The canning challenge for August is tomatoes.

I stopped by the Farmer’s Market today, thinking I’d get about 10 pounds of tomatoes to do some crushed tomatoes, I know I’ll get some from my CSA later in the year (I’m pretty sure the ones at the market are still coming over from the Eastside of the mountains – we only got two tomatoes in our weekly box.) They were 1.99/lb or a 20+ box for $22.00. So, I got a whole box. I was talking to my friend, a chef, and asked him how long it took to make a tomato sauce, thinking that I might do one batch of crushed and one of sauce, but he advised sauce is an all day process. Soon, but not tonight.

So, I crushed all the tomatoes I got, and have six pints cooling, and three pints and four quarts in the canner as we speak.

From the Big Ball Book:

1) Prepare canner, jars and lids.


2) Working in small batches, immerse tomatoes in boiling water for 30-60 or until the skins start to loosen or crack. Immediately plunge into a bowl of cold water and slip the skins off. Remove cores and any bruised or discolored portions.

3) Working in batches, quarter enough tomatoes to measure about 2 cups. Transfer to a large stainless steel saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Using a potato masher, crush tomatoes to release juices. While maintaining a gentle boil and stirring to prevent scorching (how many hands do they think I have?), quarter additional tomatoes and add to the saucepan as you work. The remaining tomatoes do not be to crushed, as they will soften with heating and stirring. Continue until all tomatoes are added, then boil gently for five minutes.

4) Before packing each jar of tomatoes, add 1 tsp lemon juice per pint and 2 tsp lemon juice per quart (you can use ¼ per pint and ½ per quart of citric acid instead) After packing each jar, place in canner until all jars are filled, or your canner is full.

5) Add salt, if using (I didn’t) as follows: ½ tsp per pint, 1 tsp per jar.

6) Pack hot tomatoes into prepared jars to within a generous ½ inch of top of jar. Press tomatoes in the jar until spaces between them fill with juice, leaving ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if necessary. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until reistance is met, then increase to finger tight.

7) Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil. Process pints 35 minutes, quarts 45 in boiling water bath canner.

Since I had so many additional tomatoes (the book said about 2 ¾ pounds of tomatoes per quart,) I simmered the additional tomatoes until the canner was close to being done with the first batch, then filled the rest of the jars.

Enjoy!