It has been a very busy last six months. We have already been to Missouri and back and now, I am getting ready to go on the Stake Boy Scout Encampment as the camp medic. As soon as I get back from that, literally within two hours, we leave to go back to Michigan for the 175th anniversary of the farm where my mother was born.
We had an opportunity to get about 20 pounds of tomatoes that the food bank needed to get rid of. We decided to bottle them for food storage so I took pictures of the steps.
These were vine ripened tomatoes so we needed to remove the vines.
We washed them very well.
We got out our large stainless steel pot and filled it about 2/3rds to the top and put it on the stove to boil. When the water started to boil, we put six tomatoes at a time in the boiling water for about one minute.
After they boil for about one minute, you will see that the skin has split open.
Take them out and peel the skin off. It comes off very easily. It they have any black spots, they will pull right off with the skin. We then used an apple corer and cored them.
After they were cored, we sliced them in half thru the removed core, laid them cut side down, slice them into three pieces and them turned them one half turn and cubed them.
Now is the time to get your jars and lids ready. We put the one quart Ball jars in hot simmering water and the lids in another sauce pan with hot simmering water. I use Ball jars because I have seen other brand lids rust but have never seen that with Ball lids. I also got out our turkey fryer aluminum pot and put enough water in it to cover the jars with about three inches of water. I then put the pot on the gas fryer.
Take the jars out of the simmering water one at a time and pore out the hot water in it. I used a pair of tongs. Put your funnel into the jar and then start ladling in the tomatoes until it is within 1/2 inch of the top. Use a plastic or metal rod and stick it into the tomatoes, pack them down and get all the air bubbles out. Refill if you have to to leave 1/2 inch head space.
Use a magnetic wand to get the lids out of the simmering water, put it on the jar and then put the ring on finger tight. I put a wire wrack in the bottom of the pot to keep the jars off of the bottom of the pot. The tomatoes filled almost six quarts. I put hot water in the last quart to fill it up so it is about one half tomatoes and one half juice. When all the jars are in the water, I turned the gas on high and once it started boiling, I set the timer for 45 minutes and turned the heat to medium. I didn't get any pictures of that.
After 45 minutes, take the jars out of the boiling water. We put them on a towel to let them cool. Within a couple of minutes, the lids started making the sounds that you like to hear, popping. Let them sit and cool before moving.
Use a permanent marker and put the date on top of the lid and then keep to enjoy later. We have done this before and have used them several years later. They were always great.
With harvest time coming, now is the time to start stocking up on bottles while you can get them.
Have fun
Bob and LouAnn
