I canned my first organic tomatoes of the season today. Actually I turned this batch into sauce. This harvest is amazing, despite the freezing temps we had here for many days. I was diligent about covering the plants with tarps at night, and it paid off.

The canning process includes:

  • washing the tomatoes
  • cutting an X in them
  • blanching them so the skin peels off easily
  • chopping them
  • Preparing and cooking the sauce for hours
  • sterilizing the Ball jars and lids
  • sterilizing the pot
  • putting the sauce in jars
  • swirling a (non-metallic) spatula along the inside walls of the jar to get the air out
  • wiping the the rims of the jars clean
  • sealing them with new lids
  • boiling 3 quarts of water
  • putting the hot water in the canner
  • placing the jars in the canner
  • securing the lid
  • setting the burner on high
  • waiting and watching, wait, wait, wait
  • when the pressure gets up to 11, lowering the heat
  • releasing steam from the release lever as needed to keep the pressure at 11
  • when 15 mintues have passed with the pressure steady at 11, turning off the burner and removing pot from the heat
  • waiting a long time until pressure lowers and pot cools for a long while (I wait 2+ hours)
  • removing lid and jars from pot
  • you’re done! well not yet . . .
  • cleaning up your big mess!

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Darwin, my (53 day old) standard poodle puppy wanted to get in (literally) on the canning action

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Abundance of varieties, sizes and colors!

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Gotta give them a good rinse

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Yum! You can see the water marks on the jars from the canner.

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