I've made a tradition out of tomato canning over Labor Day Weekend. I started it last year, and we did it again this year, and it's gone so swimmingly well that we (Tom and I) plan to do this every year, because there's nothing quite like homemade catsup. :)
Anyway, to start, a few weeks before Labor day, we place an order with Three Way Farm (Virginia), who sell produce at two farmer's markets we go to, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The order is placed for two boxes (about a bushel, total) of Roma tomatoes.
 |
| ½bu. Roma Tomatoes |
Working in batches for each recipe, the tomatoes get dunked into boiling water for 30 seconds or so to make them easier to peel.
 |
| Coring the Tomatoes |
 |
| Skinned & Cored |
Tomatoes are seeded and chopped or sliced as needed. For tomato paste and catsup, the tomatoes are cooked with some other vegetables and seasonings, and then put through the food mill.
 |
| Using the manual food mill |
 |
| Catsup add-ins |
 |
| Mashing Tomato Paste |
Catsup & tomato paste are fairly labour-intensive, but for us, it's so worth the effort. We've come to prefer to know exactly what's in our food and where it came from.
 |
| Filling the jars (catsup) |
 |
| Catsup |
 |
Tomato paste, with bonus shot of a basket of veggies
harvested from our garden. :) |
 |
| stewed tomatoes, stewed tomatoes with green chiles. |
No comments:
Post a Comment