Water Preserving Veggies

[chokkie]

Hi folks, I've just seen an easy peasy recipe to can/preserve fresh tomatoes, and I am of a mind to have a go myself. But you need a hot water bath preserver and, of course, I don't have one of these. Can I do this without a HWBP? And if so, how do I do it - some instructions would be much appreciated.

Cheers, chox.

[stuey]

I don't know what you mean by a "hot water bath preserver ". When I used to can tomatoes, I'd just boil the water in a pot large enough to first briefly heat the tomatoes in preparation for removing the skins, and second to sterilize the jars, and then the jars and their contents.

[Clanad]

Pains me to say it... but stuey is absolutely correct. Look... the acidic content of tomatoes makes them nearly foolproof to can in glass jars (which is standard here in the U.S.) All that's needed is to boil them for about 1 minute or so, plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking at which time the skins just fal off. They are then packed into whatever size jars you like (we usually use quarts) with about a teaspoon full of canning or Kosher salt (just for taste) covered with hot water, and then boiled for about 10 minutes or so (after screwing on the lids, of course), removed and left to "Ping"... the sound of the jar lids sealing. They're good for at least a year... even longer if kept is acool place such as a root cellar.

Other vegetables (we're in the processofharvesg beets and yellow beans) require pressure cooking for about 30 minutes in which case one has to have an appropriate size canning type pressure cooker... ours is 22 quart, but they aren't all that expensive... here in the U.S., the 22 quart size is about $40 or so and lasts forever...

[stuey]

My downstairs neighbour/neighbor do sometimes agree, eh? Also if you want to preserve "fresh" tomatoes, wrap green ones individually in newspaper and place, not touching each other, in a cool dark place. The majority of them will be firm and ripe up until around humbug time...Right, Clanad.

[stuey]

Actually, Clanad, since many parts of the States are further north than me, you might be my upstairs neighbour. What's your latitude in Wyoming? Mine is 43 degrees 54 minutes .

[Clanad]

We're at 44.3475° N, Stuey... we probably freeze as many tomatoes as we can... but I've used the vacuum freezing device for yearsand am always pleasantly surprised at how good it works. We bring in the tomatoes, boil them to remove the skins, let them cool, and arrange on a cookie sheet, not touching, and pop them into the freezer. About an hour later I remove them and then place them in the vaccum freezer bag thing and seal. That way they don't stick to one another and you can remove just the number you need for stew in January!

[stuey]

So you're approximately 70-75 miles north of me then. Did you ever try wrapping green ones in newspaper as I mentioned previously? It's great to taste fresh tomatoes months after the growing season.

[Clanad]

Gonna gi it a try stuey... even today with some good sized green Early Girl tomatos still on...

[stuey]

Wrap up each one in maybe two layers of newspaper and leave in a cool dark place, and keep them separated. Some will rot, but the majority shouldn't.