Starting your own tomato garden in the homestead will reap lots of benefits. For one, you’ll have lots of tomato at your disposal. That means fresh tomatoes for your salads and other meals. You can also make money selling your produce. Best of all, tomatoes are versatile. Aside from eating them raw or using them in meals, there are tons of other ways to preserve tomatoes including turning them into juice, ketchup, paste, puree, and sauce. But before you can fill your pantry with homemade tomato products, you need to know how to can tomatoes first.
Why can tomatoes, you may be asking. The simplest answer is that canning prolongs their lives. A tomato will turn bad fast after harvest. If you leave a tomato on the counter, it will only last for a week. Put it in the refrigerator and you can still use it after two weeks. Canned tomatoes, meanwhile, will last for 12 to 18 months if unopened. Once you open the jar, the tomatoes will be good for only a week. It’s therefore important to know how to can tomatoes so you don’t waste one fruit.
What You Will Need
Freshly picked tomatoes (2 3/4 lbs per quart jar)
Lemon, vinegar or citric acid
Glass or Mason jars
Pot for boiling water
Large bowl
Tomato Knife
Chopping board
Tongs
Pressure canner
Tea kettle
Ice
Instructions On How to Can Tomatoes
It’s always a great sense of fulfillment to do something from scratch. Planting the seeds and taking care of your plants until they bear fruits (yep, tomatoes are fruits) is a major accomplishment in itself but wait until you start canning them tomatoes.
Prepare Tools and Ingredients
Prepare everything you need to make your DIY canned tomatoes. Take out all the equipment and kitchen tools you’ll need and make sure to clean them up real good. You want to be organized so there won’t be any issues once you start.
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First are the tomatoes. Many prefer Roma tomatoes for canning because they are fleshier. You don’t want too much seeds and juice for your canned tomatoes. You can use whatever tomato variant you have growing in your garden though.
Harvest the amount of tomatoes you need for this batch. Clean them up real good. Any foreign particle that may get into your canned tomatoes may have negative effects.
Blanch the Tomatoes
The next step is to blanch the tomatoes. You’ll need hot water, of course. Fill your pot or canning kettle with water making sure it’s enough to cover all the tomatoes once you put them in. This is to make sure you don’t have to blanch the tomatoes by batches. Place the pot over heat and let the water boil.
Use a sharp tomato knife to make shallow intersecting cuts along the bottom of each tomato. The “x” will make it easier to remove the skin later on. You may also want to core the tomatoes .You’ll know it’s a tomato knife if it has a serrated blade and a forked tip. The WÜSTHOF Gourmet 5 Inch Tomato Knife comes with a forked tip, which is there so you can move the slices easily.
If you don’t have a tomato knife, any sharp serrated knife should do. The Norpro 8 Inch Serrated Bread Knife can be used for this purpose. The serrated edge can easily penetrate the skin of the tomato. Non-serrated blades may bruise or crush the tomato especially if it’s not that sharp. Use a chopping board while you’re doing your slicing and coring. Avoid holding the tomato up as you may cut your hands while slicing.
Next, fill a large bowl with ice and water then place it near your pot. You will need this ice bath to cool your tomatoes after blanching them.
Once the water is boiling, drop a few of the tomatoes in the pot at a time. Too many tomatoes and you’ll lower the water’s temperature. Leave them for about a minute then take the tomatoes out using a slotted spoon such as the OXO Good Grips Large Wooden Slotted Spoon. This will allow the water to drain and keep you from squeezing the tomatoes.
Carefully dump the tomatoes into the ice bath. This will stop the cooking process. Give them time to cool down before picking them up again.
Remove the Skin
Those who insist on peeling the tomatoes with a knife instead of blanching them first often ends up with a lot of mess. Slicing the tomatoes can be chaotic enough, especially with a blunt knife. Imagine having to peel the skin with one.
Make your canning experience a whole lot better by following the previous step first. Blanching will soften the skin making it easier to peel off. The “x” you cut on the bottom earlier will be where you’ll start peeling. Carefully place your knife under the loosened skin then gently peel. Place the tomato on a plate. Don’t throw away the skin. Use it for cooking or dry them in an oven to make tomato crisps.
Sterilize and Prepare the Jars
You probably cleaned your mason jars already but you need to make sure they’re sterilized before you proceed with the canning process. This step will help make sure that no bacteria will thrive in your canned tomatoes. If this happens, your tomatoes will turn or become inedible. In fact, improperly canned tomatoes may cause botulism or food poisoning due to the botulinum bacteria.
To sterilize your glass jars, submerge them carefully into a pot of boiling water. Let the jars sterilize for at least 10 minutes before taking them out. Make sure to pour any water in the jar back into the pot. Sterilize the lids and rings of the Mason jars in the water for 10 minutes, too. This should also soften the sealant on the lids. Use a pair of tongs in handling the hot items.
Prepping the Tomatoes
Before stuffing your tomatoes into the jars, there’s one more thing you have to do. Decide on whether you want your canned tomatoes to be whole, diced, or crushed. If you want whole peeled tomatoes, simply peel the skin off and leave the fruits as is. For diced and crushed versions, you need to cut the tomatoes first.
Cut the fruits into small pieces if you prefer canned diced tomatoes. The chopping board will come in handy here. Norpro also has its set of chopping boards. The Big Giant Cutting board measures 24 x 17 inches, which is certainly enough space for your tomatoes.
For crushed tomatoes, cut the tomatoes into smaller pieces first. Place the pieces in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Crush the tomatoes with your wooden spoon. Better yet use a potato masher. The Norpro Deluxe Potato Masher sports an ergonomic design that should make it easier for you to crush your tomatoes.
Stuff and Seal
Now for the fun part — stuffing. Once the tomatoes are ready, fill a tea kettle with water and bring to a boil. In the meantime, put 2 tablespoons of lemon juice into each sterilized glass jar. The lemon juice provides the acidity that will help keep the tomatoes fresh. If you don’t have bottled lemon juice, use store-brought vinegar or citric acid.
Stuff the tomatoes into the jar. If you want the whole tomatoes to keep their shape, stuff carefully and evenly. Otherwise, place as many tomatoes as the jar will allow. Cramping the tomatoes will also help produce more juice for better taste.
Pour boiling water from the tea kettle into the jar. AmazonBasics Stainless Steel Electric Water Kettle is cordless so you don’t have to worry about any accidents involving annoying cords. Fill the jar until the tomatoes are submerged but make sure there’s half an each of space left at the top. Wipe the edges of the jar with clean cloth or paper towel.
Cover the jars with the lids and rims then place them in the canning rack. Slowly lower the rack into the canning kettle or pot with boiling water. It’s preferable to use the All American 921 Canner Pressure Cooker or other canning kettles. These homestead must-haves makes canning a lot easier.
Leave the jars submerged for about 45 minutes. This process seals the jars. Once done, take the rack out and let the jars cool off. The jars will further seal as it cools. Don’t worry if you notice the lids getting slightly concave.
If you wish to see if the jars are sealed, try the tapping technique. Wait until they have complete cool down then tap on the lid lightly. If the lid stays put, it is sealed. If it moves or is pushed in then you will have to redo the canning. Another method is to open one of the jars. If it produces a popping sound, then they are sealed properly.
It’s not enough to just learn how to can tomatoes. You should also know how to make tomato sauce, ketchup, and other tomato-based products. For your homemade tomato sauce, you’ll want to use the bigger kinds of tomatoes.
Learning how to can tomatoes is just one of many skills you do at the homestead. Even if you live in an urban setting, you can still can tomatoes as long as you know where to find fresh ones and you have the right equipment and tools. Follow Gentleman Pirate Club to know more homesteading skills and projects.
