My husband has been growing tomatoes most of our married life. In the beginning, he planted a lot of Ace tomatoes, but over time, he has been using heirloom seeds or plants and we have a wide variety of tomatoes growing in our garden.
Years ago, my mother tried canning tomatoes. She bought a canning pot with the jar rack and lid. I’m not sure if she bought it new or found it at Goodwill or St. Vincent de Paul. Anyway, she gave it a try and canned tomatoes one year.
When she learned that Norman liked growing tomatoes and had lots of extras, the canning pot came to us and we used it for many years, canning Ace and other varieties. It was a big project. We washed the jars in the dishwasher so they were hot. We dipped clean tomatoes in boiling water so they were easier to peel. I would stuff the jars with the tomatoes, leaving them whole unless too large to fit in the opening. I then added salt and citric acid. Once the jar was cleaned of residue, we’d put on the lids and rings, set the jars in the canning pan, and cook them. I don’t remember off-hand how long they cooked.
One year we had a real bumper crop of tomatoes and must have done three or four batches. That gave us enough canned tomatoes to have beefaroni a couple of times a month.
We haven’t canned in a long time. These heirloom tomato plants don’t produce enough tomatoes at the same time to can. We enjoy the tomatoes in salads, with feta cheese and avocado. Some that we grew this year were Early Girl, Juliette, Big Beef, Cherokee purple, Ace, Celebrity, Brandywine, Better Boy, and Sungold cherry.
This is my fourth
year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write
each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My
Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in
new and exciting ways.
I still have canned tomatoes from last season. I need to find some recipes to use them for.
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