Tomato Canning 2014

We finally got around to canning again for this summer.  First we hit our favorite produce farm and picked well over 100 pounds of tomatoes. 

Then we dumped it all on the table and waited until the next day to get to work.

The end of the garden season is near

Unfortunately the garden has been neglected over the last few weeks with me going back to work and being overwhelmed with that, their activities, and volunteering at the youngest's school.  So tonight I thought I'd go out just to grab the tomatoes that were all over the tomato plants.

Before I even made it to the tomatoes, I was pulling up some carrots.  The oldest left the gate open last week and the goats got out, and then got into my garden.  They ate the tops off at least half of the carrots so I thought I'd try to pull up what I could.

Then I pulled up one parsnip.  The tops look really good, but the parsnip was pretty small so I'm going to do some reading.   I think they don't get harvested for another month.

And then there was my celery that doesn't look like celery.

I finally made it to the tomatoes and quite a few were split open.  I'm guessing we dipped below freezing one night this week.

I figured while I was out there, we might as well knock the potato cages over and see what we could find.

Purple potatoes!  Really!  Even when we cut them open, they will be purple inside!

We hosed them off before we headed inside and I laid them out on the counter, along with a couple onions I pulled out of the pot by our door.

I suppose I should be happy to have gotten this much, but it really feels like so little.  I've been planning the garden for next year for the last month or so.  As long as each year gets bigger and better, I suppose I can't get too mad at myself.

Finishing Tomatoes

It's been a rough week and I rushed home tonight to finish canning the tomatoes.  There were about 50 pounds left.  The boys helped to peel them and get the seeds out and then I got to work.

I made a bunch of jars of stewed diced tomatoes, 3 jars of tomato paste, and then started another huge pot of spaghetti sauce following a different recipe.

Tomato paste

3 small jars of the tomato paste

A bunch of jars of stewed tomatoes

I'm hoping that Friday morning I can can the spaghetti sauce that is cooking now and then will be able to take a break from canning until we get into apples.


This post was shared on The Homesteaders Blog Hop

Family Canning Event

Yesterday we picked 95 pounds of tomatoes.  

Yes.  95.  Ninety-Five.  NINETY... FIVE.

It was a busy day so when we got home in the afternoon I took a nap and just didn't have the energy to start working on them.  So this morning I woke up and started getting things organized.

Luckily, the boys were more than willing to step up and help.  I decided not to question their motives and we had an assembly line across the kitchen counter. 

I dropped the tomatoes in the pot to boil for a minute and then dumped them into the cold water in the sink.  The youngest would pick them up and peel them, then I would cut the cores out, and then the oldest would scoop out the seeds.

We got about 40 pounds of tomatoes done this way.

Add caption

 I was able to start the pot for spaghetti sauce.



Then I realized we had a lot of seeds, juice, peels, and core pieces that were going out to the chickens.  Too many.  So I did some research and saw that I could dehydrate the seeds and peels and use them in recipes later so I started doing that.




I was also reminded that I could dehydrate tomatoes to make sun-dried tomatoes so I decided to use a bunch of the small ones for that purpose and I sent the oldest out to the garden to grab the few small tomatoes that I'd seen growing.

The youngest got one tray organized in an artsy pattern while the oldest disappeared outside.

 And then the oldest walked back in.  I guess we didn't just have a couple tomatoes in the garden.

We ended up with three trays of tomatoes to dry, some were peeled and some weren't.

We ran out of space in the dehydrator and I didn't want to waste anything so I poured the tomato juice and seeds into jars and put them in the refrigerator.

We also have two containers of tomato peels waiting to be dried.  And even with the plan to find ways to use those parts of the tomatoes, we still had 8 cups of core pieces that we blended up and took out to the chickens.

And that is only from about half of the tomatoes.  I estimated that we used about 40 pounds of tomatoes, which leaves 55 pounds to still work on this week.

What's left for this week

 The tomatoes look almost done in the dehydrator and the spaghetti sauce looks and smells great since I ran out to the store to buy the other ingredients to add to it and it's been cooking all day.

Once I had the spaghetti sauce completely ready to cook all day, we took off to spend a few hours at the pools.

I'm excited to get this canned this week and to finish with the rest of the tomatoes, but the task does seem a little daunting as well.


This post was shared on The Homesteaders Blog Hop

I may be a real canner now

I have been determined to can and have things for this winter so on Sunday we went to a you-pick farm about an hour away.  This farm had the biggest selection of produce to pick, but wasn't the friendliest place.

We ended up picking over 20 pounds of roma tomatoes, a few zucchini and squash, less than a pound of string beans, 2 pecks of asian pears, and 4 pecks of peaches (3 yellow and 1 white.)

The veggies

 We still had the 20+ pounds of tomatoes from Saturday's farmers market visit as well.

So, Sunday night, I got to work and the kids helped to boil and peel the tomatoes.

Boiling

Icing

Peels and seeds from the first few tomatoes

Peeled and coring  

 Once the tomatoes were peeled and cored, the boys disappeared and I scooped out the seeds and squeezed out as much water as I could.  Then I mixed them up in a big pot to make spaghetti sauce.

The start to the spaghetti sauce

 It smelled so good, even our new renter kept stopping by the pot to smell and comment on it.  I felt like the tomatoes weren't breaking down enough so I chopped them up with some special scissors that I got from Pampered Chef a few years ago and decided to let it cook overnight.

This picture doesn't do it justice.

 It smelled so good then next morning, and then I canned it.  I only got 3 quarts and one pint.

Spaghetti Sauce

I almost don't want to eat them since we only have three jars.

Then I got to work on the peaches.  I found a new recipe last night that sounded much easier and faster.  I simply had to peel the peaches, slice them up and then drop them into the jars.  I added about a fourth to a third of cup of sugar part way in the jar, and then filled it with water.

Filled with peaches and a little sugar poured in

Added the water and got the air bubbles out

There were a LOT Of peach peels.  I used the food processor to chop up a lot of them and then send the oldest out to the coop with treats for the birds.  I did try finding an idea on using the peels, but all I could find was peach peel jelly and I didn't think I had the energy to attempt it.

Just one of the two bowls of peels

This was definitely easier and quicker and I wasn't as worried about making things fit in a complete jar as I just stopped peeling and slicing when I knew I didn't have enough left to make another full jar.  I ended up with 13 big quart jars.

Canned Peaches

Then I got to work on the salsa.  This time I was going to make my own seasoning from a recipe I found online.  I left the jalapenos out since I don't like spicy food.  I managed to get the boys to come peel the tomatoes while I diced them up.

Again, this smelled so good.  (At this point, things got too messy and I got too busy to remember to take pictures of everything.)

Salsa in the pot

 As soon as this finished simmering for thirty minutes, I canned it.  I managed to get 10 pints and then two half pints that I wanted to use for gifts.  There was another pint jar that was about 3/4 full, it wasn't enough to can so I happily put it in the fridge to eat soon.

Mild Salsa

 I still had another 12 pounds of tomatoes left so I had the boys peel them and I sliced them up to make canned quartered tomatoes in their own juice.  The only thing that surprised me about this was how long they had to sit in the water bath.

We got 8 pint jars and one half pint jars of canned tomatoes.

Canned tomatoes in their own juice

Now I just have to cook the green beans and squash as I don't think there is enough to can, and decide what I am doing with the Asian pears.

 He insisted on being Vanna White in at least one picture.

In other good news, I wore my tennis shoes the entire time I was working today and my back wasn't killing me like it did the last time I was canning, and was barefoot.

WE canned!!!

Yesterday we went to the farmers market to buy pickling cucumbers.  The pickles were so good and we wanted to make sure to have more.  They didn't have any pickling cucumbers and I didn't want to waste a trip, so we bought peaches and tomatoes to can.

Tonight we made salsa and then we made peach pie filling.  I say we because, for the first time, the boys really helped.  The youngest helped peel the tomatoes and wash the peaches, the oldest helped core and dice the tomatoes and peeled the peaches.  It was nice having extra help to get the work done and it was great to have the jars on my counter this evening.

As long as the jars all seal, and as long as the half-filled jar of salsa that is in the fridge tastes good, then I'll buy more tomatoes and try to make some more salsa from scratch.  We are planning to get more pickling cucumbers on Saturday, when the farmers market promised they would have more.