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Good canning tomato??
On Thu, 12 May 2011 12:48:57 -0500, zxcvbob
wrote: Sue wrote: On Thu, 12 May 2011 01:29:59 +0000 (UTC), Nad R wrote: zxcvbob wrote: Sue wrote: On Wed, 11 May 2011 16:21:55 -0700 (PDT), " wrote: On May 11, 7:11 pm, Sue wrote: I am really late getting my garden in this year and finally have the ground prepared. Whatever tomatoes I planted last year just didn't do well for canning purposes. I'm not starting from seeds and get my plants at Lowe's or Home Depot. Any suggestion on a good variety to can (that I would find at either of those two stores)? My garden is *very* small so I can't put in too many plants. Sue in the San Joaquin Valley of Calif. If your canning for sauce Roma's are the best and the grow in a fairly compact plant. Sorry. I should have been more specific. No, I grow for stewed tomatoes - tomatoes with onion, celery and bell peppers. Sue Any tomato will work then. Maybe plant a couple Better Boy and one something-else (Roma?) Better Boy is a hybrid all-purpose tomato. It has good flavor and usually yields very high. Bob Find a local green house nursery instead of the big box warehouse places. Nurseries will have healthier and a greater selection of plants. Chuckle. We have no local green house. The closest possible would be 35 miles from here. Since I have no pressing need to go out of town in the next few days (my only reason is for doctor's appts) the cost would be pretty awful considering the price of gas right now. Tomatoes for canning are divided into two categories, "Plum" and "Globe". Plums tomatoes are great for sauces they have a higher pulp to juice ratio. Plums also have Plum shape to them, tends to be long and tapered at the ends. Globes are more rounded and good for general canning and for soups. Romas "plum" tomatoes are good for sauces and Big Boys "globe" tomatoes are good for Juices and Soups. One problem I had last year was that I didn't have enough tomatoes at any given time to can. I'm thinking maybe my error was in getting two different varieties (2 plants each). I don't know. They just weren't successful. Sue If I get enough peppers and tomatoes at once, I can a batch or two of salsa, but mostly my tomatoes are for eating fresh and giving a few away. Commercial canned tomatoes are so good and so cheap, it hardly pays to can your own -- except occasionally as practice so you know *how* to can your own if you need to someday. In a pinch I can use canned whole tomatoes (the big #10 cans from Sam's Club) and fresh chiles and onions to make salsa. Tomatillos actually grow better here (Minnesota) than tomatoes, so I like growing a few of them for green salsa. They usually reseed themselves and I just transplant a few, but I didn't get any volunteer seedlings last year so I bought some fresh tomatillos and planted seeds saved from the biggest one. They are coming along nicely. Here's my favorite salsa recipe: Chile Salsa (from USDA bulletin 539) yield: 6 to 8 pints 5 pounds tomatoes 2 pounds chile peppers 1 pound onions, chopped 1 cup vinegar (5%) 3 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper Roast and peel peppers if they have tough skins (not necessary with jalapeños or serranos) remove seeds and stems, chop. Scald and peel tomatoes; chop. Combine all ingredients in large saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes. Ladle into pint jars, leave 1/2 inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Notes: If the tomatoes are too juicy, add an 8 ounce can of tomato sauce or a tablespoon of tomato paste. I like using half bottled lemon juice and half white vinegar instead of straight vinegar. I don't know why but it tastes better than using all vinegar or all lemon juice. -Bob Thanks. Oh, I don't see that my canned stewed tomatoes are any better than what I could buy at the store. It's just the satisfaction of doing it. I was raised by a career woman who made strawberry jam *once*. That was the total of her canning. Thanks for the recipe! Sue |
#2
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Good canning tomato??
Sue wrote:
Oh, I don't see that my canned stewed tomatoes are any better than what I could buy at the store. It's just the satisfaction of doing it. I was raised by a career woman who made strawberry jam *once*. That was the total of her canning. I sympathize with running a hobby to completion once and then losing interest. I've done that with most of the crafts that I have tried. I demonstrated to myself I could do X. Done. Next project type. Only a few hobbies I've continued. Herb gardens, home brewing ... |
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Good canning tomato??
Doug Freyburger wrote:
Sue wrote: Oh, I don't see that my canned stewed tomatoes are any better than what I could buy at the store. It's just the satisfaction of doing it. I was raised by a career woman who made strawberry jam *once*. That was the total of her canning. I sympathize with running a hobby to completion once and then losing interest. I've done that with most of the crafts that I have tried. I demonstrated to myself I could do X. Done. Next project type. Only a few hobbies I've continued. Herb gardens, home brewing ... I even lost interest in home brewing once I "mastered" mashing pale grain malt. But I've been thinking I should dust off my equipment and try it again and see how much I've forgotten; see if I can still brew a drinkable beer. -Bob |
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