am done with tomatoes for this year. Hopefully, I will have better luck with my garden next year and I won’t have to buy any tomatoes.
Have you canned any tomatoes this year?
