Tomatoes are a favorite vegetable- or fruit- of most of most Michigan gardeners. And if you don’t garden Michigan farm markets are bursting with the juicy red globes from July through September. While they are great to eat fresh, local tomatoes can turn up on the table all through winter if you take the time to can or freeze some.
Tomatoes will also store for a few months if picked green at the end of the season. Wrap each green tomato in a piece of newspaper and store them in a single layer in a dark, 50-70 degree area. Take out a few at a time to ripen in a sunny window. This can often give you fresh tomatoes until Thanksgiving. The taste won’t be the same as tomatoes vine ripened in the sun, but they will taste as good as the ones shipped in from other states and foreign countries.
Our bodies find it easier to absorb the vitamins and antioxidants that tomatoes are loaded with if the tomatoes are first cooked. And since tomatoes are a part of many wonderful recipes from spaghetti to soup it makes sense to have a good supply of canned tomatoes on hand. Tomatoes can be canned whole or made into sauces, salsa, paste, juice and condiments. Canning is the preferred method of preserving tomatoes, but they can also be frozen or dried.
Any kind or color of tomato can be canned. Even unripe, green tomatoes can be used in some recipes. However, medium sized, round, meaty tomatoes are best for canning. Paste type tomatoes are generally smaller and oblong and these are, of course, better for paste and sauce because they have thicker, less watery flesh. Plant catalogs often describe varieties as good for canning.
Canning tomatoes
Tomatoes are easy to can in dozens of ways. They are often the beginning canners first project. When canning tomatoes make sure to follow modern recipes,(before the 90’s), and canning instructions for food safety. Most tomato products can be canned in a simple water bath canner, but they need additional acid added and should never be just hot packed into jars and allowed to seal. They must be processed in a canner. Your grandmother may have done things differently but research has shown that adding acid and processing tomato products in a canner greatly diminishes food spoilage and enhances food safety.
Start by choosing firm ripe, but not too ripe tomatoes. They can have minor blemishes but avoid fruit that is infected with fungal diseases that can show up as large black spots, rotted areas, or hard, white areas. These tomatoes will increase spoilage odds, even if the bad areas are removed. Wash all tomatoes well, even organically grown ones, just before you are ready to use them.
Many recipes call for peeled tomatoes. To peel tomatoes, get a pot of water boiling and also prepare a pot of cold water. Using a wire strainer or metal colander, dip several tomatoes at a time in the boiling water for 1 minute. You should see the skins crack. Then dip them in cold water for a minute. The skins should easily slip off. Then the core of the tomato is generally cut out.
You will need 4-5 medium tomatoes per quart if canned whole, and 8-10 medium tomatoes if cut. Wash and peel the tomatoes. Leave whole or cut into the desired size pieces. Bring a pot of clean water or tomato juice to boiling. At the bottom of each clean, hot canning quart jar add either two tablespoons of bottled lemon juice or 1/2 teaspoon citric acid. Add 1 teaspoon salt to each jar. ( Salt can be adjusted or left out.)
Now pack tomatoes into jars, leaving a 1/2 inch space to the jar rim. Pour boiling water or tomato juice over the tomatoes, leaving 1/2 space at the top. Run a thin knife blade or “bubble stick” through the tomatoes and around the sides to remove trapped air. Add more liquid if needed. Wipe the jar rim and put on your lid and screw band. Process in a water bath canner for 45 minutes if water is used as the packing liquid and 90 minutes if tomato juice was used.
If you add vegetables such as peppers or onions to tomato products the processing time will change. Tomato products like sauces and pastes will also require different processing times. Follow the recipe and processing times in a good canning book such as Knacks Canning, Pickling and Preserving. Don’t experiment with canning recipes. You may end up with a product that will kill you. Don’t substitute ingredients or change percentages of ingredients in a recipe unless the recipe lists safe substitutes.
Look for more tomato recipes on this site soon.
Freezing tomatoes
Freezing whole tomatoes is only done if you intend to later turn them into sauce or juice. Thawed tomatoes turn into a watery mess. If you want to process tomatoes later, when the weather is cool, you can wash them, remove stems and freeze in freezer bags. When you are ready to make sauce or paste, if the recipe calls for peeled tomatoes, pop the frozen tomatoes into boiling water and the skins will easily slide off. If skins will be removed by a sieve, just thaw tomatoes until soft and proceed with the recipe.
Any cooked tomato sauce or paste, diced or stewed tomatoes and tomato juice can also be made according to a recipe and then frozen in freezer containers or bags.
Tomatoes are a cooking staple. With your cupboard lined with gleaming red jars of tomatoes or your freezer packed with tasty tomato sauce you’ll be prepared to cook all winter. So head out to the garden or farmers market and get some Michigan tomatoes.
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