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It's finally tomato time around here! I planted 38 tomato plants this year and I am so excited to start making stuff with them. Last night was my first official harvest and I weighed 17 pounds on the scale. Not to shabby for the first picking.
More than half of my plants are Roma-style tomatoes and the others are a combination of Celebrity and Better Boys. Since it was hot and I was tired I decided that I would make simple crushed tomatoes and can them. Now that I am set up again, the next batch will be salsa or juice or sauce or something interesting. But for this one time it was easy.
I did not season the crushed tomatoes nor did I salt them. I am sharing my harvests with my mom and they don't like salt. I tend to add it to most things I cook in the form of spices anyway so I left it out. The recipe called it optional and I took them seriously. I canned pints using the boil bath method and added 1 TBSP of lemon juice to each pint jar before I added the crushed tomatoes. This assures the proper acidity for this method of canning. Last year I used up all the jars I had canned and this year I ought to have tons of tomato products lining my shelves. And yes, I am still thinking hard about making my guest room into a pantry. No one uses it much anyhow. The guest can just sleep in an awesome pantry. That would be a novel story to tell all their friends when they leave my house.
Nice, nice! We're hoping to have enough tomatoes to do some canning. Still need to buy the canner, and the jars, and the lids. And a recipe. Maybe we'll take a hint from you and go for something as simple as plain tomatoes to start.
ReplyDeleteI love reading about your skills, Heather ;-) The tomatoes look so juicy-I can almost smell them ;-)
ReplyDeleteNeat! Do you usually peel them before crushing? I just made some peach preserves this morning. Can't wait to see how it works. It's my first try at canning anything, we usually freeze stuff.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, what a harvest!! Would you do a post about how you can them like that?
ReplyDeleteThe tomatoes look delicious. I am always amazed about all the things you do. Your life must be verrrrry busy. I laughed hard about the guestroom in the pantry and the tomatoes in the guest room. Lucky tomatoes, hahaha.
ReplyDeleteGuests sleeping in an awesome pantry - would sure smell delicious, and look great!
ReplyDeleteThey are LOVELY! I love tomatoes and what a beautiful harvest you have to behold. Right now I can't plant anything in my backyard because my dogs tear it all up. They are getting better, but I'm hoping soon I'll be able to start a veggie garden again. You've got a great green thumb!
ReplyDeleteI'm so impressed! You are one busy girl. I would love to see my pantry full of fruits and veggies from my garden in pretty canning jars. I don't have the space or energy now, maybe one day.
ReplyDeletePantry is a great idea. I'm reduced to buying tomatoes if I'm going to can them this year, I think. Yours are quite a sight.
ReplyDeleteGood for you Heather. I did the same type of crushed tomatoes with the lemon juice, but I froze the tomatoes in freezer bags. I was happy with the outcome. (This year we have one tomato!! I am not happy!!)
ReplyDeleteWell that knocks my tiny little tomato harvest into a cocked hat!!! I did buy twelve more canning jars at the weekend, so I'm ready to emulate you when my paste tomatoes start to ripen.
ReplyDeleteYou are such an awesome canner! I on the other hand do not do well in this matter. I found about 7 quarts of pickles I had canned two years ago. I was all excited and opened the a jar to taste the dill pickles. Ha! The pickles fell apart. They did not crisp at all. My husband was horrified and called them rotten, though they did not smell at all. All went into the compost. I debated dumping them on the hydrangeas for the acidity but decided nah. I think you may inspire me to try it again. We shall see. Unfortunately I only planted 4-5 tomato plants so I'll have to venture into pickle territory again. Yikes! Your tomatoes look great and 17 pounds is a great harvest!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Heather! They are coming! I mean tomatoes! I have 22 plants and started to share tomatoes with my neighbors (those who water my garden while we are on the trips, first!) Roma is yummy!Good job girl!!!
ReplyDeleteHomemade tomato sauces and 'gunk' are sooooo delicious! Kudos to you for venturing into the world of canning correctly! I'm super careful (read: paranoid) because I'm always afraid a jar will go bad. So far, I've never had one!
ReplyDeleteWe're in the beginning of our Roma harvest now (Zone 6b/7a) and tonight will be our second tomato-sauce meal. Later this week, I'll start canning.
I adore your guest room pantry idea. What a splendid idea!
Thanks for visiting my blog. You have a lovely blog and I will return! TTYL.
Heather~~ Not a smudge or bruise or blemish! What a haul! And this is only the first picking? You've got so much verve. Kudos to you.
ReplyDeleteOur guest room doubles as a pantry. It's beautiful, and it works!
ReplyDeleteWhat an impressive harvest you have! And the canning you do is incredible. Our tomatoes are SLOWLY coming in now - much later than previous years due to all the lack of sun we've had. -Jackie
ReplyDeleteNot a red tomato in sight here...due to the record cold July we had!! I'm so jealous of your gorgeous red harvest!!
ReplyDeleteI say convert that room to a pantry!! I bet you won't regret it!!
Jen
I have 34 fewer tomato plants than you. LOL
ReplyDeleteI would love to sleep in a guest pantry. When I was little, I liked to go down to Grandma's cellar and stare at the pretty colors of the canning jars. That was before reality TV. Looking at the photos of yours makes me feel the same. Keep 'em coming, you busy woman.
HOORAY!! Gorgeous tomatoes! Go for the pantry. Make the most of your space!! HA-ha!!
ReplyDeleteThe bottles are so beautiful to see well maintained ,,,,,,,,,,,
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Christena
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