I’m currently taking two University classes in the evening and working during the day so, needless to say, cooking, blogging, laundry, cleaning, shopping, or eating anything that doesn’t come from a Drive-Thru are not very high on my priority list at the moment.
And although I love to get fresh veggies from friends and family members, I just don’t have the time right now to do anything with them. However, a friend gave me a bunch of garden tomatoes the other day so I made a point of setting aside an hour to can them. It’s easy, fast, and then I can enjoy the sweet summery taste of fresh tomatoes all winter long while I’m cramming for exams.
Step 1
Wash any dirt off of the tomatoes and remove the stems.
Step 2
Cut an X into the bottom of each tomato with a sharp knife. Bring a pot of water to a low boil over high heat. Drop 3 or 4 tomatoes at a time into the boiling water and blanch them for 45 seconds to 1 minute.
Step 3
Remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and immediately put them into an ice bath. The skins should begin to easily peel off.
Step 4
Gently peel the skins off the tomatoes. Cut out the stem end and any bruised or damaged sections. Cut the tomatoes into quarters if they are large.
Step 5
Add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to the bottom of clean, sterilized canning jars. Fill the jars with tomatoes and push down to fit to 1/2″ from the rim. Don’t worry if the tomatoes get squished a bit. Run a knife around the sides of each jar, all the way to the bottom, to remove any air pockets.
Step 6
Wipe the jar rims and add the lids. Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes. Remove the jars and cool on wire racks. Use these tomatoes with pasta, in sauces, soups, or anytime you would normally use store-bought canned tomatoes.
Now that you’re a pro at canning, try these canning recipes!
