TOOOOO Many Tomatoes, Help Please

ChocClare

canspendnomore wrote: »

My Dummies book for Preserving and Canning says that it's not ok to use a pressure cooker, but you have to use a pressure canner - a similar but completely different piece of equipment. I've been worried about using a pressure cooker in case I end up with bad food. I'd love to be able to put my tomatoes etc in jars to use in the winter.

I'm very new to canning so might be being more cautious that I need to be!!

You're quite right. I have a pressure canner :T but wouldn't can vegetables in a water-bath type thing - although people did, for years.

However, TOMATOES CAN be safely canned without a pressure canner - see my link above. They are quite acidic, so you just have to add a little lemon juice to be on the safe side (which you won't taste - it's the same as the ascorbic acid that you see as a preservative in some tinned foods) and then you can boil 'em up in a big saucepan. You do need decent jars however. Have a look at the link I've put in above - step-by-step instructions.

Seakay

YOu can process Kilner or similar jars in the oven - which I find a lot easier that doing them underwater! My Mum processed tomatoes, apple puree and various other things every year this way and they werre all fine. The only problem now is finding the Kilner jar lids as the original company has gone bust - but a quick Google should provide the answer.
http://www.kilnerjarsuk.co.uk/pics/dpi.pdf
http://www.kilnerjarsuk.co.uk/rec.htm

zippychick

Hi primrose

This might be more suited in the Local moneysaving board for your area? Have you contacted the womens institute to ask them?

In the mean time these threads may help

Toooo many tomatoes, help please

Dried tomatoes - cheating the sun with an oven

Home canning

Let me know if you would like it moved or merged

many thanks
Zip

ceridwen

Primrose wrote: »

Ceridwen - I like the idea of people running a preserving class in their own home. So many of these skills are a dying art, especially amongst younger people and seeing it done at first hand and being able to ask questions as you go along is always the best way of learning.

Well - tell ya' what else your local library might be useful for then...maybe you could put up a notice there asking if anyone runs a home preserving class and/or would teach you how to do this (on a skills swap basis perhaps? - as in perhaps you could offer to do some housework/ironing/etc for them if they in return teach you how to "home can"?).

Well - its one thought. Another one is the type of church where there are a lot of older women attending - and put up a similar notice on their noticeboard.

I suspect there are some older generation women around who havent realised that there are now younger & middle-aged women around who would like to learn this forgotten skill and don't realise that they possess knowledge that other people would be glad of learning.....:).

Could be a potential win/win situation there:D.

YOu never know - you might perhaps prompt someone into offering to do a WEA course on it for instance - as they looked at one of your notices and thought "I hadnt realised anyone would be interested.....:)" and you might go back a couple of months later to find they had put up a notice of their own....

ceridwen

I've had another idea:D:idea::D

- howzabout contacting one of/THE "human interest" reporter in your local newspaper about this and suggesting that they might like to run a little article (complete with photo of yourself standing surrounded by surplus tomatoes or in your garden or suchlike - apron on and large wooden spoon at the ready) headlined "PLEASE will someone teach me how to can my surplus garden veg?". I estimate there is a very good chance the newspaper would publish such an article - and you never know....:D

August is a pretty dead news month too - so your chances are all the better for getting this....

ChocClare

Might your local WI or Townswomen's Guild run something like that? It would certainly be worth seeing if you could go along as a guest, even if you didn't want to join...

hwalkerh

I have loads of tomatoes I have grown myself. I have made loads of tomato soup for the freezer now i don't know what to make that will keep, i can't keep up with them.

Anyone tried tomato chutney? Is is nice, what do you do with it?

any other suggestions would be great too

PennyGSD

I would definately suggesting making chutney with them. I made a couple of jars of plain tomato and a couple of tomato and chilli last year (and the first time I'd ever tried making preserves myself) and am desparately waiting for the glut this year to make some more as it was scrummy. We have it with barbecues, cold meat or cheese and on top of bean burgers.

My favourite other method with tomatoes, if you have the freezer space, is to simply lob them in whole so you can decide what to do with them another time. The skins just slip off when they defrost, and a lot of the water drains away too, so you are left with a more concentrated mixture to add whenever a recipe calls for a tin of tomatoes or passata etc.

zippychick

Hi Hwalker

There is a thread with loads of ideas - tooo many tomatoes, help please . You can never go wrong with Delias recipes usually - here's her tomato chutney recipe

I'll merge this with the first link later
thanks
Zip

ceridwen

Well - I decided on trying 2 methods:

1. I chopped larger ones in half, left smaller ones whole and open froze them and then bagged them up in freezer bags and stashed them in the freezer. Not sure what will happen to the skins of them when I come to take them out to use - but ..oh well. I cant go far wrong on that I guess.

2. I copied out the canning process from the www.pickyourown.org website and....well...I've got 3 jars boiling away in my jam-making pan currently and I'm just crossing my fingers. The method sounded reasonably simple - but I've been realising as I go through that its not the absolute step-by-step thing that a total beginner needs - so I'm just hoping for the best.
- I've not removed the tomato skins and am hoping for the best - as the tomatoes are all varying from VERY small to small and I dont want too much faff - so hopefully all will be well on that front (if worst comes to worst when I want to use them - I can always blitz them to smithereens...).
- It says to fill the jars to quarter inch from the top - newbie me thinks "What with?" and came to the conclusion that I had better use my soup ladle and then wondered if I was supposed to sterilise that first (so ran boiling water over it first).
- It says to add 2 tbp lemon juice per jar - but gives no indication what size jar that applies to. I decided that as the jars are curry sauce size (reason - they WERE curry sauce jars) that I'll translate that into 2 dessertspoons of lemon juice per jar.
- It doesnt mention salt - and some other methods I've seen do - so decide to chuck a tiny bit of salt in each.
- It doesnt say anything about how one protects the jars whilst boiling away in jam-pan - so I placed a teatowel on the bottom of this and hoped (whilst noticing the red dye of the teatowel is coming out a bit into the water and hoping none of the water can get into the jars - as the lids are "screwed on, but not too snug" as per instructions
- It says to keep the jars covered by 1" of water - errr....they're pretty small jars (400 odd grams) but how does he think I'm supposed to do that? (as the jam-pan only allows for the water coming to about 2" from the top of the jars) - but I think he must be using jars at least that size....??? So - I'm taking a gamble that thats going to be okay.

Agh!!!:eek: Errr...does anyone know of a British You Tube absolutely step-by-step how-to video on bottling tomatoes for total beginners purlease?