Putting up Tomatoes for Winter Sauces
My tomatoes are finally starting to ripen up en masse as are the ones in my mom’s garden. I’ve been picking big bucketfuls of all colors shapes and sizes. When I see these sitting in the kitchen, I know exactly why I grow a variety of heirlooms, how beautiful!
On Sunday evening I worked well into the night canning up some tomatoes for enjoying this winter. I’m trying to focus more on eating seasonally and growing foods that don’t need to be preserved by canning, but tomatoes are an exception. I’ll always can tomatoes for making sauces and soups. I also dry a lot of tomatoes, but sometimes a rich hearty meat sauce is the perfect dinner, and I need canned tomatoes for that.
I can all of my tomatoes as crushed tomatoes, and I never remove the seeds. Some people say the seeds can make your tomatoes bitter, but I’ve never noticed that it does. I’ve read so many different directions for canning crushed tomatoes, some of them say to process them for an hour and half in a water bath canner. I follow the directions from this great brochure from the University of Georgia – Tomato Canning. I also use the directions from Well-Preserved.
What do I do? I simply peel the tomatoes and cut them up, add them to a large pan, heat them to boiling and continue to cook them for 5 minutes. Then I fill hot jars allowing a 1/2 to 3/4 inch head space (I find that with tomatoes you want your head space to be slightly more, never less than 1/2 inch). I add a basil leaf to each jar and add the lid and ring. Then I process in a water bath canner for 35 minutes for pints, 45 min for quarts. When processing time is finished, leave jars in canner with heat turned off for 5 minutes, then remove. I find that this step helps with sealing on tomatoes, they have a tendency to expand when you take them out the canner and kind of boil up.
Do you grow enough tomatoes to can? What’s your favorite way to preserve them for the winter?
Filed under Canning, Edible, Harvest Keepers Challenge | Comments (31)The First Canning of the Year
Yesterday morning I pulled out the canning jars and starting stocking my pantry for this coming winter. I canned half of my maraschino cherries, today I’ll be canning the rest. It’s a great feeling to start stocking the pantry again for winter. I like the comfort of seeing all the jars lined up on the shelves in the basement, things were looking a bit sparse down there.
I followed this recipe for half the cherries and this recipe for the other half. I also made one quart with sour cherries instead of sweet cherries. I thought it was interesting that the cherries were brined with salt water for a day before canning, much like many of the pickles I make.
I ended up making 4 gallons of maraschino cherries because I ran out of time to pit and dry all those cherries I picked last week. I can’t wait to try these dipped in chocolate or perhaps mixed in with some ice cream. Most of the cherries were dried and tucked away in the pantry as well. I didn’t freeze any since I want to keep the freezer space free for other things like black raspberries and peas.
Have you started stocking the pantry for this coming winter? Anything canned up in jars?
Filed under Canning, Harvest Keepers Challenge | Comments (21)Enjoying all my Hard Work
When I read this quote in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine a while back I loved it. It’s so true that home canned tomatoes are like opening up a jar of summer. Yesterday I cracked open 6 pints of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes to make some sauce. All these wonderful tomatoey meals in the winter make all the hard work growing and canning tomatoes worth it!
I think if I could only preserve one thing from the garden to eat in the winter I’d choose tomatoes.
What would you choose?
Filed under Canning, Harvest Keepers Challenge | Comments (26)Homemade Ketchup
In our efforts to eat healthier and more locally I’ve been learning to make more and more things here at home instead of buying them at the store. Usually they’re very easy to make and most of the time they taste better than their store-bought counterpart and they’re much cheaper as well. My latest make my own efforts involved ketchup.
Making ketchup is actually much easier than it sounds. I used the recipe from Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects
Of course since I lack the ability to follow a recipe to a T, I changed the recipe a bit. I used roasted tomatoes instead of canned tomatoes and I used olive oil and ground cardamom since I didn’t have whole pods.
Regular ol’ Tomato Ketchup (but better)
from: Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
5 whole cloves
5 cardamom pods (crushed) I used 1/2 t. ground cardamom
1 star anise
10 black peppercorns
1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes (I used roasted homegrown tomatoes)
1 large yellow onion, quartered
2 Tablespoons neutral vegetable oil (I used olive)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/3 cup packed brown sugar (I used organic evaporated cane juice and organic molasses)
1/2 cup champagne vinegar (I used organic white balsamic)
1 teaspoon hungarian paprika (I used smoked paprika)
freshly ground black pepper
1. Using a piece of cheesecloth (or an empty tea bag), tie the cinnamon, bay, cloves, cardamom, anise, and peppercorns into a bundle. Set aside.
2. Pour tomatoes and their juice into a food processor or blender (or put roasted tomatoes through food mill). Puree until totally smooth, and set aside all but 1/4 cup. To the remainder, add the onion and puree.
3. In a large dutch oven (this will splatter so use a large tall pot), heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion puree and the 2 teaspoons of salt and stir well. Cook for 8-10 minutes, letting the puree reduce and lightly brown. Add the tomato, sugar and vinegar, turn heat to a low simmer, and reduce for about 15 minutes uncovered, with an occasional stir (cooking time is reduced if using roasted tomatoes since they’re already reduced). Add the spice bundle and reduce for 10 minutes more, with an occasional stir (I added the spice packet when I added the tomatoes). When it’s done reducing, it should be a little thinner than commercial ketchup. Stir in paprika, taste for seasoning and add salt and freshly ground black pepper as needed.
4. Let ketchup cool and remove the spice bundle. Pour into a jar and chill overnight, or at least for 6 hours.
Will store in fridge for up to 2 months.
To can: ladle into sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 headspace and process in a water-bath canner for 15 minutes (more at higher elevations).
I must admit, this is a great recipe. I’ve had homemade ketchup before and I’ve never really liked it; this is a different story. This ketchup has that perfect sweet tanginess that I love, it might even be better with some heat added (perhaps some of those cayennes I’ve dried). Of course if you’re expecting the texture of the stuff from the grocery you’ll be dissappointed, but in flavor this is by far better than store bought. I’ll still be keeping some regular ketchup in my cabinet, but this will become a regular at our table for sure. I used some of this ketchup to make sloppy joes and they were fantastic! I would highly recommend this recipe to anyone interested in making some homemade ketchup.
Have you ever tried making something at home that you usually buy at the store?
Filed under Canning, Harvest Keepers Challenge, Make Your Own, Recipe | Comments (35)Fire Roasted Red Peppers
I’ve been reading all kinds of books about canning (as you can see by the “What I’m Reading” section to the right). While reading through, Well-Preserved: Recipes and Techniques for Putting Up Small Batches of Seasonal Foods
There’s just something wonderful about roasting peppers and tomatoes over a fire. It gives them a wonderful smoky flavor that you just can’t beat.
I roasted some jalapeños and some red peppers, both regular red peppers and red pimento peppers. Last year I froze my fire-roasted poblano peppers and we enjoyed them chili and on pizza all winter long.
This year I decided to can them following the recipe from Well-Preserved.
ROASTED RED PEPPERS
from Well-Preserved: Recipes and Techniques for Putting Up Small Batches of Seasonal Foods
4 pounds red peppers (8-10 medium peppers)
1 cup bottled lemon juice (I used organic)
2 cups white wine vinegar (I used organic)
1 cup olive oil
2 medium garlic cloves, sliced (I used small whole homegrown cloves)
1.5 teaspoons salt (I use Real Salt)
Roast peppers in oven or over fire (to roast in oven, place peppers on baking sheet on rack about 7 inches from broiler in oven). Broil peppers, turning them often with tongs so that they blister all over. Let peppers stand in bowl with cover until cool enough to handle. Remove the charred skin, cut in half and remove core, stem and seeds.
Combine lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, garlic and salt in saucepan and heat just to boiling over medium heat.
Have ready 3 scalded pint jars and their bands (to scald dip in boiling water). Simmer lids in small pan of hot water to soften rubber.
Pack peppers into the jars and pour the marinade over them (only fill jars 3/4 of the way full with peppers). Using a butter knife, pop any air bubbled in the jars. See that the garlic is evenly distributed. Be sure to leave 1/2 to 3/4 inch of headspace (I would recommend 3/4), or the seal might fail. Wipe the rims, put on lids, and screw on bands.
Process the peppers in a waterbath canner for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the jars to sit in the water for 5 minutes, then remove to a towel lined counter or cooling rack. Allow to cool, check seals and store in a cool try place for up to 1 year.
I haven’t cracked open a jar of these yet, I’m letting them marinade for a few weeks before I do. I think they sound delicious for sure. I’m considering doing the same thing with eggplant as well.
Any delicious recommendations for how to use roasted red peppers?
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