Let The Harvesting Begin

Yesterday was tomato canning day…wrong.

 

Just as I got myself in tomato mode (I really have to be in the right frame of mind to tackle this job), Glenn announced that the sweet corn was ready.  Tomatoes can wait, corn cannot.  When corn is ready, a minute’s delay is too long.  Corn just keeps maturing past ‘perfect’

  
 

So, I switched gears, which is difficult for me, and I froze corn.  The redeeming benefit of freezing corn is that it is easier and takes a lot less time than canning tomatoes. My day just got a bit less demanding.

 

I ended up with 10 quart-sized freezer bags of sweet corn, cut off the cob, and ready to heat up for a meal.  Each packet is good for about two meals. 

 

Twenty meals with fresh, cut off the cob corn kernels to devour after the fresh, corn on the cob season has well passed - that is living right, country right!

 

You understand if you are an avid ‘boil-immediately-right off-the-stalk’ sweet corn eater.  If not, you probably do not know the difference between super fresh sweet corn and store-bought ears.  And, I feel sorry for you.

 

Today IS tomato canning day.

 

Preparation of the tools necessary (food processor, cooking pot, canning pot, cutting board, knife, filling funnel, ladle, cooling board covered with newspaper and towels, jar lifter and more) takes about one hour to set out.  Canning jars and lids are washed and the jars are sterilized in the dishwasher.  This takes another 90 minutes. 

 

Then, the actual canning begins.

 

sampling of today's tomatoes

 

After Glenn gathers the Roma tomatoes (this year they are extra huge - almost 4X larger than in previous years- and firm with very little blemishes - the first time our tomatoes have been so good - no, so fabulous) fresh off the vine, I wash them, cut them and remove the stem end, put them through the food processor skin and all, and boil in a pot for about two hours to reduce the water content.  Romas have very little water content compared to any other tomato variety making them very 'meaty' and perfect for canning and for sandwiches as the bread does not get soggy. 

 

The cooked tomato slurry is ladled into jars and processed in a hot water bath for about 20 - 30 minutes for quarts.  I can prepare 7 quarts at a time. Then, the jars are lifted out of the hot water and placed on my paper and towel covered board where they pop (sealing the lids airtight) and sit undisturbed to cool until morning.

first batch cooling and looking pretty

 

This is a lot of preparation and work for a bunch of tomato-filled glass jars, but the end result is well worth all the time and effort.

 

Come tomorrow, I will enter my kitchen and smile at the jars of rich red canned tomatoes sitting on my counter.  It is so satisfying to complete another annual garden chore.  This time, though, the entire canning process was fun because the tomatoes were so near perfect.

 

But, the best part is the taste of home grown tomatoes year ‘round…flavor unchallenged.

 

Have I tempted anyone to grow their own garden next year? 

 

I hope so!





P.S.  Glenn also dug up our onions - not our best crop, never is - but, we keep trying. 

I also froze and dried our first batch of green peppers - more will mature later in the season.  I usually freeze these veggies because it is so easy - clean, cut and bag, but I wanted to try some dried. A whole bunch of peppers (about 18 huge ones) dried down only filled one-half of a quart-sized freezer bag.  Well, the space savings is great.  I only hope the peppers rehydrate back to their pre-dry size.





UPDATE - I finished canning my tomatoes at 2:30 AM with a total of 35 quarts.  Initially, I guessed that I had enough ripe tomatoes for 21 quarts...boy, those huge tomatoes are deceiving. I even had enough left to cut up and fill my dehydrator.