On Mon, 14 Jun 2021 09:51:38 -0400, Sheldon Martin >
wrote:

>On Sun, 13 Jun 2021 21:37:23 -0400, Michael Trew >
>wrote:
>
>>On 6/13/2021 12:52 AM, GM wrote:
>>> On Saturday, June 12, 2021 at 11:29:00 PM UTC-5, Michael Trew wrote:
>>>> I'm not sure what recently compelled me to make a double recipe of toll
>>>> house cookies, but it somehow came out to be about 9 dozen cookies. In
>>>> a house without A/C on a near 90 degree day, that wasn't my smartest idea.
>>>>
>>>> I decided to turn off the the pilot lights on my stove to save on heat
>>>> in the kitchen, and supper was just a cold chipped chopped ham and
>>>> provolone sandwich. The humidity has my fridge desperately needing
>>>> defrosted as well. I suppose it's all better than snow, however.
>>>
>>>
>>> Years ago I used to do a lot of home canning. I didn't have A/C, and I'd often choose the hottest days to can. It would be SO hot that it would be a "transcedental" experience - and accompanied by LOTS of ice - cold beer...
>>>
>>> Couldn't do that now, I'd surely croak...
>>
>>I have grandma's old huge enamel pot with the wire rack in the bottom.
>>I might pick up some Ball jars and try my hand at canning this year. I
>>planted a dozen tomato plants, so why not?
>
>Depends what type of tomatoes, not all can well. Salad tomatoes (the
>type most grow) are too watery for canning and sauce. Long simmering
>to reduce water ends up with brown tomato sauce and a burnt flavor.
>I grow a lot of Romas and to preserve I freeze, a lot safer and saves
>storage space. I use cubical plastic containers, stack like bricks.
>A Foley food mill removes skins, cores, and seeds. Prepare sauce with
>minimal cooking and freeze.
>It costs a lot less and is far safer to buy ones tomato products by
>the case in #10 cans.
>A large home vegetable garden is a lot of work and expence, we do it
>for the enjoyment, no monetary savings.
>We grow a lot of different tomatoes, most are eaten as salad tomatoes,
>many are grilled.... at seasons end we fry green tomatoes and pickle
>green tomatoes along with Kirby cukes.
>Factory canned removes excess water with a huge vacuum tower (silo
>sized), same method used for frozen OJ concentrate, and tomato
>paste... minimally heated and water vapor vacuumed off... equipment is
>too costly for home use.

Non-paste tomatoes (regular eating tomatoes) are fine for home canning
just as they are. No boiling down needed. For decades I used a quart
of home canned tomatoes to make caseroles, chili, sauce for pasta
dinner. If you run out of cannng jars you can freeze the tomatoes
whole with skins on. When you need tomatoes for cooking simply remove
the frozen tomatoes from the freezer, run hot water over them and the
skin will slip off. You can also skin and chop them and measure out
your most common used size and freeze that way. It's true that the
paste tomatoes have less water in them but I wouldn't let that deter
me from canning or freezing the tomatoes I have in my garden.
Janet US