Aliza Ess
Urban homesteader
- September 25, 2009 • 6:14 pm PDT
- + responses
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Curse the laziness of the raw pack.
Tomatoes are a great food to can, since they convert easily to sauce, go well with tons of different dishes, and are always bountiful at this time of year.
(Of course, there is the terrible <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/opinion/09barber.html">tomato blight</a> happening right now, courtesy of the mass-production of tomato seedlings from big box stores like Home Depot, which are spreading an airborne fungus all over the place. All the more reason to can your own tomatoes: store bought tomato sauce is going to be *expensive* this year!)
Tomatoes are great because of their high acidity, which means that us folks who don't own fancy pressure canners can use the water bath method. Water bath canning basically means you boil the jars in a stockpot full of water to sterilize the jars and the food inside. Pressure canning uses steam that reaches much higher temperatures to kill any potential pathogens, which is why its the only way you can can vegetables, meat, and other low-acid foods.
I checked out the <a href="http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/index.html">USDA website</a> for canning resources, but kind of couldn't remember all the rules last night. I knew you could do a "raw pack" of tomatoes, which means that you just chop up the tomatoes and put them in the jar without cooking everything first. Pour in a little lemon juice to increase the acidity, and can in a water bath.
I packed in as many tomato chunks as I could, but knew they would settle some once they cooked down in the hot water bath. I didn't think they would settle this much!
Is this o.k.? Is there too much headroom? According to the site, I think it should be o.k., but the tomatoes sticking out above the liquid might discolor a little.
Also, I only processed the quart for 30 minutes. According to the <a href="http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_03/tomato_without_liquid.html">raw pack instructions</a> on the USDA site, I needed to process the jar in the boiling water for about 90 minutes! Argh!
Looks like I'm going to have to re-boil the jars for much longer? Do you think I should open up the sealed jars and cram more tomatoes in there?
Curse the laziness of the raw pack.
Tomatoes are a great food to can, since they convert easily to sauce, go well with tons of different dishes, and are always bountiful at this time of year.
(Of course, there is the terrible <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/opinion/09barber.html">tomato blight</a> happening right now, courtesy of the mass-production of tomato seedlings from big box stores like Home Depot, which are spreading an airborne fungus all over the place. All the more reason to can your own tomatoes: store bought tomato sauce is going to be *expensive* this year!)
Tomatoes are great because of their high acidity, which means that us folks who don't own fancy pressure canners can use the water bath method. Water bath canning basically means you boil the jars in a stockpot full of water to sterilize the jars and the food inside. Pressure canning uses steam that reaches much higher temperatures to kill any potential pathogens, which is why its the only way you can can vegetables, meat, and other low-acid foods.
I checked out the <a href="http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/index.html">USDA website</a> for canning resources, but kind of couldn't remember all the rules last night. I knew you could do a "raw pack" of tomatoes, which means that you just chop up the tomatoes and put them in the jar without cooking everything first. Pour in a little lemon juice to increase the acidity, and can in a water bath.
I packed in as many tomato chunks as I could, but knew they would settle some once they cooked down in the hot water bath. I didn't think they would settle this much!
Is this o.k.? Is there too much headroom? According to the site, I think it should be o.k., but the tomatoes sticking out above the liquid might discolor a little.
Also, I only processed the quart for 30 minutes. According to the <a href="http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_03/tomato_without_liquid.html">raw pack instructions</a> on the USDA site, I needed to process the jar in the boiling water for about 90 minutes! Argh!
Looks like I'm going to have to re-boil the jars for much longer? Do you think I should open up the sealed jars and cram more tomatoes in there?
