Hi I'm Tricia an organic gardener. I grow organically... for healthy and safe food
supply, for a clean and sustainable environment, for an enjoyable and
rewarding experience.
Homegrown tomatoes have to be one of the best things about having your own garden.
Today we're gonna can tomato halves so we can enjoy them throughout the rest of
the year. To do one canner load of seven court's, you'll need 23 pounds of tomatoes. Get
fourteen pounds of tomatoes if you want to do a smaller canner load of nine
pints. Tomatoes are just about acidic enough to safely can at home but to be sure that
they're safe to eat
it's good to add a little extra acid. The three main acids used are: citric acid,
which changes the taste of the tomatoes very very little, bottled lemon juice
which has more of a flavor impact, and vinegar which has the most impact on
flavor. Choose vine ripe tomatoes that are disease-free. The tomatoes should be nice
and firm not bruised or overripe, don't use tomatoes from dead or frost killed
vines. Tomatoes from dead vines and diseased vines have a lower acidity and
aren't safe to can at home. First prepare the jars. Check your jars
carefully for any chips or cracks or anything that might prevent it from
having a perfect seal.
Wash your jars and lids with hot soapy water and rinse well.
Prepare your tomatoes by washing them, taking off any of the stems
and check them for any bruised parts and then make sure and trim off anything that's bruised. Now it's
time to add the acid to the jars. I'm using citric acid and the measurement is a half a
teaspoon per quart. If you're using lemon juice 2 tablespoons per quart, if you're
using vinegar its four tablespoons per quart. Tomatoes need to be blanched and
skinned before canned so set out a large pot of water to boil and also have some ice
water ready for the cool bath. When the water's boiling dip the tomatoes for 30
seconds to a minute until the skins split then dip them right away into the
ice water. Now just peel off the skin,
core the tomato if desired, cut in half and add to the jars. Add hot water or hot tomato juice
to your jars. I'm using the tomato juice that I have preserved from an earlier
harvest. You want to make sure there's enough liquid to fill up the jars so
that there's about a half an inch of headspace. You can also push the tomatoes
down and generate some juice that way as long as you have juice covering all the
tomatoes. Just clean off the edges of the jars, the rims and put the lid on.
We're getting ready for the canning bath.
Place the filled quarts in the canner. If you don't have
enough jobs to fill the canner, fill some jars with water and place them in the
canner. This will prevent filled jars from falling over during the processing.
Wait until the water in the canner comes to a boil again and then set a
timer for 50 minutes. If you're above 3,000 feet in elevation, process for
about 55 minutes.
Ok, time's up!
Remove the jars carefully and place them on a dry towel to cool.
The following morning check your seals. Follow the instructions and your
canning jars to find out how to verify the seal. These Quattro jars have a bump
that will become a hollow when they're sealed. If one of your jars doesn't seal
you can either refrigerate for a couple of weeks or you can put it in the
freezer for up to one year. The most common reasons for spoilage are poor
seals or under processing. If your tomatoes smell bad when you open the jar
or you see any mold, they're not good. Label your jars with the date and contents
and store in a cool, dark, dry place. For best quality enjoy your tomatoes within
a year. So can some tomatoes and grow organic for life. Thank you for watching.
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