There are several ways to cook fresh, raw tomatoes down into a sauce that can be frozen. Here's how I do it: I wash, core and quarter the tomatoes (or cut smaller ones in half) and run them through my tomato press/strainer using the 'sauce' screen. That gives me what is essentially thin, watery tomato juice. Then I put it in a heavy stockpot and simmer it until the volume is reduced down by about 50%. That gives a fairly thick sauce. You can reduce the volume only by about 30-35% if you want a thinner sauce. I stir fairly often. How long it takes will vary depending on the size of the pot, how full it is and how watery your tomatoes were to begin with, but it is not unusual for me to simmer it for 6 to 8 hours with a normal big stockpot, or up to 10 hours if I am using my 21-quart canner as a stock pot for boiling down tomatoes. I am starting out with about 40-50 lbs. of tomatoes per batch though, and that plays a part in how long it takes to boil down. A smaller quantity of tomatoes will boil down a little more quickly. When it has reached the thickness I desire, I pull the pot off the burner and let it cool. Once the sauce has cooled, I ladle it into plastic freezer storage boxes, leaving 1/2" headspace. I label it "Tomato Sauce" plus the date and put it in the deep freeze. I use the Arrow brand Freezer Boxes sold on the canning aisle at Wal-Mart. Our Wal-Mart is always sold out of them at this time of year, but our Tractor Supply Store usually has them in stock all the time during canning season. If you do not have a tomato press/strainer, you can either puree your tomatoes in a food processor or you can chop the tomatoes into about 1" size pieces, cook them, and then strain out the seeds using a colander or strainer with fine mesh or small holes. Later on, you can make whatever you want...pasta sauce, soups, stews, etc. from your frozen sauce. Just thaw it and use it. If you want to can the tomato sauce in canning jars instead of putting the sauce in freezer boxes, you'll have to add an acidifying agent, usually lemon juice, for safety reasons. The recipe for canning tomato sauce can be found at the linked website. This recipe for canning tomato sauce can be used for making sauce to freeze, but you can skip adding the lemon juice since you're freezing instead of canning. If what you actually want is to go ahead and make full-fledged spaghetti sauce and then freeze it, there is a recipe for that in the Ball Blue Book that is separate from the standard canned spaghetti sauce recipe. That recipe might be at the Ball website (freshpreserving.com). Sammy, Reducing the tomato juice via simmering or boiling takes care of the issue of the sauce being too watery. It also intensifies the flavor. Mia, The most important thing about the Annie's Salsa recipe is to follow the directions exactly and make only the substitutions that are specifically stated as being allowed--such as substituting ReaLemon or ReaLime juice for some or all of the vinegar, or substituting some hotter pepper for some or all of the jalapenos, as long as the volume of peppers remains the same as what is stated in the recipe. There's a million threads about Annie's Salsa on the Harvest forum because the recipe has been around a while, and there have been some modifications done over the years, based on the advice of the ag extension service that worked with Annie to test the recipe for safety. While being creative and adding your own special touch to recipes when cooking is fun, you cannot employ that creativity in canning because any change you make that could affect density or pH of the product being canned could compromise its safety. That's why everyone on the Harvest forum lists the approved changes when the recipe is discussed--to ensure people don't make unapproved changes. Hope this helps, Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Preserving Tomatoes

Mia, I have canned with a BWB pot on my glass cook top ever since we bought that stove, which was either 3 or 4 years ago. I haven't had any problem. Plenty of people do can on their glass cooktop. You can read a million back threads at the Harvest Forum where this topic has been discussed. I'd like to suggest you check your Owner's Manual for your cooktop. Mine clearly states that canning on the stove can void the warranty. I read that and thought long and hard about canning on the stove, but decided to do it anyway. I am not sure I'd do it with a heavier pressure canner, but I know lots of people who do. If your glass cooktop is still under warranty, and your owner's manual says that using a canner on it will void the warranty, there are other options. I imagine they are discussed in the document I'm going to link. Most BWB canners have bottoms with indentations so that they are not perfectly flat. This could be a problem if it interferes with the pan heating evenly and maintaining even heat for the duration of the timed canning period. I didn't find it to be a problem with my stove, but I have recently upgraded from my old BWB graniteware canner to the Ball Elite 21-quart stainless steel BWB canner and one reason why was because it has a flat bottom. I just always listened to the water boiling when jars were in the BWB canner because one potential with glass top stoves is that they self-regular their temperatue so the heat cycles on and off at times. That would be a problem if the canner water cooled down and stopped boiling, but I never had that happen when I was BWB canning. No, you cannot store the salsa for several days in the fridge because while it is stored, bacteria could be forming in it. Then, you'd have to boil it again, which is essentially cooking it twice, and that can make canned foods taste overcooked. If you want, you can make your salsa and freeze it, and you do not have to can it in the jars before your freeze it. Sometimes I freeze stuff in freezer jars (made by Ball, sold on the canning aisle, and are plastic), or in freezer boxes (also often sold on canning aisle, though usually sold out right now) made by Arrow (I have some with red lids and some with blue lids) or in freezer bags. The plastic freezer boxes made by Arrow have been sold out at our local Wal-Mart for a couple of months, but I found them on the canning aisle at our local Tractor Supply Store on Monday. The Ball Freezer jars, made of plastic, are on the canning aisle most of the time, but sometimes sell out on weekends, though they usually are back on the store shelves within a couple of days. Right now I have all 3 of those kinds of containers in my freezer with various kinds of produce in them. You can freeze in jars, then when you take the glass jar out, let the contents thaw, and keep it in the refrigerator, which is the same thing you'd do with salsa you'd canned instead of freezing. Or, you can do all your prep work with chopping the tomatoes and other fresh ingredients, etc., and freeze them in freezer boxes or freezer bags and then just take them out, thaw them, and mix them together with the other canned ingredients and spices when you're ready to make the salsa. OR, put your tomatoes in freezer bags and freeze them until you're ready to make salsa. Then, thaw them and use them when you're ready to make salsa. Right now I have 36 lbs. of tomatoes in my freezer waiting to be used for canning something. I put them in there one day earlier this week when I had too many tomatoes and too little available time to deal with them. I'm going to link some info on canning with glass top stoves or glass cooktops. When I went and found it, I noticed the folks who have that website have updated it for 2012, and also that there's an ad there for a canner just like mine. I put off buying the Ball Elite canner for so long, even though I wanted one, because it is so pricey. However, I've been using it about a month and I love, love, love it. I wish I'd bought it the first year it came out. Hindsight is 20-20. Now, I need to head back to the kitchen, where I'm making pizza sauce, tomato sauce and pickles. I'll check back here later to see if you have other questions. Hope this helps, Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Glasstop Stoves & Canning

Ma'am, You posted in the least likely area to get the feedback you would want. This is where folks with HVAC issues would post. However, I checked with the person in charge of canning at my house and she has tried it several ways. No matter what, they come out mushy after freezing. Taste wise it is supposedly better to par boil, remove skins and then freeze. The skins do contain a lot of nutrients but I think taste is the idea.

To freeze them just wash them off and core them. I didn't core them once when I froze them and it is a mess to remover the cores after they defrost. Then put them on a cookie sheet and freeze and after they freeze store them in plastic bags. When you defrost them they will lose a lot of water so be ready for that. If you want to make sauce, defrost just enough to remove the skins and then place in a big pot to allow to defrost slowly. All the excess water will accumulate in the pot and you can just pour most of it off and then cook your tomatoes for sauce.