Lots of tomatoes. We had some high 40 degree temps last week at night and the tomato plants do not like that at all. They start to drop the ripest fruits and the leaves start to die off. (Yes, tomatoes are a fruit and not a veggie!)
First of two 5 gallon buckets picked today.
Ralph, who is camera shy, keeps an eye on the tomatoes. She is such a good dog! She likes tomatoes and I give her a couple of the cherry tomatoes while I am picking. But not too many of course, and she never goes into the garden to forage for herself.
Tomatoes go into the sink to wash off whatever dirt or bugs or muck sticks to them. There are no pesticides to wash off because nothing is ever applied to them. Only some grass clippings to keep the weeds in check,
Once washed, they await the boiling water bath.
Here after 30 seconds, the skin starts to blister and they can be prepared for canning.
They going to cold water in the sink and the Cathy removes the skin and cores them and stuffs them into the jar in the background.
They get stuff in and squished together till they are about a half inch from the top.
Once filled, salt is added and then the jars are sealed.
They are then placed in a water bath of boiling water for 45 minutes.
When the time is up, they get lifted out and set on a wooden cutting board to cool.
It's interesting that when the tomatoes are stuffed into the canning jars, they sit on the bottom, however, after the canning process they rise to the top as a result of the vacuum process. Nothing but salt has been added to the tomatoes, so what you are seeing here is just the water that was present in the tomatoes when picked. About 2 hours after picking, the first batch is canned and cooling.
This is today's results. 19 quarts of home grown Roma tomatoes, canned and ready for use sometime in the future. Some snowy day when there are no tomato plants anywhere in site. When comfort food calls you. Tomato sauce over anything. It brings back some of the smells and tastes of summer.
These tomatoes came from ten plants. There are probably enough tomatoes still ripening for about two more canings. We'll see how it goes.
That's it for tonight. (I think I set a record for pictures.)
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