To peel the tomato - dip in boiling water.
Then immediately plunge in ice water.
The skins should peel off very easily.
Dice into pieces. You can also leave them whole but I never use whole tomatoes in recipes so I dice them so they are recipe ready. If you do whole tomatoes, you will need to cover them with boiling water when canning - diced you can in their own juice.
Bring diced tomatoes to a boil.
Sterilize jars in boiling water bath.
Necessary equipment - a jar lifter and jar funnel.
Fill jars.
Run a knife along the inside edge to dislodge any air bubbles - if you forget this step, they might not seal.
Clean the tops where the canning lid will sit on the jar with a clean rag - I use a disposable paper towel.
Boil jar lids to sterilize.
Put jar lids and rims on jars.
Put jars into boiling water bath and process for 45 minutes for quarts. You start counting the time when the water comes to a boil.
When I take the jars out of the boiling water bath I set them on a towel instead of a cold counter. My mother always told me that jars could burst if there was an abrupt change in temperature. I don't know if it's true or not - I just always follow mom's advice!
When jars are cool - check the seals and refrigerate any that don't seal.
Instead of letting the filled jars cool off on the counter-top, my mom packed the hot jars in piles of blankets so that they cooled verrry slowly-a couple of days! Wow! (A trick from old Hungary)
ReplyDeleteNot sure if the cold counter would burst the jar, but if you take a heated glass object and immerse it in cold water, it will crack/burst.
ReplyDeleteSo, your mom was right.
It could brake the jar. I made homemade bread one time, took the glass pan out of the oven, set it straight on the counter, and the pan just split right in half.
DeleteBe careful - you are not supposed to boil the jar lids because that might weaken their seal. You are to wash them in hot soapy water, then heat them but not to boiling. Just a caution to help out!
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI usually find that the best way to get my jars to seal (any recipe)is to invert them onto a towel on my counter for five minutes after tightening the bands. Because of this method, I have never had a jar fail to seal. Happy canning!
I do all the same steps as you, except in canning tomatoes, I boil the tomatoes for 5 minutes and I have jars boiling and lids and all I do, is fill my jars and seal with boiling hot lids and rings and set on towel to cool. I have been doing this for well over 20 years, you do not have to cold bath them. So enjoy, its is a much easier way to do tomaotoes, oh and I use a blender to juice them as well.
ReplyDeleteLike Carlene, I use a blender. I cut up my whole tomatoes, pour off the liquid (save for soup) and blend the tomatoes in to a thick sauce. The skins make the sauce THICK. THen, I cook about 15-minutes to sterilize and "can". Thanks to everyone who feel happy to share!----Susan
ReplyDeleteLike Carlene, I use a blender. I cut up my whole tomatoes, pour off the liquid (save for soup) and blend the tomatoes in to a thick sauce. The skins make the sauce THICK. THen, I cook about 15-minutes to sterilize and "can". Thanks to everyone who feel happy to share!----Susan
ReplyDeleteThanks for the detailed instructions! I hope I get a chance to try this!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I have been looking for an easy recipe and they all are so flippin complicated. Yours is not! I am doing mine today!!!
ReplyDeleteCan you can the diced tomatoes without boiling them? It looks like you end up with more of a tomato sauce and not actual diced pieces. I use diced tomatoes in soups and in tacos and need them in a non-sauce form. :)
ReplyDeleteYou can raw (also known as cold) pack them. You just dice them up and pour boiling water over them. I find that they float and you don't get as many in a jar.
ReplyDeleteI love the simplicity of this recipe. I just finished canning and loved how easy it was!
ReplyDeleteIs very helpful to change our habits, we need to think the obesity is very danger for everybody, is like a pump that can explot any time. So is necesary to take care of ourselves, exercising and taking good and healthy food and stop eating junk food. The life is too short, so we need to take care of us every single day for enjoy the things that the life gave to us. I bought my house through costa rica homes for sale so i want to enjoy it for long time. That is why i eat healthy including tomatoes, lettuce, vegetables and fruits.
ReplyDeleteI loved your article. it is very enticing to read because you included picture foe every step. Thanks! keep it up!
ReplyDeleteI use pressure canner when canning my tomatoes. canning is a good way to save on money and utilize all your tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteDo u add canning salt or anything else to the diced tomatoes before canning them.
ReplyDeleteYou may add a little salt if you prefer or not if you want low sodium. If you do add salt, it should be canning salt as the iodine in regular salt can cause discoloration.
ReplyDeleteBall Blue Book of Preserving is urging adding lemon juice to ensure correct acidity, especially as not all varieties of tomatoes have sufficent acidity.
ReplyDeleteJust to assur you of the validity of bursting jars due to temperature changes, it is totally true. I had a fan in the kitchen. When removing my canned beets, sat them near the fan. A jar blew up! Won't do that again!
ReplyDeleteI have a question. Why is it necessary to extend the boiling time of raw pack tomatoes to 85 minutes as opposed to 40 minutes for hot pack? Tomatoes are mostly water, so why the big difference. Oh, and what happens if you've already done it? They seem like they came out great.
ReplyDeleteOh no - that must have been quite a mess to clean up when the jar burst - well, now we have validation other than my deceased mother's word for it that sudden temperature change can cause your jars to break!
ReplyDeleteThe difference in canning times for raw pack vs hot pack has to do with the internal temperature that the tomatoes get to. I know many people that do raw pack and do not process any longer than for hot pack. They claim as long as you are careful and wash your tomatoes first and make sure they are clean and nothing is contaminated that it will be fine.
I prefer to do hot pack because I find when I do raw pack that it shrinks in the jar and you end up with less in a jar and it all floats to the top.
Always make sure that when you open your home canned tomatoes to take a whiff and if they smell off in any way - dump them in the compost - so not worth taking a chance!
I blanch, peel and cut up tomatoes; put them into jars freshly washed in hot soapy water and rinsed with very hot water (same for the bands), fill the jars to an inch below the jar necks with tomatoes, add a teaspoon of pickling salt, stir, and then wipe down rims of the jars thoroughly. You don't want a tomato seed or salt grains to interefere with sealing. I then put the lids and bands on, screwing fairly tightly closed but not too tight. The jars spend 8 minutes at 5 pounds of pressure in the cooker. Never had a problem with sealing or bacterial growth; and I can't can enough stewed tomatoes - my entire family wants as many quarts as I will give them.
ReplyDeleteIs there a need to deseed the tomatoes?
ReplyDeleteI rarely deseed mine - it is strictly personal preference.
ReplyDeleteI have canning books that say 25" is enough time to "can"them in the water bath....I do 30" just to be safe....also, I've and read that one teaspoon of lemon juice per quart is enough to maintain the acidity...
ReplyDeleteIf I'm rushed for time, I'll take the skins off, freeze them, and can them in the later fall.....also, sometimes I'm really really lazy and simply quarter my tomatoes and cook them down skins and all....then I use my "applesaucer" to puree them, removing most of the seeds and the skins.....then you are left with a nice juice....
it takes bizillion tomatoes to really make a thick sauce, so when I do tomatoes, I view them as a foundation to my sauces,or to use in soups or stews....I figure I'll have to use some tomato paste along with some of the canned tomatoes...
I had to stop canning before I was finish. I was to the point I had boiled my tomatoes and added the lemon juice. I cooled this down to correct temp. and place in the fridge. My question is can I bring the tomatoes back up to the boiling point and would it be safe to use them or do you think it would be best to just freeze them for soup and stews?
ReplyDeleteAs long as you bring them back to boiling, it will be fine.
ReplyDeleteIf you dice your tomatoes, you don't have to go through the trouble of skinning them. You also lose less nutrients this way. Lemon juice seems to change the flavor. If you are just using tomatoes, there is no need to disflavor them as long as you sterilize everything and boil them long enough.
ReplyDeleteabout how many pounds of tomatoes per quart jar, once diced & cooked?
ReplyDeleteI just canned some tomatoes. I did all the steps as noted above, except after I filled the jars and put lids on and tightened them, I did not put them back in a water bath to boil. Will they be okay. The lids did "suck down". This was an old recipe I had found and it did not say to put them in a water bath after putting lids on.
ReplyDeleteYou really need to process them in a boiling water bath. Many people believe you need to use a pressure canner. I would not trust tomatoes that aren't at least put in a boiling water bath.
ReplyDeleteI have a problem. I just canned my tomatoes and I just realized that I completely for to add the salt. How will this effect my tomatoes? Will the tomatoes spoil quickly?
ReplyDeleteYou are fine without the salt. I forget it sometimes. You just have the low sodium canned tomatoes now!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kathi!I really appreciate it!
ReplyDelete