Okay, we’ve covered the basics of canning…freezing corn…freezing green beans…canning and freezing peaches…making and canning applesauce…
Now lets talk about tomatoes!
Last year, I planted 40…yes FORTY tomato plants. On purpose. Because I’m crazy.
I ended up having SO MANY tomatoes, that by the end of the summer, I had canned almost two years worth of tomato sauce, tomato juice and tomato soup. And, I still had tomatoes! I was begging people to please come pick my tomatoes and take them far, far away from my house.
While canning that many tomatoes was a wonderful thing…I still hadn’t fully recovered from it when it came time to plant tomatoes this year. Therefore, I only planted 20 tomato plants this spring. *cough*
The good thing is…I never have to buy any tomato juice, sauce or soup. Ever. And the home-canned stuff is SO GOOD!!!
Here’s the way I make tomato juice and tomato sauce…
First, you start with bunches and bunches of pretty tomatoes, like these. You can take the skins off and the seeds out if you want to…I pretty much just WASH them. I leave the skin on and and the seeds in…mostly because I’m just too lazy to do otherwise. My family doesn’t know the difference, and you can’t really even tell that the seeds and skin are still there. At all.
Next, I cut the tomatoes into fourths and put them into my blender.
The tomatoes are then blended up until they are liquid.
(Mmm, tomato smoothie anyone?)
After I blend up my tomatoes, they go into a big pot. Obviously this pot was not quite big enough! Filling your pot this full will just about guarantee that your pot will boil over and spill all over your stovetop creating a cooked on tomato mess. (Picture of the boiled over mess not available…because I scooped some out before it boiled over, thank you very much.)
Next, I boil my tomatoes, uncovered, stirring occasionally. After a while it begins to look like this. Once that bubbly froth is just about all gone from the top (about an hour and a half or so after beginning the boiling process), you have made tomato juice, and you’re able to go ahead with the hot water bath process of canning tomato juice.
But, if you want tomato sauce, continue to let it boil for another hour or so. You’ll know your tomato sauce is done “saucing” when most of the watery liquid has evaporated. If you continue to cook it at this point, you will have tomato paste…which is fine…if you want tomato paste.
Can your tomato sauce following the hot water bath instructions here.
Then, you will have tomato juice for yummy veggie soups and such…and tomato sauce for sloppy joes, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, enchilada sauce…and whatever else you use tomato sauce for. (If you want to, you can add your herbs and spices into the sauce while your making it so that you’ve got your spaghetti and pizza sauce already put together in your jars!)
AND, if you’ve got other veggies laying around, like yellow squash or zucchini…throw those in while you’re blending up your tomatoes…and add them to your sauce before you cook it down. No one will ever know!
I have a wonderful recipe for tomato soup that I’ll be sure to share soon!
Yumm-eeee!
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You’ll find more Frugal Friday tips here.
Denai says:
OH, I can hardly wait… I have already canned MANY Pints of diced tomatoes and I just walked through my garden while pulling the carrot and saw all the red tomatoes ready to be picked… I think I am TOTALLY going to do some sauce now! THANKS for the inspiration!
September 11th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Amy says:
Thank you for the permission to not peel and remove seeds. I LOVE that!!! I’m not a canning girl YET (will be looking hard at your dad’s auction bills all year to get supplies for next summer!)but I’ve got lots of freezer space. Have you ever frozen tomato sauce, or juice?
Oh, and… 40 tomato plants? Wow.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
lindsay @ passionate homemaking says:
Thanks Laura for this tutorial! I am excited to can some tomatoes soon! Do you can diced tomatoes at all? Curious if this is done differently. I can’t wait to hear your tomato soup recipe! Yum!
September 11th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Donna says:
You have a great way of just leaving us hanging!!!
Can’t wait to see your recipe for that tomato soup!
You make canning look so easy! and fun!
Speaking of tomato smoothies….I have snuck a tomato in on occasion..shh! (-not to mention spinach, thanks 2 U 4 the tip!;)
September 12th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Marnie says:
I have always wanted to try canning tomatoes. Next year I will have to plant more. I only have 2 plants,just enough to enjoy fresh. It would be so nice to not have to buy tomato sauce.
September 12th, 2008 at 5:46 am
Stacy says:
This is great! I agree with Amy, thanks for giving us permission not to peel and de-seed. I am doing a happy dance about that
Stacy
September 12th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Cassandra Stafford says:
Tag Your It!!
September 12th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Penny Raine says:
we do a really big garden and plant at least 200 tomato plants but then we have a big family too. We can lots of tomato stuff, but nothing beats fresh salsa!
Loved your post.
blessings, Penny Raine
http://www.pennyraine.com/blog
September 12th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Heather P. says:
OH my those tomatoes look SOOO good!!
September 12th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Joelle says:
My poor tomato plant died this season. (It was growing in a pot on our porch. We kept it watered but it succumbed to disease). I only got about 7 tomatoes off of it.
Maybe once we move to a place with a yard, we can grow more tomatoes, hopefully enough to can!
September 12th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Michele says:
My husband and I have tomatoes coming out our ears right now, but we are thankful for it. Last year they were damaged by hail…twice. So, that crop only yielded about 20 jars of salsa and 10 of stewed tomatoes. This year we have so much we needed to diversify. This recipe came at just the right time! We both love juice and it tastes great. We both like it a little saltier, but b/c preference changes we didn’t change a thing. We just add salt or (pepper) when we are ready to drink it.
September 13th, 2008 at 7:16 am
Anna says:
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
September 13th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Sharmista says:
I tried this yesterday and it worked great!! It took me an age to peel and de-seed the tomatoes before. Your method was so fast! Thank you!
September 13th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Sharon says:
Do tomatoes always have to be canned using the Water Bath method…. Why not the Open Kettle method?
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Deborah Swinson says:
Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!! I planted 51 tomato plants on purpose this year, but now that I have already done wheel barrow loads of tomates and salsa I am working on sauce. I started the way I have always done it which is slow going. Then I did a search for fast tomato sauce. And here is where I found my answer! I am going right back into my kitchen and get out my blender! Thanks and bless you!
I am also saving your blog to my favorites to come back and read later.
October 7th, 2008 at 5:09 pm