But I digress...I grew up on stewed tomatoes. My mom would simply warm them on the stove (no microwaves then, remember?!) and we would eat them from a bowl with a spoon. I still enjoy them that way, but none of my kids will touch them, not even Baby Doll and she loves tomatoes.
So our stewed tomatoes get used in chili or spaghetti sauce, anything like that where we want it to be a bit more chunky. We had a pretty good mix of tomatoes this time although my choice is usually to turn the Romas into a nice thick sauce and use the rounder less firm tomatoes for stewing. But this time we stewed them all.
First thing to do is wash the tomatoes. We pour our buckets into the sink and just fill it with cold water. Then we put the tomatoes into a pot of boiling water and watch until the skins split. It usually takes about 45 seconds to a minute.Then we dump the hot tomatoes into a bowl full of cold water and the skins will slip off with very little effort.
With a paring knife I cut out the core and chop them into quarters for most sizes, but more pieces when the tomatoes are those huge beefsteaks. I press the tomato chunks into clean quart jars that already have 1/4 cup of lemon juice and 1/2 a tsp of salt added.When the jars are full, I prepare the rings and lids, wipe the tops of the jars and put the lids on.
Then it's into the pressure cooker at 13lbs pressure (in Utah) for 45 minutes. Tomatoes are the only vegetable I know of that can also be processed in a water bath but for double the time.Tomatoes are a lot of work, but well worth the final product. It's so nice to know exactly what is in the jar.
They sound so yummy, I make a lot of our food, no salt added and sugars, we eat well with the polar vortex and rain, icy and snow that will be here..I like to cook most of the time but occasionally we dine out not often though..I admire your homemaking ways for your children they are growing up in a home with a MOTHER and FATHER who love them, have a Godliness in their lives, make real food, listen to them and are THERE FOR THEIR KIDS, if only other parents could see how wonderful this family unit is YOURS!! I get a kick out of the fact your kids actually eat what you prepare, and love and cherish you as their MOM & DAD and their SIBLINGS TOO..what more can a person ever hope for..God's Blessings, happy days and happy lives! Ciao X()X()X()
ReplyDeleteAw w, a very yummy project to get completed. The way you describe doesn't sound too hard. I haven't done canning for years and I did ever tackle tomatoes; but I wonder if it is to late to learn. I will ponder on that one.
ReplyDeleteBlessings for this instructive post.
When we buy a house (hopefully in a year or so) we hope to finally have a real pantry which would give me some space to do some canning! I would love to can my own tomatoes and make salsa and can fruits! I love that you guys are able to do lots of canning!
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