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Friday Favorite: Home Canned Tomatoes

January 28th, 2011


One thing I do enjoy about winter is that I have more time to cook. I really love to cook and enjoy spending the winter days making big pots of stews, tender roasts, trays of lasagna and baking fresh sourdough bread. One of my favorite things about gardening is the fresh fruits and vegetables that it provides for the kitchen. Since I live in NE Ohio, the winter months prove to be a little more difficult when it comes to gardening and fresh vegetables harvests. Since I’m still in the learning stages of winter gardening, I supplement with things I canned and froze during the bountiful months of spring/summer/fall.

If I could only preserve one thing from the summer it would definitely be tomatoes. My pantry is filled with home canned tomato soup, jars upon jars of crushed tomatoes, roasted tomatoes fill the freezer, and dried tomatoes stock the kitchen pantry. Cracking open a jar of canned tomatoes brings back all the joy of summer gardening.

Of course they’ll never take the place of an heirloom tomato picked while it’s still warm from the sun, but they make the nine fresh tomato free months here in Ohio more bearable.

If you could only preserve/can/freeze one summer vegetable what would it be?

27 Comments to “Friday Favorite: Home Canned Tomatoes”
  1. Sue on January 28, 2011 at 9:04 am

    I couldn’t bear the thought of a winter withou my green beans. I freeze and vapor-seal 52 quarts every summer and all through winter , they bring such joy…..they taste just as fresh as the day we picked them. It’s summer all over again!
    :)

    Reply to Sue's comment

  2. Dani on January 28, 2011 at 9:23 am

    Tomatoes too :-)

    I preserve tomatoes by cooking them in my solar oven – it does all the work for me LOL – even sterilizes my jars and lids.

    Interesting that you don’t leave the screw tops on your jars – is that safe? Will the vacuum created when heating be sufficient – for how long?

    Reply to Dani's comment

    • Kat on January 28, 2011 at 11:05 am

      I think it’s actually recommended to store jars without the bands–that way, if anything goes wrong with the seal, you can see it sooner, and you can re-use the bands with new lids for other jars, thus never having to buy bands again, really. They store just fine without the bands, and the force of the bands is really not strong enough to help the vacuum seal hold. I thought that it looked funny at first, too, but I’ve gotten used to storing band-less jars.

      Reply to Kat's comment

    • Susy on January 28, 2011 at 11:14 am

      Yes, you can with the bands on and remove them after letting the jars cool after pulling them out of the canner. This also makes your rings last longer because you can wash & dry them and remove and residue that will cause oxidation.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  3. goatpod2 on January 28, 2011 at 9:27 am

    We love to freeze corn off the cob! We also freeze whole tomatoes.

    Amy

    Reply to goatpod2's comment

  4. Andrea on January 28, 2011 at 9:38 am

    Without a doubt, it would be tomatoes.

    I saw that you kept roasted tomatoes in the freezer. Why is that, are roasted tomatoes not good for canning? I’ve never roasted tomatoes, but I want to try some this year.

    Reply to Andrea's comment

  5. Daedre Craig on January 28, 2011 at 9:44 am

    Yikes! Nine months without fresh tomatoes…

    I was able to bring some tomatoes indoors last fall and a few stuck around until Christmas time. Since my next ripe tomato probably won’t be until July, I’ve got an off-season of 7 months! I never thought about that before. Luckily I have yummy canned sauces to enjoy too!

    Reply to Daedre Craig's comment

  6. Ken Toney on January 28, 2011 at 10:15 am

    We can never preserve enough green beans and beets. Our 2 yr. old loves them and we use beans in roasts, stew, soups and straight from the jar. I want to grow and preserve more tomatoes for the pantry. I plan to use your recipes this year for crushed tomatoes and tomato soup.

    Reply to Ken Toney's comment

  7. MAYBELLINE on January 28, 2011 at 10:38 am

    Tomatoes by far are the most versatile. Last summer I was enlightened with the discovery of freezing whole tomatoes. Wonderful.

    Reply to MAYBELLINE's comment

  8. Cannedquilter on January 28, 2011 at 10:48 am

    Like you I could not think of a winter without my canned tomatoes and green beans are a close second!

    Reply to Cannedquilter's comment

  9. Eliza @ Appalachian Feet on January 28, 2011 at 11:28 am

    Your canned goods are gorgeous… even their jars are gorgeous! We didn’t get as many tomatoes canned this season as we’d like and we’re feeling very sad about it (now that we’ve eaten them all). I have half a bag of dried tomatoes and then we’ll have nothing left to tide us over until July.

    Reply to Eliza @ Appalachian Feet's comment

  10. The Mom on January 28, 2011 at 11:30 am

    Canned tomatoes are a must. They make winter more bearable.

    Reply to The Mom's comment

  11. Lynda on January 28, 2011 at 11:59 am

    I couldn’t choose between tomatoes and peaches…both are a must have. All winter long I am so thankful for the promise of summer my preserved tomatoes and peaches bring me.

    Reply to Lynda's comment

  12. annie on January 28, 2011 at 12:39 pm

    Definitely tomatoes. I also would love to successfully ferment a large batch of pickles. Maybe this will be the year!

    Reply to annie's comment

  13. Caroline on January 28, 2011 at 12:42 pm

    Tomatoes are awesome. But if magic really existed, I would wish for a fresh-from the garden tomato, basil, and mozzarella sandwich. In reality, I don’t think it would keep well.

    Reply to Caroline's comment

  14. Tommy on January 28, 2011 at 1:16 pm

    tomatoes it is for the veggies—-
    nectarines for the fruit…..I miss summer!

    Reply to Tommy's comment

  15. Maria Stahl on January 28, 2011 at 2:10 pm

    I just took the last bag of frozen whole tomatoes out of the freezer. I miss them now! (When I get overwhelmed by ripening tomatoes and don’t have time to process them, I just dump them in a bag into the bottom of the freezer and deal with them later. They’re fine.)

    Reply to Maria Stahl's comment

  16. Andrea on January 28, 2011 at 2:29 pm

    I hate to say it, but I have enver canned tomatoes or green beans! I preserve fruit. jellies, jams, peppers, relishes, etc.. but am so intimidates by tomatoes and beans, which is just silly!
    I promise this year I am going to do it :-)
    So for right now, I would say that I absolutely love having jams and jellies, freezer and canned ones in the middle of winter.

    Reply to Andrea's comment

  17. AGinPA on January 28, 2011 at 2:49 pm

    I love frozen berries. I picked and froze at least 40 pints this year. They are miles better than the frozen fruit you can buy in the store.

    Reply to AGinPA's comment

  18. торрент трекер on January 28, 2011 at 3:46 pm

    I plan to use your recipes this year for crushed tomatoes and tomato soup. I want to grow and preserve more tomatoes for the pantry.. old loves them and we use beans in roasts, stew, soups and straight from the jar.Our 2 yr?

    Reply to торрент трекер's comment

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    Reply to Tweets that mention Friday Favorite: Home Canned Tomatoes | Chiot’s Run — Topsy.com's comment

  20. melissa on January 28, 2011 at 4:30 pm

    I would say probably peaches. As much as I freaking adore my canned tomatoes, I can buy tomatoes from the store if I ABSOLUTELY have to (I don’t like to) and cook them in things, and I can live with it, but I can’t get anything from the store that comes close to those peaches. Not frozen peaches, not peach butter, not peach preserves, not even canned come close to mine. :)

    Reply to melissa's comment

  21. Jennifer Fisk on January 28, 2011 at 6:50 pm

    I think tomatoes are the veggie I can’t do without however, I froze some whole, froze some dried and made sauce that I froze. I decided that canning wasn’t going to work for me this year.
    Tonight, I am going to have Patty Pan squash that I froze. Yummy.
    I was looking through the Johnny’s catalog this afternoon and Brandywine and San Marzano are jumping out at me.

    Reply to Jennifer Fisk's comment

  22. Eliza J on January 28, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    This is the first year I have frozen corn and canned tomatoes. The corn came out great, but the tomatoes were lacking. I think it’s because I added lemon juice for acidity, and even adding sugar didn’t help the flavor. Any helpful hints on canning crushed tomatoes in a water bath will be very much appreciated :)

    Reply to Eliza J's comment

  23. Freedom Journey on January 28, 2011 at 11:40 pm

    Goodness, now I’m hungry for all these yummy foods mentioned!! We plan to grow tomatoes this year in our garden and learn to can them. For now we’ve learned apple butter and peaches (canned peaches & preserves).

    Reply to Freedom Journey's comment

  24. Join Us for No Buy February | Chiot's Run on January 31, 2011 at 4:49 am

    […] go the entire month of February without purchasing any additional food, heaven knows I have enough in the pantry to survive for months. It may mean going without mushrooms, or maybe running out of something, but […]

    Reply to Join Us for No Buy February | Chiot’s Run's comment

  25. Christine on August 23, 2013 at 9:10 pm

    I can’t decide whether you’re lucky or unlucky to live in zone 5, lol. Here in FL there are only a few months a year when you can’t get fresh tomatoes – high summer and the dead of winter (even then probably with a bit of babying you can), but we also have trouble storing some things that probably last quite a while for you, like potatoes, onions, carrots, etc, since we don’t have nice cool basements. In my house I’m lucky if potatoes will store more than a few weeks, since I keep it at 78 during the day and my pantry doesn’t have good air flow. I do now have a little outdoor storage closet that I could use in the winter, but since potatoes are recommended for planting in Jan/Feb in my area by the time they’re ready, it’s hot again!

    Reply to Christine's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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