Canning Early Girl Tomatoes

The Tomato Fest here at CSA Girl is in full swing. My first project with these lovely Early Girl tomatoes was to can them.

First, I peeled the tomatoes. In order to peel them, I briefly boiled them in a pot. When I saw the skin on the tomato cracking I put them in a bowl of ice water.

Then, I slipped the skin off with my fingers. I would recommend taking the stems off first; because, when I tried to take off the stems after they were cooked sometimes the whole tomato came out of the skin stuck to the stem.

I boiled the jars, lids and tongs. I also ran my jars and lids through the dishwasher to sanitize them.

I filled each jar with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and a teaspoon of salt.

Then I filled the jars with tomatoes.

Finally, I added a label. I am craft-challenged so my label looks like a preschooler's mother's day project. But, if you are crafty you could really make your jar look good.

Then, the jars were ready to store or give away. Again, if you are crafty you could make this look really nice, put it in a basket with some pasta, a nice bottle of olive oil, fancy vinegar, a baguette and give it to someone as a gift.

Canned Tomatoes

Taken from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving by Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine

Note: Before doing any canning you should do some research on food safety regarding canning. It is important that all jars and canning supplies are clean and that the food you canned is properly processed. Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving is a good source for this information. I also like the book Homemade Living: Canning & Preserving with Ashley English.

Ingredients & Equipment

Tomatoes

Bottled lemon juice or citric acid

Salt

Canning Pint-sized Jars

Tongs

Big pot to heat and process jars

1. Prepare jars and lids by running through dishwasher or boiling. Set up a huge pot of hot water to keep the jars and lids hot. Put ice water in a large bowl to immerse tomatoes after they have been boiled.

2. Working in small batches, immerse tomatoes in a second pot of boiling water for 60 seconds or until the skins start to loosen and crack. Immediately plunge into a bowl of cold water and slip skins off.

3. Before packing each jar of tomatoes add 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the hot jar.

4. Pack tomatoes into prepared jars within a generous 1/2 inch of the top of the jar. Press the tomatoes into the jar until the space between them fills with juice, leaving 1/2 inch space at top of jar. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace (area at top of jar), if necessary, by adding more tomatoes. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then screw lid on tight.

5. Place jars in canner, or large pot of boiling water, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and leave jar in canner or pot of boiling water for 85 minutes. Remove jars, cool and store.