wrote:
songbird wrote:
wrote:

done well and taste great. i'd like to try some
romas sometime.

Romas are great for salsas and sauces. They have more pulp and less juice.
I use a Roma strainer that removes the skin and seeds so that it gives the
sauce a sweeter taste. Most store bought sauces blend the whole tomato that
seems to me gives the sauce a bitter taste.

when we juice we core them, then heat
them up to soften and then run them through a
hand cranked food mill to remove the seeds and
skins. when we do chunks we soak the tomatoes
in hot water and then peel off the skins and
core them. then to can them we make sure they
are good and hot and fill the jars, wipe the
rims, put the lids and rings on and then
process as usual.

we don't do sauces or salsas, but we give
a lot of tomatoes away to my SIL who does
make salsa from them.


starting broccoli from seed?

I have not done this yet, not positive, I think Broccoli is a cool weather
plant. If it fails, oh well, better than letting the soil go bare. I might
change my mind and plant more leaf lettuce... From seed




what kind of peas and beans have you planted?
our peas are Little Marvel and Alaska Early.

Alaskan also for the peas.

Kentucky Wonder Pole beans growing up on a trellis. I have always had very
good luck with these beans. The Japanese Beetle trap thirty feet away seems
to keep them away from the beans. A few years ago those beetles have
stripped the beans in the past. The traps seems to work well and keeps them
off the beans.

we have a few Japanese Beetles here. i
try to get them by hand when i see them.
there's not a lot of grass/sod around for
them to start from.

if they get bad i'll try the traps, but
as of yet no reason to bother. not for a
little chewing here or there.


I do can some whole
tomatoes but tend to turn the beefsteaks into tomato juice and the Romas
into sauce and salsa. Since it is just me, I go for the pints and I tend to
pressure can all tomato products instead of the Boiling Water Bath.

does it cut down on time without messing up
the flavor or are you more concerned about the
risk of spoiling?

I have done it both ways for canning tomatoes. I cannot taste the
difference and I have rarely had any failures of the Water Bath or Pressure
canning. I like the pressure canner because I do not need gallons and
gallons of water on my small stove and a pain to fill it up. My
All-American pressure canner heats up much faster than the BWB but takes
longer to cool down. Time is a little longer than the BWB by a few minutes.
Since tomatoes are a border line fruit on the PH scale it probably helps on
the food safety issue also.

no worries here on the acid levels.
using Beefsteaks and they are fine.

normal processing here is oven canning
so we are not boiling large amount of water
to seal the jars. just preheating the
oven. i do not recommend oven canning to
anyone else, but Ma has been doing it this
way for as long as i've been alive and
it's not that tough. just need a reliable
oven or oven thermometer and a timer and
all high acid items come out fine for us.

low acid canning i would go with a
pressure cooking method for sure.


when she cooks for the families she can use
4-6 quarts at a time. for us we use 2 at a
time (most often for macaroni and tomatoes, in
the middle of winter it is our favorite).

Quarts are way too much for me since I do not cook for a family. One or two
pints are the perfect size for me for soups or chili. I prefer the
standard jars instead of the wide mouth because they are easier to remove
with the jar lifter. I use a bottle brush for cleaning. My hand would have
a hard time in a wide mouth jar also

we'll eat all week off it and sometime freeze
portions for later if she's making something
more complicated like lasagne or manicotti.
cold lasagne is the food of the gods for
breakfast or quick lunch on a hot day.
i like to keep things simple...


songbird