Tomato Canning Adventures Continue!

Admittedly, this post should be about my craft room reno, but we have reached a stalemate with the spikes, and my travel schedule the past 2 weeks. When I have had time at home, I've spent it experimenting with more canning recipes... all with tomatoes.

After my first adventure, I was committed to putting my new canner to more use. Not only that, but I was a little disappointed with the result; 3 cans of tomato sauce was NOT going to last the winter!

After a week of sunny weather, the tomatoes left in my garden still had not ripened, so I purchased half a bushel of roma tomatoes from a local farm market for $8. I immediately whipped up a batch of tomato sauce, using the same recipe as last time. My home once again filled with the sweet aroma of boiled tomatoes, cinnamon and nutmeg. A few hours later, and I had several quart jars of sauce.

A few days later, with the remaining tomatoes quickly being devoured by time and my cat (she ate at least a quart), I decided to try my own salsa. I know salsa is easy to make, but having never tried a canned salsa before, I wasn't sure how many jalepenos or hot peppers to use. Bf and I had picked up fresh, Ontario hot peppers when we bought the tomatoes, and now I had five at my disposal. Hold your giggle; I didn't use all 5! I snipped the tip off one, and deciding it was pleasantly warm, chopped it up and threw it in. A few slices of pickled jalepeno and my home was beginning to smell like the local Mexican cafe we love.

I cruised around the internet and ended up with a combination recipe from several websites.

Savvy Homegirl's Salsa Recipe
10lbs (approx) tomatoes
2 C green peppers
3 large onions
1 hot pepper
3 slices of jalepeno
3 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp pepper
1 Tbsp chile pepper
5 garlic cloves minced or pressed
3/4 C vinegar

Boil the tomatoes until the skins split, then submerse in cold water and remove the skins. Puree half the tomatoes in a blender and heat in large stock pot on the stove. Chop remainder of tomatoes into quarters, sixths or eights depending on size. Finely chop remaining veggies, press garlic and add all veggies and spices to the pot. Add vinegar, stir and bring pot to a boil.

I know I could've got away without using my canner to seal my salsa jars, however the canner worked well to sterilize my jars before filling them. Especially since it seemed like I started the salsa while my dishwasher was mid-wash, and I had not thought to put the jars in it.

The result? 14 jars of salsa with just enough heat to spice up your nachos, but not enough to make you sweat. I also had just enough tomatoes left for a pot of homemade tomato soup. Paired with Sobey's new Swiss Multigrain Bread, and you have a scrumptious fall lunch!

Savvy Homegirl's Canning Adventure - Tomato Sauce

From the very begginning of spring, I planned to make tomato sauce with my garden tomatos. I love homemade tomato sauce, and putting this away for winter only made sense.

Since I've never canned, I checked out some recipes recommended for doing so. Secretly, I thought I'd be making a grand Bolognese, until I read it's better to limit the recipe to tomatos and spices, because other vegetables will alter the pH. I experimented with a few recipes, making a few small batches, before finding this super yummy recipe at Canadian Gardening.

It makes a HUGE batch, and I didn't have near enough tomatoes for the full recipe. I ended up quartering it, using fresh basil and parsley, and it turned out absolutely delish. I cooked the sauce on Sunday then put it in the fridge to can this week.

Despite getting home late from work, I was determined to can the sauce last night. Like I said, it wasn't a huge batch, and I only had about 3-4 pint jars worth to do. I didn't own a canner, but I thought for small jars, I could likely get away with using a stockpot on my stove.

This is where I wished had learned by now to do my research BEFORE I start a project, instead of simultaneously. With the sauce reheating reheated on the stove, my lids sitting in hot water in the sink and jars hot in the dishwasher, I turned my stockpot water on to boil and prepared to spoon my sauce into my jars.

Then I realized it. I didn't have a rack to keep the jars off the bottom of the pot. Did this matter? Do I need a rack? What if the jars sit on the bottom? I couldn't find a website advising a rack WASN'T needed, and I couldn't find anything to substitute for a rack. Panic set in. I turned all the burners off, grabbed my keys and headed to the only place I could think of that would have a rack at 9:30 PM. Wal-Mart. ick.

The whole drive to the store and back, a little voice repeatedly told me how stupid it was that I didn't do more research on this BEFORE starting the process (for a second time). Planning to just by a rack that could sit in the bottom of my pot, I ended up with an entire canner. At $16.97, I decided to go for it.

Arriving back home, I poured 4 inches of water in my new canner, put the glass jars back in hot water, pulled one out, dropped a 1 Tbsp of lemon juice in the jar and started spooning in the tomato sauce. At that point, I began questioning my IQ for a second time. The 'pop lids' were too big. I bought the size too big. I bought them Sunday! Why didn't I check this out before tonight?!

Thoroughly defeated, I put an old lid on one of the jars and put it in the freezer. I poured the remainder of the sauce back in my bowl and returned the bowl to the fridge. So now I have enough for 2 bottles of sauce. Yes, TWO. I bought a canner for 2 jars of tomato sauce. They're not even quart jars, they're pints. I think I'm going to have to make a lot more tomato sauce to justify this purchase.

Especially, since my mom told me after I could've heated up my jars, poured the hot sauce into them, put the seal on and it would've sealed on its own. Of course, your seals have to fit first... All my research also said NOT to do this, because you always run the risk of the jars spoiling if they're not sterilized or the food isn't hot enough.

So, for the second night in a row, I put my sauce back on the stove tonight to heat up. It was overkill, but I put the water canner on also, heated my jars in hot water in the sink, poured in my sauce, put the lids on and put them in the canner. They sealed in ten minutes. 2 jars in a 6-jar canner is totally overkill, but all in all, it was a good practice run for a bigger batch next time.