Â* There are now 6 quart jars of tomatoes from our garden cooling in the
kitchen . I did it all by myself - well , almost , I did use her notes
in the canning cook book -and didn't screw it up too bad . Next time
I'll be more careful to get all the trapped air out . From the looks of
the 'mater patch I can repeat this every few days for the foreseeable
future . We'll probably stop at 3 or 4 dozen jars , just have to see how
many we actually get . The thing is , demand will grow to meet supply in
this situation ...

Snag
Yes , I'm old
and crochety .
Get off my lawn !


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On 07/21/2018 01:09 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
Â* There are now 6 quart jars of tomatoes from our garden cooling in the
kitchen . I did it all by myself - well , almost , I did use her notes
in the canning cook book -and didn't screw it up too bad . Next time
I'll be more careful to get all the trapped air out . From the looks of
the 'mater patch I can repeat this every few days for the foreseeable
future . We'll probably stop at 3 or 4 dozen jars , just have to see how
many we actually get . The thing is , demand will grow to meet supply in
this situation ...

Â*Snag
Yes , I'm old
and crochety .
Get off my lawn !


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Awesome!

Terry Coombs wrote:
Â* There are now 6 quart jars of tomatoes from our garden cooling in the
kitchen . I did it all by myself - well , almost , I did use her notes
in the canning cook book -and didn't screw it up too bad . Next time
I'll be more careful to get all the trapped air out . From the looks of
the 'mater patch I can repeat this every few days for the foreseeable
future . We'll probably stop at 3 or 4 dozen jars , just have to see how
many we actually get . The thing is , demand will grow to meet supply in
this situation ...

it's very easy to process tomatoes. i'm not sure what
the issue is with "get all the trapped air out" because
you have to leave some head space at the top and that
is air. processing heats and expands that air out of
the jar and the lid seals and the vaccuum is created.
there is still some air in there, but not too much.


songbird

On 7/21/2018 10:52 PM, songbird wrote:
Terry Coombs wrote:
Â* There are now 6 quart jars of tomatoes from our garden cooling in the
kitchen . I did it all by myself - well , almost , I did use her notes
in the canning cook book -and didn't screw it up too bad . Next time
I'll be more careful to get all the trapped air out . From the looks of
the 'mater patch I can repeat this every few days for the foreseeable
future . We'll probably stop at 3 or 4 dozen jars , just have to see how
many we actually get . The thing is , demand will grow to meet supply in
this situation ...
it's very easy to process tomatoes. i'm not sure what
the issue is with "get all the trapped air out" because
you have to leave some head space at the top and that
is air. processing heats and expands that air out of
the jar and the lid seals and the vaccuum is created.
there is still some air in there, but not too much.


songbird

Â* There was air trapped down between the (quartered) tomatoes , one of
the jars isn't near full . And the instructions said to stir things
around in there to let it out - I didn't . They really are easy , but
this is the first time I've done it instead of the wife . She knows all
the tricks I'm learning ... but she has to work and wasn't here to help
.. And those 'maters needed cannin' right away .

--
Snag
Yes , I'm old
and crochety .
Get off my lawn !

Terry Coombs wrote:
....
Â* There was air trapped down between the (quartered) tomatoes , one of
the jars isn't near full . And the instructions said to stir things
around in there to let it out - I didn't . They really are easy , but
this is the first time I've done it instead of the wife . She knows all
the tricks I'm learning ... but she has to work and wasn't here to help
. And those 'maters needed cannin' right away .

oh, ok, now i get it, when we put up tomato chunks
there is usually enough liquid that such air pockets
aren't in there that much. so perhaps you are using
a less juicy tomato than we are (beefsteaks).

by the time i have the pot of tomatoes heated
through for putting in jars they are mostly
liquid with chunks. a few taps or pokes and
they bubble up. i don't really worry about it.
with acidic things a little air bubble isn't
going to affect much at all. after a while i'm
sure that it equalizes so that the little oxygen
or whatever in there disperses. nitrogen being
fairly inert, etc. yeah, i just don't worry...

the only times we've had issues with spoiling
was one season when we had tomatoes with a lot
of intrusions from the outer skin inwards and if
we missed one of those and it was already starting
to rot then it could ruin that jar. we only had
one or two jars go off from that (out of several
thousand). Mom's eyes being the way they are
she sometimes can't see so i do actually try to
do quality control and while i'm stirring the pots
of tomatoes as they heat up i often can find things
we've missed that i can pick out. there's enough
acid in them that i could probably leave them in
there but i'm picky. i doubt anyone other than
me would notice (a very micro tiny speck and i'll
track it down and get it out of there).

those tomatoes were a b*tch to process...

http://www.anthive.com/img/edibles/t...Tomato_thm.jpg


songbird

On 7/22/2018 9:10 AM, songbird wrote:
Terry Coombs wrote:
...
Â* There was air trapped down between the (quartered) tomatoes , one of
the jars isn't near full . And the instructions said to stir things
around in there to let it out - I didn't . They really are easy , but
this is the first time I've done it instead of the wife . She knows all
the tricks I'm learning ... but she has to work and wasn't here to help
. And those 'maters needed cannin' right away .
oh, ok, now i get it, when we put up tomato chunks
there is usually enough liquid that such air pockets
aren't in there that much. so perhaps you are using
a less juicy tomato than we are (beefsteaks).

by the time i have the pot of tomatoes heated
through for putting in jars they are mostly
liquid with chunks. a few taps or pokes and
they bubble up. i don't really worry about it.
with acidic things a little air bubble isn't
going to affect much at all. after a while i'm
sure that it equalizes so that the little oxygen
or whatever in there disperses. nitrogen being
fairly inert, etc. yeah, i just don't worry...

the only times we've had issues with spoiling
was one season when we had tomatoes with a lot
of intrusions from the outer skin inwards and if
we missed one of those and it was already starting
to rot then it could ruin that jar. we only had
one or two jars go off from that (out of several
thousand). Mom's eyes being the way they are
she sometimes can't see so i do actually try to
do quality control and while i'm stirring the pots
of tomatoes as they heat up i often can find things
we've missed that i can pick out. there's enough
acid in them that i could probably leave them in
there but i'm picky. i doubt anyone other than
me would notice (a very micro tiny speck and i'll
track it down and get it out of there).

those tomatoes were a b*tch to process...

http://www.anthive.com/img/edibles/t...Tomato_thm.jpg


songbird

Â* Dayummmm ! Were they all like that ?

--
Snag
Yes , I'm old
and crochety .
Get off my lawn !

Terry Coombs wrote:
songbird wrote:
....
those tomatoes were a b*tch to process...

http://www.anthive.com/img/edibles/t...Tomato_thm.jpg

Â* Dayummmm ! Were they all like that ?

about 2/3rds of them had those intrusions.
all weren't that big. that one weighed nearly
three lbs. it was so odd i had to take a pic...

i was so very glad to see that last year's
crop were the more normal shape we were used to
seeing. i'm not sure if that shape was from
pollination or that those plants that year came
from strange seeds or what.


songbird