Canning Tomatoes 2014

Canning is one thing that I have learned since I moved  here in  the US.  My father-in-law taught me the process when we were still living in his house.  I will be forever grateful for that because I have  loved to can since then.  I love making my own  tomato/pasta sauce.  In the country where I came from, you can pretty much  grow your tomatoes all year round but over here, you can only do it during the warm weather, unless of course if you have a geen house, then you can grow  veggies during the cold season.  Anyway, here's how:

• Make sure to wash all your  tomatoes.  The riper the tomatoes are the better, it's easier to peel.  
• Boil a big pit of water  and dump it on the tomatoes.  You can put the tomatoes in the sink or you can use a basin big enough to hold all the tomatoes and the water.

•  Wait till you see the skin of tomatoes cracks up and the water is cool enough to handle, then start peeling the skin off the tomatoes.  

•  You can slice the tomatoes according to the size that you like.  The smaller size you cut them, the easier it is to put in the jar when  it is done cooking. 
• When you are done peeling all the tomatoes, put it in a big pot.

• Add water (I just estimate   how much water I put, usually, half amount of how much tomatoes are in the pot.  Add salt and  sugar (for sweetener, I used my NuStevia quick dissolve tabs from NunNaturals since I have a lot of them at home)
• Slice  the ingredients that you like to put in the sauce.  Since I  usually use my sauce to make pasta or chili, I always add onions, peppers (hot and bell peppers), and sometimes, I add  mushrooms.
• Here are the herbs I usually add: parsley flakes, oregano, black pepper,  and basil.

•  Add everything in the pot and let it cook for about 1  and half hours till everything is cooked.

•  Make sure to  sterilize your  jars and lids very well so that  the sauce would be preserved without problem.

•  It is always  great to  taste your sauce if it needs salt or something that is missing.

•  I usually use this measuring cup when canning because  it easier to  pour the sauce inside the sauce inside the jar especially if your jar has the small  mouth.

•  I love the jars with big lids because  it is so much easier to  pour the sauce especially if it has chunks of tomatoes in it.

Well, I did four batches of canning this year  and I think I am done but let us see because I still have so many green tomatoes in the garden.  Canning requires a lot of work but it is worth doing because you are sure what's in the sauce that you are using  when you cook.  I love doing it as  I don't have to buy commercially made sauce from the store.