Canning Tomatoes

ketchup

Putting up tomatoes for the winter is a fun and productive activity.

One of our favourite recipes to make is salsa. Blending a mix of fresh summer vegetables including peppers, onions, garlic and of course all your favourite tomatoes together,
using safe water bath canning techniques, you can preserve that flavour all winter long!

Here is our salsa recipe that we use most often

canning recipes

Some other great things tomato recipes for water bath canning include:
Ketchup
Tomato Sauce
BBQ Sauce

Tomatoes are also super easy to freeze, if you have the space, you can even freeze them whole fresh from the garden! 

What are your favourites?

One trick to canning with tomatoes is removing the skins, there are two main methods of doing this:

1) Hot Water to Icy Cold Water

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, hull the stems from your tomatoes and slice a shallow “X” in the bottom. Fill a bowl with ice and water and set it next to the stove.

Working in batches, drop several tomatoes into the boiling water. Watch for their skins to start to wrinkle and split, 45 to 60 seconds, then scoop them out with a slotted spoon
and transfer them to the ice water bath. Once cooled, transfer the tomatoes to a cutting board. Continue working in batches until all the tomatoes have been poached.
Use your fingers or a paring knife to peel back the tomato skins.

2) Roasting

Turn on the broiler and position an oven rack about six inches below the heating element. Slice the tomatoes in half, remove the stems, and place them cut-side down on a baking sheet.
It’s fine to crowd them together.
Broil the tomatoes until the skins are blackened and the tomatoes smell roasty, 12 to 15 minutes — check them every five minutes until done.
Turn on a vent fan toward the end of roasting if some of the tomatoes are smoking.

Let the tomatoes cool enough to handle, then pinch off the skins.

3) Food Mill

tomato mill

 

But, for salsa, sometimes, we just put everything in the food processor and blend the skins right in!

If you aren't already familiar with safe water bath canning techniques, here are some tips, and be sure to sign up for one of our canning classes! 

Canning Pamphlet - front