Heaven! :)
Posted on 08/18/2009 5:57:47 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Hillard Green has the right idea. The old adage "Waste not want not" applies for sure in these days of exorbitant food prices. And those of us who grow our own have always known the value of preserving nature's bounty for off-season use.
Since tomatoes are easy to grow and often plentiful, you may find yourself up to your ears in the ripe, scarlet fruit as frost approaches—and a few hints on the preservation of the harvest may be welcome. I've also taken the canning jar shortage into account in preparing this article, and have included some guides to the use of alternative containers (along with directions for a couple of preservation methods which require no jars at all).
Canned Tomatoes
Tomatoes are really a fruit and have always been canned accordingly—by the cold pack method, in a boiling water bath. Until recently, the high acid content of all garden tomatoes made this practice perfectly safe.
Now, however, low-acid varieties of the fruit have been developed, andifyou've heard nasty rumors about the possibility of botulism even in canned tomatoes, these new types are the culprits. If you're putting up such tomatoes, either raise their acidity by adding vinegar or process them in a pressure canner as you would any other low-acid food. The home economist at your county extension office can give you detailed instructions for handling of doubtful cases.
Better still, start with a good old reliable tart variety of tomato and proceed as follows: Prepare the jars for canning according to the manufacturer's instructions; or wash the containers in hot, soapy water, rinse them well, and boil or scald them (I simply dip mine in boiling water and set them aside).
Select only firm, ripe tomatoes, place them in a colander or wire basket, and dunk them into boiling water just long enough to loosen the skins (usually half a minute or so). Remove the fruit from the hot bath, let them drain, and pull off the skins with the aid of a knife (try not to injure the flesh). Then slice the tomatoes — I cut them into quarters — and pack as many chunks as possible into each jar, pressing them down with your fist or fingers. Leave about half an inch of clear space at the top of the container. Add 1 teaspoon of salt (or substitute sugar, if you like) per quart. You might want to experiment with various other seasonings: garlic salt, oregano, basil, etc.
Adjust the lids on the jars according to the maker's instructions and process the containers in a boiling water bath for 35 minutes (or for 10 minutes at 5 pounds pressure in a pressure canner). (Many authorities recommend that pint jars of tomatoes be processed in boiling water for 35 minutes, and quart jars for 45 minutes. For more specific details of canning methods, see a reliable guide such as the Kerr Home Canning Book or The Ball Blue Book.—Mother.) Remove the jars from the canning kettle and seal the lids, if necessary, as directed by the manufacturer.
Glass containers of tomato products should be kept in a cool, dark place and wrapped in paper, if need be, to exclude light.
Tomato Juice
Some folks prefer to can tomatoes and then make juice from the preserved fruit during the less frenzied days of winter. If you want to put up juice at harvest time, however, here's a good method:
Wash, scald and peel ripe tomatoes. Remove their cores and cut the fruit into eighths, simmer the sections to softness, and put the pulp through a fine sieve. Collect the juice andpour it into hot jars to within a quarter inch of their tops. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt per quart and process the containers for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for handling lids.
A possible alternative is suggested by Helen Nearing, who puts up tomato, rose hip and raspberry juices in 1- and 2-quart commercial orange juice bottles (the kind with the spongy plastic ring in the cap (also used to hold prune and cranberry beverages). Her procedure — described in a letter to Organic Gardening and Farming magazine — is to fill the hot, sterilized containers to the top with boiling juice, screw the covers on tight, let the contents cool, and store the bottles without processing them at all. (See"How to Beat the CanningJar Shortage (And Come Out Ahead!), below,for further details on using recycled jars.)
Sauces
Many delicious tomato mixtures such as chili, taco, or vegetarian spaghetti sauce may be canned if you have sufficient jars. (Some of these products may also be frozen.)
To put up a favorite sauce, just prepare the food as you would for immediate use—but cook it a little more briefly than usual to allow for the heat of processing. Pour the hot mixture into hot jars and process the containers for 45 minutes in a boiling water bath, or for 10 minutes at 5 pounds of pressure in a pressure canner.
Many sauce recipes call for not only tomatoes and spices but onions, celery, and peppers—all low-acid vegetables. Until recently, most cooks canned such combinations by the boiling water bath method and served them with confidence, knowing that the finely chopped or ground additional ingredients had been thoroughly penetrated by the acid tomato juice. These days, if you're not sure of your 'maters' acidity, processing in a pressure canner is the wisest course. If you plan to include any vegetables other than those I've mentioned, it's best to follow a good canning guide's recommendations on method and timing.
Sauces and other tomato specialties are often reduced to the desired thickness by "cooking down." If done over direct heat, this process requires constant watching and stirring to prevent the ingredients from sticking to the kettle. An easier method is to pour the juice or pulp into shallow pans, skillets, roasters, etc., place the containers in a 350° oven, and stir the liquid every 15 or 20 minutes until it reaches the consistency you want— which should take 1 to 3 hours.
The oven cooking-down method takes much of the bother out of recipes such as the following, which makes a spicy product that can be used as a catsup, steak sauce, flavoring for baked beans, etc.
Mary JeanColby's Chili Sauce
Enough ground ripe tomatoes to fill a large mixing bowl 1 or 2 medium-sized green peppers, ground 1 or more medium-sized onions, ground 1 cup vinegar 1 1/2 cups sugar, honey, or molasses 2 tablespoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon allspice 1/8 teaspoon cayenne (red) pepper 1/4 teaspoon cloves Salt to taste
Cook down all ingredients to the desired thickness (this recipe makes a sauce, remember, not a paste). Pour the product into clean, hot jars, process the containers 10 minutes in a boiling water bath, and seal them — if necessary — according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Soup
The following recipe produces a concentrate, which is diluted before serving to make — as Ruby says — "a creamy, flavor-filled soup."
RUBY HOOPS' REGAL TOMATO SOUP (Yield: 10-11 pints)
6 medium onions 1 bunch celery 8 quarts cut-up tomatoes 3/4 cup sugar (or honey) 1/4 cup salt 1 cup butter or margarine 1 cup flour
Chop the onions and celery and put them into a large kettle with just enough water to start a good boil and prevent scorching. Add the tomato pieces and cook the vegetables until they're tender. Then put them through a food mill to remove seeds and chunks, and return the pulp to the kettle along with the sugar and salt. Cream together the butter and flour, add the well-blended mixture to the boiling purée, stir thoroughly, and continue to simmer the combination until it thickens slightly (to about the consistency of thin gravy). Pour the product into hot jars and process them in a boiling water bath for 45 minutes, or in a pressure canner for 10 minutes at 5 pounds. At serving time, empty the concentrate into a saucepan, add 2 pinches of, soda per pint, warm the tomato mix slightly, and dilute it with an equal amount of milk or water. Then heat the soup to eating temperature.
Continues at link...
You and I think exactly alike. Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches are comfort food.
Failing that, there's always the possibility of 24 quarts of green tomato relish. Waste not, want not.
Yesterday, I used some of our peppers--green, Anaheim, and Hungarian Wax, along with store-bought dried hots, to make a 'somewhat' mild form of Thai red curry paste. "Mild" is a relative term. *<];-)
I was fixing red curried cod filets for dinner, and had planned on using the red curry paste that I had used up and forgotten to replace. Thank the Lord for Google! I found a great recipe for the paste; Mrs AR was extremely pleased with both the paste and the dinner.
As for fried green tomatoes, I was horrified when I finally learned (when the movie came out) that Southerners adulterate them with eggs & cornmeal.
All my life, I had eaten fried green tomatoes, either for breakfast or as a quick dinner: quartered, then sliced and fried in bacon grease like cottage fries/home fries; bacon on the side, and fried eggs on top. Or, skipping the bacon & eggs, as a side dish instead of potatoes.
Then put them through a food mill to remove seeds and chunks, and return the pulp to the kettle
I'm not sure what a food mill is. Is it like the strainer featured in the link at post #4?
I force myself to read his column as it is so off the wall and away from cooking that I have to think he is writing a novel one chapter at a time...
bttt
Mine all died as well. We bought a bushel of tomatoes and canned them last night. I hope they are the low acid type. i did then in the water bath canner. I hope they were in long enough. We did about 40 minutes.
Too much nitrogen. What are you fertilizing with? You need something with a high ‘middle number’ to promote blooming and fruiting. 20-20-20 Miracle Grow won’t cut it.
Also...are they in FULL sun? 6 hours or more of DIRECT sun each day? If not, that might be the problem, too.
Don’t mulch with grass clippings unless they are dry and brown...green ones have too much nitrogen in them, resulting in lots of leaves, but no fruit.
I’m going to make that tonight! Tomatoes are really starting to come on now, and the basil is PERFECT this season, so tomato salad for supper would be perfect. :)
“Say...any idea why our corn doesn’t have very many kernels?”
That’s poor pollination, either caused by the weather (too hot, too cool, too wet), or a lack-o-wind when it was needed.
Not much you can do about that at this point once the ears are developed. It has to happen at the right time; you can’t add extra pollen later.
You can give the corn stalk a good shake when the tassle (boy parts) and the silks (girl parts) are both ready to rock next time you grow corn, though. :)
(I know; it’s always about sex, sex, sex with us gardeners, LOL!)
I had never heard of Mock Strawberry Jam before! Thanks! :)
“8. If one tomato is not enough then repeat steps 3 to 7.”
LOL! :)
Printed and filed for fall baking! :)
“I’ve let some beans go to ripen for seed. How do I tell when they’re done ripening and when I should pick them? And do they need to cure before taking out the seed?”
Just leave them on the vine/plant until it dies back and the pods are brown and dry. Then harvest the seed and let it dry for a week or so in a paper bag (the paper sucks out moisture) then put it into a glass jar for use next year. Add a few grains of rice to suck out extra moisture.
However...unless they are open-pollinated heirloom-types they won’t reproduce true. If they are a hybridized bean, you’ll get the mother or the father bean, but not the EXACT same bean you had this season.
Confused? Well, you should be, LOL! ;)
I love the Foxfire books. You’ll never find a better source for hog butcherin’ instruction, IMHO!
Man, I LOVE Cherokee Purple tomatoes. I didn’t grow any this year...but there’s always NEXT year. :)
You can press them through a mesh sieve, or find yourself a Foley Food Mill; relatively cheap at thrift stores or discount stores. Don’t pay $40 for it!
http://www.thekitchenstore.com/072075500242.html
Heaven! :)
Actually, not confused. They were open pollinated. That’s why I want to save them.
I did plant another variety of bean nearby, which I shouldn’t have, but I think that the plants that I’m saving from flowered well before the others.
The pods are dry and brown now and the plants are starting to die back.
I just looked out into the garden and am pleased to see so much red. It’ll be a smallish tomato crop, but something. There’s always next year to hope for.
That’s got to be about the best lunch in the world.
There’s nothing like tomato soup and grilled cheese.
The ultimate comfort food.
Makes sense — thanks!
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