Re: Lots of ripe TOMATOES hanging outside. Ideas for preserving?

In article <fv9ge3hlm5slvhslrp667ugrbjo0ted3ar@xxxxxxx>,
Dan_Musicant <man@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I'm pretty good at growing tomatoes (had lots of practice!). I have a
very decent crop hanging on my Early Girl plants (6, 4 doing very well,
the first two are too close to a giant plum tree).

I eat them daily in salads, sandwiches, burritos, out of hand, etc. I've
given a lot away, but I have probably 20-40 lb ripe fruit hanging out
there right now, vine ripe and begging to be canned.

I've canned Italian tomato sauce and hot sauce (jalepeno and tomato) for
years and have a fair amount on hand. So, I'm looking for other ideas.
How do you can tomatoes, what are you most glad to have on hand and use
the most?

The only tomato products I can are stewed tomatoes (tomato, celery,
onions, and green pepper) -- using the recipe on the University of
Minnesota Extension Division site (www.extension.umn.edu -- food
preserving is under "Living" (find that link near the top of the page) --
and tomato juice. When I make the stewed tomatoes, I measure carefully.

I'm wondering if it's practical to make and can tomato juice,
or just plain canned tomatoes and am looking for other ideas. Recipies?

I don't think that any of us can answer that question for another. Is
it practical? Does that mean economical? If you buy the produce and
then try to put a price on your time, fuel consumption, and sweat
equity involved in canning, it's probably not economical.

OTOH, if you've got good help, enough room for more than one ***, and
some decent equipment (for the tomato juice), it can be a fun time with
family or friends and I don't know that that is anything but priceless.

I don't know if you've been lurking here, Dan. I can for the heck of
it. I'm probably r.f.p.'s biggest Ribbon ***. I make about 5 pints of
stewed tomatoes and enter one in the Minnesota State Fair. My stewed
tomatoes have won blue ribbons in the two years that I've entered them.
Same thing with tomato juice (also two blue ribbons). The tomato juice
is incredibly delicious. It would make you weep. I made enough for my
Fair entry and then decided it was so good, I made some more and put up
about three half pint jars for my son to take to a friend who can't have
sugar. (Seems like there's sometimes sugar in the ingredient list for
some commercial juice.) I was prepared to offer some to Gloria Puester
when she was visiting me this weekend but she said she's not overmuch
fond of it and I withdrew my offer. :-)

Links? See my recipies for Italian and Hot Sauce below. TIA.

Dan

- - - -
My recipies:

Italian:

Tomatoes
Onions
Green peppers

How much onion and pepper in relation to the tomatoes?

Garlic
Italian herbs

Basil and oregano?

Salt and pepper
Citric acid

How much and when and where do you put it?

Fry chopped onions in olive oil until translucent.

Add chopped peppers, fry some more.

Add chopped tomatoes, spices/herbs, chopped garlic. Boil a while and add
citric acid and pour into clean jars that have been "sterilized" in
boiling water,

Why did you put "sterilized" in quotation marks? Do you boil the empty
jars for at least 10 minutes?

and twist on covers securely. I turn the jars upside down
to make sure any fungus spores are dead (i.e. heated over 160 F).

You're doing open kettle canning; here's what the folks at the National
Center for Home Food Preservation at the U of Georgia have to say about
that, from their FAQ list:

Why is open kettle canning not recommended?
In open kettle canning, food is cooked in an ordinary kettle, then
packed into hot jars and sealed without processing. The temperatures
obtained in open kettle canning are not high enough to destroy all
spoilage and food poisoning organisms that may be in the food. Also,
microorganisms can enter the food when it is transferred from the kettle
to jar and cause spoilage.

and

If my recipe doesn't call for processing, do I need to do so?
Many recipes passed down through the years or found in older cookbooks
do not include instructions for processing. The foods are usually canned
by the open kettle method, sealed and stored. Foods prepared in this
manner present a serious health risk -- particularly low acid foods. To
minimize the risk of food spoilage, all high acid foods should be
processed in a water bath canner or pressure canner and all low acid
foods in a pressure canner.

Label and store. I've never had a problem with spoilage even after
quite a number of years using this method.

Yet.
Do you boil the tomatoes for 15 minutes before you eat them?
That'll kill any nasties that didn't die in the prep.

Here's a link to a tomato-vegetable juice blend:
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_03/tomato_veg_juice.html

--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
For your listening pleasure: http://www.am1500.com/pcast/80509.mp3 --
from the MN State Fair, 8-29-07
.

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