Oops...I just thought of one more.

Can I can the brandywine (heirloom) tomatos also? I have 7 roma plants which I planted for sauce and salsa, but ended up with 5 brandywine plants. It's just me and my husband and we'll NEVER eat that many fresh tomatos. Do those can well, or are they too soft and watery?

I have romas and Marianna's Peace which is something like Brandywine, HUGE and JUICY. Like you, we have more than we can eat fresh. I have been canning mostly Romas but throw a couple of Marianna's Peace into each lot. I end up with a little more juice after I pack the jars, but I mash any leftover tomato bits and push it through a strainer and process it for tomato juice. It is awesome.

You have to add lemon juice, 2 TABLEspoons to each quart. I have been canning off and on since about 1970 and every time I go on a canning binge the recommended amount of lemon juice is more and the processing times are longer.

I was using a 1970s book, with a 1980 notation in the margin to double the lemon juice, to two TEAspoons per quart. I canned about 20 pints this year before I read up again and learned that I still wasn't using nearly enough lemon. I will be sure and use those jars for things that will be cooked/boiled again, like soup.

Most of the recipes for pasta sauce, salsa etc that I could find called for a pressure canner. I finally ordered one today. It's been on my wish list for 37 years, about time I treated myself, huh?

I can't really address the rest of your questions with any expertise, but my feeling is that once you start adding mushrooms and onions and things it affects the acidity. I couldn't find any reliable recipes for BWB pasta sauce.

To get the proper amount of citric acid per jar, measure it in before filling each with boiling tomatoes. If they are to also be salted, add that as well. Sometimes its difficult to know how many jars your going to get from a batch. Salting before its cooked may result in a too salty sauce, because salt will not boil away. Here, if I start with about 2 gallons or more of tomatoes, they can cook down quite a lot and only fill 5 to 7 quart jars. Measuring the citric then can give you a better chance at knowing what the concentration will be. You can't over acidify, but they can be a bit sour if you used too much acid. I much prefer citric to lemon juice or vinegar. Both of them have a flavor that I can still taste. Citric is just plain sour and has very little taste. For a salsa, I would prefer to add bottled lime juice instead, or cider vinegar. I do add some herbs to my sauces, namely oregano, and basil, as well as a little chopped garlic. For a plain tomato sauce, they just get a few whole leaves of basil, like you see in most store bought cans. I pull these leaves out and add some other herbs when preparing the sauce. Another flavor add in is dill weed. Dill seems to go well with tomatoes. I also make a few jars of stewed tomatoes that have some celery, onion and sweet peppers added. These get almost double the required amount of added citric acid due to their lower acidity. They also get processed a bit longer. The stewed tomatoes are at a strong boil when I pour it in hot jars. The water bath pot you use, must be deep enough to have water cover the tops of the jars by at least 2 inches. The jars must also be raised off the bottom, as they can shatter if they are unevenly heated. Most any kind or tomato can be canned, but usually the best for canning are tomatoes with little water and loose gel inside. The thicker and firm the tomato, the better sauce consistancy. If you don't have a ROMA (formally Villaware) food strainer get one! They will make quick work out of lots of tomatoes and you get no seeds or skins left in the sauce.

Wow...thanks ya'll!

That helped alot! I feel better about starting to can now, we'll see how long that warm fuzzy feeling lasts ;)

Thanks to both of you - barton and ksrogers :)

I'll be looking into that food strainer for sure! If I can't afford it, I think the hubby will be helping with processing all those tomatos!

The pressure canner is on the christmas list ;) I'll have alot of other things to be canning next year and will really need one. I can get by *this* year with freezing whatever leftover corn or beans we have, but since this is my first garden since I was a kid...not to mention the first time gardening in colorado...things will be much better next year!!!

Thanks again you guys...I'll be around ;) Gotta find good recipies for all those durn pickles now too

You can freeze your tomatoes too and make sauce or soups later. Freezing will break down some of the cells and when you thaw them, let the juice drain away (save to drink or use as a soup base) and you won't have to cook down quite so much.

Sometimes my garden just plain gets ahead of me or it's too hot to be cooking down tomatoes for sauce. Wait for fall when you don't mind having the oven on!!

Deanna

There are some recipes for making sauces that are safe for the boiling water bath canner.
I am sending you this link so you can see the methods and recipes. I prefer citric acid crystals for plain tomatoes. Vinegar is not good in plain tomatoes, but is good for salsa. That, or you can use bottled lemon juice or bottled lime juice in salsa, as well. Some recipes require it.
There is another link just for safe salsa recipes. This is the most reliable source there is for home canning, in my opinion.
Just be sure if you are canning plain tomatoes, no water added, or not crushed tomatoes, that you process the full 85 min. in the BWB canner, along with the added bottled lemon juice or citric acid. Many people misunderstand the times and think that the ones with added WATER to the jars is the correct time and temperature. I can't see anyone wanting to water down their tomatoes, but that is just my opinion.

Here is a link that might be useful: Canning tomatoes.

Laura,

Welcome to the forum and to canning!

Good luck with that tomato harvest. Sounds lovely!

> First...I'll be limited to BWB... I had read that tomatoes will be safe (barring newbie mess ups) as they are acidic enough for BWB.

Yes! Tomatoes are pretty much the borderline case --- most fruits are more acidic and can be BWB; most veggies are less acidic and need pressure canning.

Just follow the safety-tested instructions (processing time and adding acid) and you can eat pasta with your own home-canned sauce all winter with confidence. Yum!

The link Linda Lou gave is a great place to start. And if you buy new jars, they usually come with basic canning instructions for jams and tomatoes. But I recommend you also get a Ball Blue Book (BBB). It is widely available in summertime, costs only about $6, and has step by step isntructions, lots of recipes, etc. --- a great investment for the beginning canner!

>> Second...I was reading on the forum about adding additional acid to be on the safe side (lemon, vinigar, etc)...is there a preferance or does it depend on what you are making.

I add bottled lemon juice to tomato sauce (get a good brand --- I once bought a cheap dollar-store bottle and really hated the taste). Salsa recipes need a good deal of acid to be safe to begin with --- Annie's is the BEST, you can use lemon or lime juice or vinegar (I usuall use a combo that includes cider vinegar).

For plain tomatoes, as Linda Lou suggests, citric acid can be the best choice since it changes flavour the least.

>> Third...about that acid. Can you add too much of whatever (and will anything "BAD" happen)

Nothing bad can happen. But too much acid can make for a sour taste, not surprisingly!

>> Fourth...again with the acid...I'm going to be making sauce or salsa, any recommendations for acid?

In a flavoured pasta sauce I use lemon juice --- tastes fine to me --- or even red wine vinegar. The salsa, as I mentioned above, should have enough acid in the recipe if it is a tested one.

Many people find the BWB-safe salsas to be on the vinegar-y side, so if you are one of them you may decide to freeze your salsa so you can make it with less acid. I never found one I liked that was BWB safe till I tried Annie's!

>>> Fifth...I'd say 80% of the tomatos will go towards pasta sauce since we eat pasta like crazy. (Because of the BWB) Will it be better to just make plain sauce and flavor it as we open and use it...or can we add some of the herbs and/or garlic before canning

You can sure do that! I add a garlic clove and a sprig of basil and some salt to each jar. Or you can make up a batch using one of the recipes in the BBB or the website. Just don't add MORE low-acid veggies than a tested recipe calls for for a given amount of tomatoes, so your pH stays in the safe zone.

You may want to make some plain to use in cooking, etc. Though it's hard to imagine what one would make with tomato sauce where a bit of basil and garlic would be BAD.... LOL

>> Sixth...I think this is the last question :) In the sauce and salsa can I can with fresh herbs or will it be pointless. Either because it won't can safely because of the BWB or it will loose too much flavor.

Oh, it is definitely worthwile to do this!

>> Seventh...I lied...I thought of one last thing. Can I use my pasta pot as a canning pot? it's more than tall enough to fit a few jars and still let the water boil around it - the lid is a normal lid that just sits on top, but it does have a nice fit so the steam can do it's thing.

You sure can! Any pot is fine as long as it is tall enough that there is a good layer of boiling water on top of the jars. (They say it should be an inch or two of water on top; I have cheated and used a slightly shorter pot so there was only a half-inch or so of water above the jars, and all my jars sealed anyway, but I have to watch carefully and add more hot water from time to time so the level doesn't go below my jars during the processing.)

Remember that you will need something to keep the jars off the bottom of the pot (to be sure they don't hit a hot spot and crack). There's a thread about this on the forum; you can use a washcloth or a layer of canning rings, but many of us find a cheap cake rack or a pie plate with holes punched is the most effective and easy for this.

Note that, while using the lid is good to keep the water boiling well without using a tonne of energy, it's not actually about the steam in a BWB canner --- it is the boling WATER surrounding the jars that does the processing (keeps everything at 212 degrees). So it is no biggie if you take the lid off to peek and steam escapes.

One more piece of advice I give all new canners because I was a new one myself very recently: Buy a jar lifter! It costs about $5 and can be found at most hardware stores (ask if you don't see one --- they often have canning supplies stashed somwewhere even if not on display). It is THE most useful device. THe hardest part was getting the hot jars out of the canner before I got mine, and I spalshed a lot of near-boiling water on myself trying to get them out with tongs, hot pads, etc.!

Oh, and your Brandywine tomatoes will make a fine and yummy sauce! BUT the more non-paste tomatoes you use, the runnier your sauce will be.

To make it thicker there are several options. You can cook it down longer. Or you can scoop out the middles before you start. What I do is, after the toms are chopped and in the pot and have just started to cook so a lot of juice is running out of them, but before they're all soft and mushy, I scoop out a lot of the juice with a ladle. Then I can that juice separately for drinking or making gazpacho with!

Hope your tomato factory goes well. I put up a lot of sauce (I use a veggie press thingy, a Moulinex crank style, to get the skins out) and some crushed tomatoes --- I don't have the patience to can a lot of whole ones, what with slipping off skins and boiling for 85 minutes. The veggie press makes the sauce really easy, though.

I can pretty much all the tomato products we eat now --- some years we run out a little bit early and my BF gets really annoyed!

Zabby

P.S. I second the advice that you can can freeze toms if you don't have time to can or it's too hot. THey lose their texture when they thaw --- the meat and water separate --- but if you are making sauce who cares? This is also a way you can remove a lot of liquid to make your Brandywine sauce thicker if you like....

Chunky Basil Pasta Sauce

Categories : Canning & Preserving
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
8 cups (2 L) coarsely chopped peeled tomatoes -- (about 9-12 tomatoes or 4 lb/2 kg)
1 cup chopped onion -- (250 mL)
3 cloves garlic -- minced
2/3 cup red wine -- (150 mL)
1/3 cup red wine vinegar (5 % strength) -- (75 mL)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil -- (125 mL)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley -- (15 mL)
1 teaspoon pickling salt -- (5 mL)
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar -- (2 mL)
1 6-oz/156 mL) can tomato paste

Combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, wine, vinegar, basil, parsley, salt, sugar and tomato paste in a very large non-reactive pan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes or until mixture reaches desired consistency, stirring frequently.

Remove hot jars from canner and ladle sauce into jars to within 1/2 inch (1 cm) of rim (head space). Process 35 minutes for pin (500 mL) jars and 40 minutes for quart (1 L) jars in a BWB.

Description:
"from Ellie Topp's "Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving""
Yield: "8 cups"

Multi-Use Tomato Sauce

Categories : Canning & Preserving

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
10 plum tomatoes -- (about 2 1/2 lbs./1 kg)
10 large tomatoes -- peeled and chopped (about 4 lbs./2 kg)
4 large garlic cloves -- minced
2 large stalks celery -- chopped
2 medium carrots -- chopped
1 large onion -- chopped
1 large zucchini -- chopped
1 large sweet green pepper -- chopped
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes -- (125 mL)
2/3 cup dry red wine -- (150 mL)
1/2 cup red wine vinegar (5% strength or more) -- (125 mL)
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon pickling salt -- (15 mL)
2 teaspoons dried oregano -- (10 mL)
2 teaspoons dried basil -- (10 mL)
1 teaspoon granulated sugar -- (5 mL) (optional)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon -- (2 mL) (optional)
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper -- (2 mL)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley -- (50 mL)

Combine tomatoes, celery, garlic, onion, zucchini and green pepper in a very large non-reactive pan. Add 1 cup (250 mL) water. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat and boil gently, covered, for 25 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken, stirring occasionally.

Soak sun-dried tomatoes in boiling water until softened. Drain and dice. Add to sauce with wine, vinegar, bay leaves, salt, oregano, basil, sugar, cinamon and pepper. Continue to boil gently until desired consistency, stirring frequently. Discard bay leaves and stir in parsley.

Remove hot jars from canner and ladle sauce into jars to within 1/2 inch (1 cm) of rim (head space). Process in a BWB 35 minutes for pint (500 mL) jars and 40 minutes for quart (1 L) jars.

Description:
"from Ellie Topp's "Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving""
Yield: "12 cups"

Thanks again to everyone else....for the info AND the recipes! I'm just waiting for the tomatos to get ready now. I don't think watching them everday does much to help them ripen faster ;)

Oh, it most certainly DOES help to watch them everyday................I'm convinced they wouldn't ripen without it!!

:+)

(iknowwhatchamean....)
Deanna

>Oh, it most certainly DOES help to watch them everyday................I'm convinced they wouldn't ripen without it!!

I convince myself that I'm looking for problem tomatos...ones with blossom rot (only found 3!!) ones that somehow got a bug or other damage to the fruit (only 2 more).

I have about 5 brandywine that are as big as my fist! And they are still growing...My Roma look great too. So many on each stalk I think they are grapes ;)

I found 2 cukes yesterday I didn't even know I had. I was just poking around looking for weeds to pull...Found 1 cuke that was about 6 inches long (how in the world did I miss THAT!) and another that was a perfect pickle size. Saw lots of baby cukes on the way too...woohoo!

Thanks
Laura

BER (blossom end rot) is caused by overactive growth inn very hot weather and excessive fertilizer. You cannpt reverse the problem on damaged tomatoes, but you can reduce the problem with new ones that are forming and ripening. A few sprays of calcium on the leaves will help to give the plants more calcium. Because of extreme growth speed, they can't get enough calcium from the soil without extra help. Usually, I only see ths with plum tomatoes that are long and pointed. Sometimes its also seen on big, multi lobed tomatoes too, and is similar to a problem called 'cat face'.

Blossom End rot generally affects only the first tomatoes and is generally ascribed to insufficient water/irregular water. No evidence at all that applying calcium helps. See tomato forum for endless info on BER.

Sorry, I believe you are incorrect.
Here, I water throughly and all the info I have read attribute BER to extreme fast growing with high temps. The plants just can't take up enough calcium from soil. I have had the problem even at the end of the season. The calcium is absorbed into the foliage and has reduced, and nearly eliminated the problem. Here, we have not had very hot weather for very long, so its not happening right now, but if we had temps in the 90's and over 75 at night, I can expect the situation to change.

The facts said it all..

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/Tomato_BlossRt.htm
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-28-d.html
http://www.oznet.k-state.edu/dp_hfrr/extensn/problems/blendrot.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: Ohio State University BER facts.

Laura, aren't those surprise veggies like a little treasure? I found a zucchini the other day I coulnd't believe I'd missed --- the variety is a round one called Eight-Ball, you are supposed to pick them about billiard-ball size. This one was a hefty canteloupe size, well on its way to bowling balL! It was still surprisingly tender, however, made a big batch of zucchini bread!

Good luck on your tomatoes. It is SO HARD to wait!

Those brandywines will be DELICIOUS but they are a pretty late variety. The romas should be ready sooner.

I have taken to planting a few very early varieties (usually Stupice, Matina, and Kotlas),and I even put a few of THOSE out extra early in the season, when there is still a small risk of frost, because I just can't stand waiting till late summer. This year there WAS a frost while I was away and couldn't protect my "sacrfifical earlies," as BF calls them, but one of them survived, and it produced its first ripe tomato about a week ago --- yay!

E-mail me privately if you'd like me to send some seeds for early varieties.

Z

I'm also waiting here, although I've had two small cherry tomatoes ripen and I promptly ate them.

I planted 24 Bonny Best and 24 Rutgers, with a couple of extra heirlooms that were given to me, a Yellow Brandywine, a Purple Cherokee and another I don't remember that starts with an "A", LOL.

I always plant one or the other of the first two, great field run tomatoes, and that's what I use for all my canning, although I can everything from Lemon Boy to Beefsteak, hybrids and heirlooms alike. You certainly can preserve any of them, and I use my Rutgers for everything from catsup to sauce to salsa to stewed tomatoes. They work for everything.

The thing they are best for? The same as every other ripe tomato, a couple of nice slices on white bread with Miracle Whip or mayo, salt and pepper, eaten over the sink to catch the juice dripping down your arms. The alternative is warm from the garden, wiped on your shirt and eaten right there, next to the vine it came from. If you carry a salt shaker to the garden in your pocket it helps.

Happy canning AND gardening. Mmmmm. I love this time of year.

Annie

Its 62 degrees here now.. No tomatoes doing anything..

> I've had two small cherry tomatoes ripen and I promptly ate them.

I have had maybe five or six small toms --- bigger than cherries slightly, maybe like golf balls --- spread out over the last ten days. I ate most just plain, but I htink one day when there were TWO ripe I sliced them and included them in Montreal Smoked-meat sandwiches.

The main crop is WAAAAY behind. Sigh.

Rutgers has been a reliable, classic tomato for generations, Annie, it is so neat to think of granparents canning exactly the same kind as you are in 2007.... My standby is Red Brandywine, but I love to have a variety of colours and shapes as well.

Did get a nice, red, hot Portugal pepper today, unusually earl for one of those.

Oh, Laura, you are going to enjoy that tomato harvest!

Zabby

First...thank you for the offer Zabby :) I just don't know where I'd plant more next year ;) My husband wants to try some cherry type next year so I'm going to track down the "Fox Cherry" for him (a semi-rare heirloom type)...well he dosn't care what's out there, he just wants to eat it when it's ready ;) I'm going to sacrifice one of the MONSTER brandywine in it's place

I noticed the first Roma that formed is starting to get color!!! Must be time for the bird net :-\ We had a nesting pair of falcons in the area about a month ago...wish they'd come back to keep the birds out of the garden

As for the BER...it's really weird...it was only one plant and only 3 or 4 tomatoes on that plant...they were all on the same branch though. I did some checking on all my plants after that to make sure. So far so good :)

Right now I'm drowning in cukes. I went out yesterday after work and all the little babies that I saw last week were big fat monster cukes. I thought I was going to need a basket to carry them all inside!

My husband is starting to drool thinking about the "bread and butter" and "sweet dill" pickles his mom used to make...which I now have the recipe for :D

Pickling cukes can grow an inch or more overnight! Make sure you get every last big overgrown ones, as they signal the plants to stop producing. Cukes do need quite a lot of watering every day. Without it, you end up with little 'golf balls'.