Saturday, September 6, 2008

Canning Tomatoes: Part 2

My canning began this morning with the two large tuperwares of tomatoes that I peeled last night. I cooked them into crushed tomatoes and ended up with 6 quarts processed. The are a little thinner in texture that what we usually use so we'll have to let them simmer a bit when we make them into sauce.
As I peeled the second smaller batch of tomatoes, I debated making them into tomato soup but decided against it. Once the tomatoes were in the pan, and simmering I remembered I had wanted to try making salsa this year. I looked at a recipe from a friend's mother-in-law and a few online and found I had all the ingredients. I used this recipe as a base, mostly because the amount of tomatoes corresponded to what I already had and I knew I had exactly one pound of peppers from my CSA this week. My peppers were red, yellow and almost white so they added a nice color. I used a combination of a red cippollini onion and a sweet yellow onion to make the 1 lb of onion. I ran out to the garden to find 5 jalapenos. It wasn't quite the 1/3 of a pound called for so I added some ground cayenne pepper to increase the heat. From other recipes I read, I added cumin, oregano and sugar. Since I wasn't planning on canning in smaller jars I ended up with odds and ends that were in the cabinet: 2 pint jars and 6 of my 1/2 pint jars, for a total yield of 6 pints. I eat a lot of salsa in a year so I'm glad to have a bit of my own made.
On a roll, I decided to make tomatillo salsa with 2 lbs I ordered from my CSA. I had made some fresh last week and have two pints in the fridge, but wanted to make some to can and keep for later this winter. I found this recipe on the web and went to the store for more hot peppers, cilantro, and other groceries. It made two pints( 1 pint jar and 2 half pint jars). Now it's time to rest my feet after all that time in the kitchen today. Luckily today the weather was rainy and cool so it didn't get to steamy in there.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, wow! I'm impressed by the all those rows of jars. :D I have no patience for that kind of work.

Marcia said...

Wow! You had a lot of energy yesterday. I hope you are having some relaxation time today.

Dan said...

That is one busy Saturday morning. I bet I was not even out of bed before you had all that done, lol. The work will be very much appreciated this winter when these type of projects are enjoyed.