Hi Amy, Katie notes that 12 tomatoes is approximate and she just fills the cookie sheet. I could barely fit 12 on mine, so if your cookie sheet had the amount of low-acid stuff she said, then was full of tomatoes, you should have the same proportions she did. However, tomatoes from blighted vines may not have enough acid.

So I think the question is, will 60 minutes in the pressure canner make soup safe even if it has less acid than the recipe calls for. Katie also notes you can add more garlic to taste, which I assume applies for canning the recipe too, even though that reduces the acid. The link below was provided by Emily (fearlessem) in another thread called "pressure canning soups, am I reading this right." According to this link, as long as the soup is not thickened, dairy, etc., you can pressure can for 60 minutes & be safe. So I think you're fine making Katie's soup how you like it as long as you remember not to add the cream till you open the jar. Hopefully experts will be weighing in on Emily's thread, so you might check there too.

Here is a link that might be useful: pressure canning soups

I agree, with a whole sheet of tomatoes, there are enough to make up for the approximate amount of low acid vegetables and the timing is for the chicken broth. 2 cups or 3 cups, it's still just chicken broth and the time required to can it doesn't increase whether you are canning 2 cups or 20 cups.

Do not add the cream until the soup is reheated, though, and ready to eat, you can't can that.

Life isn't absolute and neither are tomatoes. Sometimes you just have to "approximate" your amounts. In this recipe, close is good enough, given the processing time.

Annie

Since it is soup, it should be fine if you use the processing times for soup. I am not sure I would can it with blighted tomatoes, though. Personally, I would feel more comfortable freezing it in that instance.

Linda Lou --

Why would the blighted tomatoes matter as long as she uses the correct pressure processing times, that one can can soups with no acid ingredients at all for the same 60 min pints / 75 minutes quarts...

Just curious...
Emily

Emily, I can't speak for LindaLou, but I know that some tomatoes at the end of the year seem to lose their acidity level somewhat, so some experts say not to can those, you don't know how much extra acid is needed to make them safe.

In soup, with other ingredients, I don't know how the acidity level of those blighted tomatoes would affect the recipe though, since you are already processing for the longer times for other ingredients.

I do know that the blighted tomatoes taste different to me and I don't use them because of that.

Annie

For the soup, I used guidelines for canning spaghetti sauce with meat, given the consistency (it's more vegies than broth) and the fact that, even though there's no meat solids, there is chicken broth.

I'm not sure about blighted tomatoes in this instance. It seems they'd still be higher in acid than ground beef in spaghetti sauce (?)

Last year I forgot a batch that was in my wood stove and it cooked long and slow until it was all caramelized and gooey. It made the best pasta sauce...no broth, just the vegies, blended with a bit of red wine. I'm going to freeze a bunch of that this year.

Thank you for your answers--it's just what I needed! I don't can with the blighted tomatoes since all the canning recipes say not to--I figure there's no sense taking a chance when I have the freezer space for them. Those usually get cooked down into sauce and stashed in the freezer. Once the vines get too nasty, they go into the compost!

I'm thinking tonight would be perfect for this soup. We're having an unseasonably cool, rainy day. Our August weather has been oddly cool, overall.

I made the soup today. I used 1 peck of tomatoes, 2 large onions 2 carrots and 2 bulbs of garlic and 2 tbls. dried basil and roasted all for about 2 hours. My broiler pan and a shallow roaster worked great for this. I put all in the food processor until quite smooth. Added 3 cans of fat free chicken broth. The soup is great tasting, with all the little bits of garlic, carrot and tomato seeds. I added 1/2 teas. salt and 1/2 teas. sugar to each pint and pressured for 75 min.

Digging this thread from the dead because I'm tired of reading all the zillion threads with "Katie" and "garlic" in them and not finding my answer.

From recipe: *Note: These measurements are approximate...I use whatever it takes to cover the cookie sheet."

Does the size of the cookie sheet matter??? Are we talking an official half-sheet pan? The smaller "grocery store" cookie sheet? What if I wanted to use a roasting pan? What size? Or a pyrex casserole dish? 12 tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients don't fit on a regular "cookie" sheet. I'm sure no one is using an actual full sheet, right? Or are we all just improvising? Bahhhh!! Down the rabbit hole chasing a recipe for over an hour...

I used half sheet pans. :) I think I have also used a big roasting pan (think turkey roasting) but didn't load it up any more than I would have put on a sheet pan.

It really makes no difference except the amount of soup you end up with all depends on the amount of vegetables you roast and the vegetables will roast best if spread out in a single layer rather than piled full in a pan. Your choice. No way to know for sure how many jars you will end up with so best have a few extras ready to go too.

Dave

But doesn't it make a difference the amount of vegetables to broth? Smaller pan, use 2 cups, larger pan use 3? Is that what that means?

the long processing time and the low viscosity of soups allows a lot of wiggle room.

Agree. As Annie explained above it is the long pressure canning time that makes it safe. So 2 cups or 3 cups only affects the density, the consistency of the soup as it goes into the jars and the long processing time allows for different consistencies.

"the timing is for the chicken broth. 2 cups or 3 cups, it's still just chicken broth and the time required to can it doesn't increase whether you are canning 2 cups or 20 cups."

Depending on the amount of vegetables I roast, I often use even more broth since I want it to have a ready-to-eat consistency when opened. I don't want to have to dilute it even more after opening.

Dave

Thanks!

Is there no salt in this recipe? I'm making it right now, and honestly, it's not tasting all that great.

Sure you can salt to taste. You can also add pepper or any dried herbs or seasonings you want. I have a French blend of herbs I like to add to it. Italian seasoning also works good. Just go easy on the herbs as some of them get stronger over time.

If it doesn't taste good to you going into the jar then it won't taste any better coming out so do whatever you need to it. ;-)

Dave

Thanks! I added some salt - it helped! And I will add more basil when serving.

Also, the amount of liquid added does affect the density, but I'm
assuming from your answer that it's not too dense either way (like a
squash puree might be). Is that correct?

I filled a pyrex baking dish with the advised ratio of onion/garlic/carrot to tomatoes, and added 2 cups of defatted homemade chicken broth. It filled 3 pints. Here's how dense mine was. Does it look about right? Or too dense?

I've got 4 quarts of this in the pressure canner and a partial quart in the fridge....and an entire roasting pan full of tomatoes and veggies to do round two tomorrow, now that I'm comfortable with throwing all my veg in there.

It may sound silly, but I've been making the roasted "what's on hand" tomato/veggie sauce for years and just freezing it. I've had a pressure canner for a few years now, and it finally dawned on me that I can add some stock and turn that same sauce into a soup. My lunches this winter are going to be so fantastic!

Had some siphoning in my batch, which is unfortunate. The liquids separated a bit like I'm used to seeing with crushed tomatoes, and the worst-affected jar has probably 2-3" of head space after siphoning. I'm going to let it sit overnight and see how the seals look tomorrow.

Since I have another batch of roasted veggies in the oven right now, maybe I'll just dump the jars and try again by combining with the other batch.

"Here's how dense mine was. Does it look about right? Or too dense?"

Well it is a lot thicker than when I make it. That look more like a jam or applesauce consistency than soup consistency. Not sure what you did different but personally I'd thin that down a bit before jarring just to keep it from siphoning if nothing else.

I don't think there is a safety issue given the pressure canning.

____________

2-3" headspace is quite a bit of siphoning Liz. What happened to cause it? Too thick or too much pressure fluctuation.

Dave

I'm guessing it was too thick. Mine was similar to the picture above in consistency. I used 8 cups of chicken stock for a triple batch.