I just crush mine by hand, I do enough to cover the bottom of the pan, then bring to boil. Then I peel and hand crush more, completing aprox 6-8 cups at a time before adding them to the already boiling pot. Keeping them boiling helps with separation and crushing them by hand keeps the chunks large. Hope this helps!

Happy Harvesting,
bluejean in ohio

When I can mine and they have been run through the Villaware, I usually cut each in halves and remove the seeds and liquid inside. Then, they do look more the store bought. Also, you can get a slightly chunkier texture by using the salsa screen for the tomatoes. Removing the liquid and most (not necessary for all) the seeds will help to give a thicker product without affecting its end density very much. Just be sure to add the necessary acid to each jar.

I've been wondering about crushed tomatoes. They have pretty small chunks, right? I'm familiar with commercial ones, pretty mashed up in my experience. I canned diced tomatoes, I'd say each piece was about as big as quarter coin. Was I right to use the processing time for whole/halved tomatoes, or would my jars be called crushed tomatoes by the USDA?

And since I added the recommended amount of acid, botulism is out of the question even if I processed for a little too short a time, right?

Melissa

Melissa, if you can crushed tomatoes according to USDA method, you crush a certain amount of them, while heating, then add the rest and boil for 5 min. They are packed cooked, basically.
If you cut up and pack raw without adding water, then process like whole or halves in their own juice. You did right.

I would call your quarter sized pieces coursely chopped pieces. Adding the acid does make for a safer canned tomato product . I have even seen Pickle Crisp added to tomatoes to help them hold their chunky texture.

Thanks Linda Lou. I heated them just enough to release some juices for packing, but they were still cool enough that I could push them down with my fingers to fill the spaces with juice.

No pickle crisp, they are going to become Indian food and no-cook pasta sauce come winter.

Melissa

The use the calcium (Pickle Crisp) in some commercial canned tomatoes to help hold the texture.

Speaking of Pickle Crisp (not to go off topic too much), the BULK type calcium chloride says to make a 1/2% SOLUTION, add a teaspooon to a quart of water, which isn't the same amount as adding it to a quart of vinegar based pickle brine. I need to actually WEIGH the 1 1/2 teaspoons of Pickle Crisp POWDER, and see if it will WEIGH the same as 1 teaspoon (or more?) of the BULK calcium chloride, which is 'pelletized'.... More on this later after I do more research... And , yes, I do have a very sensitive scale to weigh down to less than 1 tenth of a gram... I need to satisfy my own curiosity...!