Canning Tomatoes and Pickles

I have been truly enjoying adventures in my garden this summer. It has helped me connect in many ways to my Mom and my grandmother as I live far away from both of them.

Although I have made freezer jam the last 5 years, this was the first time I have ever tried canning that involved a final processing. Above is the picture of my newest feat.

I made up dill pickles and jarred tomatoes. Both turned out very well and I was quite pleased with the result.

I used roman paste tomatoes because they have fewer seeds and are more meaty. I boiled the tomatoes a few minutes to loosen the skin, I then peeled off the skin and then popped them in the jar along with a couple basil leaves and pushed them down until the tomatoes and liquid were 1/2 inch from the top. I put on the lids securely and then turned them upside down in a large pot and boiled for 25 min. At that point they were taken out of the pot and flipped over and let to cool on the counter. They sealed themselves while cooling.

I also put up some canned pureed tomatoes. I had blanched them in boiling water just a few minutes until the skin was able to slip of easily, I then chopped them into large pieces and had my children grind it through my old-fashioned foley food mill. Here are a couple pictures of that process. I then cooked the tomatoe puree down some and put it into hot sterilized jars and they sealed themselves while they cooled down.

CRISP DILL PICKLES
3 qts. water1 qt. apple cider vinegar1/2 c. canning salt
Mix the ingredients and bring to a rolling boil. Have jars sterilized. Pack cucumbers in hot jars, add dill weed, large garlic clove. Pour hot solution over pickles, seal and turn the jars (lid down) in boiling water for about 4 minutes.

Pickling Salt - Use Kosher salt as a substitute because it does not contain any anti-caking additives which will cause your pickling brine to cloud. Pickling salt is fine-grained so you can double the amount of Kosher salt, or use a salt grinder and grid the Kosher salt before you measure it.

Here is a picture of the bounty I found in my garden upon my return from a weeks vacation:

Needless to say I was thrilled. This has been the second year I have had a vegetable garden. The first year things floundered, but this year they have thrived!!!