It’s late summer and in our house, that’s canning season. The first crop to come in were the cucumbers. My husband jarred dozens of pickles, relish, and more. Next up? Tomatoes. That’s where I jumped in on the canning fun.
It’s pretty crazy that you can in the summer because it’s always 90 degrees! If you’ve ever used a water bath canner, you know it gets pretty steamy! Literally! But, all that uncomfortable heat is worth it to have fresh sauce, salsa, and tomatoes through the fall and winter season. For one thing, you know the ingredients are all natural. Plus, who can resist homemade tomato sauce? I know I can’t!
This year, I canned:
10 pints of salsa
9 tomato basil sauce quarts
5 marinara sauce (quarts and a couple pints for pizza)
26 pints of diced tomatoes
50 jars altogether! If I had to estimate, I’d say it was about 300 tomatoes. It took me all day Saturday, half of Sunday and a couple evenings to get all that done. I do the sauce the lazy way in the crockpot.
Here’s my recipe:
25 Roma tomatoes, quartered
3 cloves crushed garlic
2 tbsp balsamic or red wine vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 large onion
Large handful of fresh basil, chopped
Add it to the crockpot in the order above and turn it on low for 8 to 12 hours. Use a hand blender to blend well and fill quart-sized jars using a funnel. This recipe makes two quart-sized jars (about the size of a sauce jar you get at the grocery store) or four to five pints (about the size of a pizza sauce jar at the grocery store).
Boil your jars before filling. Add filled jars to the canner, making sure there are a couple of inches of water above the tops of the jars. Boil them on a low boil for 45 minutes. Remove, and let sit for about 12 hours. Store and enjoy year round!
Diced tomatoes are also very easy. Here’s the recipe:
Diced tomatoes (I used Romas)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
Fill pint-sized jars with tomatoes, then add salt and lemon juice. You need to pack them tightly and make sure you go to the bottom of the upper rim so they are full but not overfull.
Boil your jars before filling. Add filled jars to the canner, making sure there are a couple of inches of water above the tops of the jars. Boil them on a low boil for 45 minutes. Remove, and let sit for about 12 hours. Store and enjoy year round!