Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Comfort Canning

Did you get any canning done this year?I thought I was done but, my friend Chris called and said "We still have tomatoes in the garden" Her husband cans the tomatoes and he had filled his last jar.So now that I have all this free time I thought why not.After all,keeping busy is the cure for idle hands.Right?So off to the farm I went and filled a box with about 25lbs of tomatoes.

We picked straight from the garden so first chore was to wash them,followed by blanching then peeling. I know the blanching makes this a little easier but, I swear this took almost 2 hours.

Then dicing cooking down and a little last minute basil addition saved those tomatoes from death on the vine.


And here it is ! This took a whole day of work. I have 8 quarts and 2 pints of stewed tomatoes/with basil. Last year I did 22 qts and used every last one before canning season had started.Now where to store them.


Top shelf filled with 8 different jams and jellies and butters. Look out buttermilk biscuits.Yummy.
Sauces,smoked salsa,peaches and more. The little squatty jars contain my very own tomato paste. I love just looking at it. So this space is chock full,maybe there's room in the cellar for this last batch. Freezing tomatoes was also done this year.This is a first for me,despite the fact that I have read about this for many years. What convinced me was a new tomato bread recipe that calls for fresh tomatoes. I found this recipe in a little pamphlet on how to use your tomatoes.I think I ate the whole bread.It was that good, really......................................said the hobbit

4 comments:

Margaret said...

How I miss all this but I'm just too busy. I'm envious of your bountiful pantry, good work and so satisfying.
I have lots of tomatoes but luckily I am able to use thm fresh at my diner for now. The rest I'll freeze.

Geek+Nerd said...

Great work, Mom! Holy cow!

GloamingDesigns said...

sooooo envious!! amazing pantry ;)

Anonymous said...

My goodness! that top shelf full of jams and jellies is looking like it is sagging under the weight of your recent canning endeavors!

Just LOOK at all those tomatoes! Our Tomatoes are still GREEN! It has been way too cold this year for them to ripen. The pumpkin Patch lost their whole crop. I am planning to try the old paper bag trick with mine and see if they will ripen.

Your beautiful jars of tomatoes take me back to my childhood and memories of the huge boxes of canned fruit and veggies that my grandmother shipped to Santa Fe from the PNW. I imagine shipping was much less expensive in those days!