Listen for the Pop!

Listen for the Pop!

It's canning season and the time to can tomatoes for me. It is the only thing that I can because we use a lot of tomatoes for cooking in the winter.

My daughter uses the canned tomatoes for her homemade spaghetti sauce. I use it for cooking chili and goulash. They taste a lot better than the canned tomatoes you buy in the grocery store for sure.

This year we didn't have very good tomatoes. The weather didn't cooperate this Spring and it was too cool. We have a couple of tomatoes but not enough to can. So I went to a farmer's market and bought a half bushel. My mother and neighbor also gave me some of the tomatoes from their gardens.

Canning tomatoes is pretty easy but does take time. You first wash all of your tomatoes and blanch them by pouring scalding hot water over them. That way they are easy to peel and the skins just slide off. 

If you have ever canned anything before you know that the lid has to be sealed or you will have spoiled food. You have to sterilize the jars in boiling hot water before you put the tomatoes in each of the jars. Then you add a tbsp. of salt to each jar on top of the tomatoes. Make sure the rims are wiped clean before putting the lids on. I sterilize the lids first in boiling water on the stove for around a couple of minutes. 

When your canner's water comes to a rolling boil you then place the jars of tomatoes in the rack of the canner. The way I do it is have enough water to just barely cover the jars. I leave my stove on high to keep it always boiling and cook the tomatoes for  40 minutes.

Then take the tomatoes out and sit the jars on a dry towel a couple of inches apart. Pretty soon you will start to hear some popping sounds. That means the jars are sealed. Some pop right away and some take longer. I love hearing the 'pop' sound. It's fun looking at your finished products sitting there on your counter top knowing that they will taste great the coming winter ahead!