Efficiency tricks for tomato canning

I use a food processor to grind tomatoes to a pulp..skin and all. I don't mind the skin, and in fact, for me I like it. I make salsa the same way. I never use a recipe for it though, it just depends on what I have on hand out of the garden. I use more tomatoes than any veggie and processing the whole tomato means I can even drink it if I want. a little tomato skin isn't a bother at all to me.  guess it's a preference!

Not sure if anyone mentioned this but I'd use a table top fruit press.

https://pleasanthillgrain.com/tabletop-fruit-press-1-25-gallon

I don't mind seeds so I core tomatoes and put three or four in hot water. When skins start to peel off I scoop out and place in metal bowl. Place more tomatoes in hot water. with rubber gloves I remove skin and place in clean jars.  Don't take long and have seven jars filled with very little mess. can off in hot water bath.  the tomatoes separate in jar and can be strained to separate with strainer.  I enjoy juice so that isn't wasted and what's left can easily reduced on stove.

Whether I make juice for drinking or thick sauce for salsa,  tomato sauce, or fake orange marmalade, I start by tossing the cleaned tomatoes peel and all in the Ninja: I get right away a nice,  relatively thick purée, and since the Ninja is graduated, It gets measured as well for that special recipe. At that point, the juice/purée is cold and uncooked.
I could *also* run it through the Victoria strainer if I really wanted to get rid of the skins, but frankly the bits of skins are cut so fine that they would pass through the Victoria. Perhaps a few seeds would stay behind?
Even my hubby who hates tomato skins [!] likes all the products I make from my tomatoes because he does not know the skins are there. It is only if I make stewed tomatoes or dehydrated tomatoes that I bother peeling them. [I don't make them very often!]. I use Roma tomatoes, which are much meatier. I harvest them a day or two before fully ripe [or the critters get them!]and let them ripen on the counter. This way, you will always get tomatoes that are pretty much "picture perfect".
There is really a big difference between the Ninja and most blenders, and that is my best tip. About the same difference as between a regular lawn mower and a lawn mulcher: the blades are set differently and allow for a much finer product.

Mike Haasl wrote:Cool tip Tammy!  I'm canning the stuff so I'd be worried about affecting the acidity level for tomato sauce.  Enough carrots may make it so you need to pressure can it.  But I don't know for sure...

You don't really need to add all that much carrot, but to be on the safer side, you could add a tablespoon or so of lemon juice or vinegar.


Something to ponder- a lot of the 'newer' tomato varieties have less acid than recommended for bullet-proof water bath canning.

Tammy Farraway wrote:

Something to ponder- a lot of the 'newer' tomato varieties have less acid than recommended for bullet-proof water bath canning.

Not just tomatoes, Tammy. Humans have decreased the acid levels and increased the sugar levels of many of our commercial fruit and veg over the last 100 years in particular. Many of my grandmother's recipes for jams and preserves need lemon juice added, and *most* modern (last 10 years) recipes seem to call for it. I used to think companies were just being cautious, but now I think it's a problem with acid levels in the raw material as well. Another good reason for growing heritage varieties!

Kate Muller wrote:I grow Upstate Oxheart tomatoes for my sauce.  They are a large meaty tomato with very few seeds and a skin that I do not mind in my sauce. The skin isn't as bitter as most paste tomatoes and is thinner and softer so they don't store well.  I will freeze them till I have enough to cook a large batch.  The tomatoes average between 1 and 3 pounds and are a pretty rose color. They are amazing for fresh eating too.

Using this type of tomato I make sauce by chunking them up and toss them all in a pot to simmer. When they start to cook down I use an immersion blender to puree them.  I simmer them till I like the thickness and the can it. Super easy and very little waste.

 

I am going to be busy today.   These are my Upstate Oxheart Tomatoes.  To give you an idea of the size of these tomatoes the tiles on my counter and back splash are 4" x 4".




Here is what they look like on the inside.  

So yesterday I did my first batch.  Freezing the tomatoes (bad spots cut out prior to freezing) and warming them up on the stove worked wonderfully.  I had them defrost overnight and then set them to simmer in two stock pots on the stove.  As soon as they thawed, the water started coming out of them.  Once they were getting hot, I used a mesh scoop for frying food to scoop the tomatoes out.  I set the tomatoes in a colander on top of a stock pot to let them drain a bit before putting them in the final "tomato stock pot".  After emptying the two hot stock pots I combined their tomato water with that from the pot under the colander.  

I ran the tomatoes through the food strainer and it made a nice thick pulp.  I got 3 quarts of pulp and 9 quarts of juicy tomato water.  The tomato water was turned into tomato soup and I'll try to make some salsa from the pulp today.

Kate Muller wrote:

Kate Muller wrote:I grow Upstate Oxheart tomatoes for my sauce.  They are a large meaty tomato with very few seeds and a skin that I do not mind in my sauce. The skin isn't as bitter as most paste tomatoes and is thinner and softer so they don't store well.  I will freeze them till I have enough to cook a large batch.  The tomatoes average between 1 and 3 pounds and are a pretty rose color. They are amazing for fresh eating too.
Using this type of tomato I make sauce by chunking them up and toss them all in a pot to simmer. When they start to cook down I use an immersion blender to puree them.  I simmer them till I like the thickness and the can it. Super easy and very little waste.

 

I love large tomatoes, but in central WI, they are always a challenge as they start producing late and get interrupted by frost. Are they different from  beefsteak tomatoes [with which I've had very little success]?

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:

Kate Muller wrote:

Kate Muller wrote:I grow Upstate Oxheart tomatoes for my sauce.  They are a large meaty tomato with very few seeds and a skin that I do not mind in my sauce. The skin isn't as bitter as most paste tomatoes and is thinner and softer so they don't store well.  I will freeze them till I have enough to cook a large batch.  The tomatoes average between 1 and 3 pounds and are a pretty rose color. They are amazing for fresh eating too.
Using this type of tomato I make sauce by chunking them up and toss them all in a pot to simmer. When they start to cook down I use an immersion blender to puree them.  I simmer them till I like the thickness and the can it. Super easy and very little waste.

 

I love large tomatoes, but in central WI, they are always a challenge as they start producing late and get interrupted by frost. Are they different from  beefsteak tomatoes [with which I've had very little success]?

They are more of a paste tomato than most of the  beefsteaks I have encounters.  I like this variety because it is an heirloom from NY state which means it is better at handling the cool wet springs and short growing season of Northern New England where I live.  

Here is where I get my seed from.  https://hudsonvalleyseed.com/products/upstate-oxheart-tomato?_pos=1&_psq=upsta&_ss=e&_v=1.0&variant=31250906382381

I have a method for canning tomato sauce that is efficient in terms of effort, but maybe not in terms of time.  I roast the tomatoes and then run them through a tomato mill to remove the skins and seeds.

So, I started with a box of "ugly" tomatoes - funky heirloom tomatoes from a local farmer.  Red Truck Homestead posted that they were doing a pop-up shop at their home today (Sunday).  The farmer's markets have all been cancelled due to the terrible smoke situation, but they had already picked tomatoes.  

I showed up and was concerned because their stand looked super Portland, super fancy and the heirloom tomatoes were $3.50/lb.  I asked if they had sauce tomatoes, and they answered "No, we just grow the heirloom tomatoes, no paste tomatoes."  

However, I asked again if they had any seconds, any ugly tomatoes, and it turned out they had a whole box.  I got 26+ lbs for $20 (plus a loaf of challah bread from Mt. Tabor bakery).  I already had maybe 8 lbs of tomatoes from my garden cut up and roasting when I drove to their house so I think I used 34 lb of tomatoes, but don't quote me on that.

What I do is cut the tomatoes into chunks and fill sheetpans with them.  I have a convection oven, so I roast at 350F until the tips are black and most of the liquid has evaporated.

I load the cooked tomatoes into a really big mixing bowl, and sometimes I pour some of the "tomato water" from the bowl back into a pan to help me get all the browned bits to let go.  

As I loaded up subsequent sheet pans with tomatoes, I poured the juice back into the pans, for more evaporation.

I ended up with a big mixing bowl full of roasted tomatoes and brownish juice.  Next I run that through a tomato mill. I've learned to run it through three times. The strained sauce goes into a big slow cooker pan, to prep for canning.  

While I am bringing the water to boil in the big canning pot, and cleaning/sterilizing the quart jars, the sauce is heating up in the slow cooker, set to "high."  I use my oven to dry the clean jars, and I wear two pairs of medical gloves so I can pull the hot dry jar from the oven, set it down near the slow cooker and fill to 1/2 inch from the rim.  Then the lid and ring go on and the jar goes into the rack over the bubbling water.  I've got my tea kettle set to boil as well, in case I need more boiling water after all the jars are filled and lowered into the water.  I want at least an inch of water over the tops of the jars.

I got 7 quarts of sauce, plus maybe 3 cups extra. I did a traditional water bath - 40 minutes at a rolling boil.  It's so delicious from the browning reactions, and I never had to do any stirring at all!

And when you are sick of canning tomatoes cut an X in the bottom and freeze them. When you need tomatoes for dishes which will be cooked defrost the number you want, grab them by the top and sqeeze them out of the skin if they haven't already fallen out of the skin. Skins are whole so easy to remove.

denise ra wrote:And when you are sick of canning tomatoes cut an X in the bottom and freeze them. When you need tomatoes for dishes which will be cooked defrost the number you want, grab them by the top and sqeeze them out of the skin if they haven't already fallen out of the skin. Skins are whole so easy to remove.

They will have to be good and ripe when you freeze them, though, right?

Cécile, they need to be ripe but do not need to be  overripe. The freezing breaks them down.

I am still pretty new to processing tomatoes but I have found the usage of a food mill increases the quality of the sauce exponentially in my opinion.



This last time I utilized the "medium" plate first to remove the skins and some seeds, followed by the "fine" to remove the rest of the seeds. I found a balance of four forwards rotations followed by one reverse rotation was a steady enough processing rhythm to get a decent workflow.

The only downside is the need for large sized bowls in order to process between. I wonder if somebody has created a washable food mill stand that can sit inside a pot and keep the food mill high up enough so you don't have it halfway sitting in the pot taking up space.

The Tre Spade Continuous Feed Manual Tomato Mill promises to do what you are asking.  i have used a "Squizo" food processor that looks very similar.

I have this style with folding legs at the bottom. You do still need a pot that is of approximately the right diameter, but I happen to have 2 that it fits, and a bunch of 4 liter buckets that it also fits.


source

Jay Angler wrote:I have this style with folding legs at the bottom. You do still need a pot that is of approximately the right diameter, but I happen to have 2 that it fits, and a bunch of 4 liter buckets that it also fits.


source

I love the extended black legs: It looks like it would fit nicely over a homer bucket, [5 gallons] in which case you could puree lots and lots of tomatoes before you have to switch to a big canner.
With this device sitting well above, you could practically fill the homer bucket. [I have a Victoria strainer, but it has been giving me trouble of late.]
Using a blender works pretty well for me: skin, pulp and seeds, it all goes in. Blending it on high gives me a "liquidy" but pretty homogeneous product that I can then cook down to the desired consistency, [being careful, because it can scorch easily]. The seeds and skins completely disappear if you blend it enough.
This way, I only have to check the tomatoes over and chunk them. I season *after* I have cooked it down to the right consistency because otherwise, it could be too salty or too whatever. To get it really thick, I've used the slow cooker overnight, on the middle setting. Unfortunately, my slow cooker contains only a gallon, if that, so I don't end up with much tomato 'paste'.
But the blender system works well to make tomato jam as well. For that, I use the "yellow pear" tomatoes, since, duh, they are already yellow, to which I add a bit of orange juice and I get to call it "orange marmalade". [It doesn't work as well if you like it chunky, but I don't.]

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:I love the extended black legs: It looks like it would fit nicely over a homer bucket, [5 gallons] in which case you could puree lots and lots of tomatoes before you have to switch to a big canner.

Alas, the one I've owned for decades will fit over my 8" pot and my small buckets that have a similar diameter, but they won't fit over my largest pot which is closer to 10" diameter, nor any of my 5 gallon buckets.

That said, there may be larger versions for commercial kitchens. Bigger means more storage space, and may mean it takes more strength to operate, so if you're on the small size like me, I would be sure to evaluate it before it's too late to send it back!

I use the one I have for pureeing pumpkin, fruit and tomatoes, but if my son shows up... he's very good about volunteering because he knows he's got that much more strength and will enjoy the proceeds.  

I have one similar to this: https://www.lehmans.com/product/weston-tomato-press-and-sauce-maker/

It has attachments and screens for different types of foods, so you can do almost anything, from making seedless juices to thick, seeded jams, pastes... But, one of the things I like best, is that no matter how much you're doing, you don't have to stop after each small batch, too empty the hope and clean the screen, because all the peels & seeds get pushed out one direction, while the pulp gets pushed out another - both going into containers you choose. So if you have a lot to do, you can use buckets, and just keep going until it's all done, before you have to stop to clean it up.

Hmm, I was just about to come up with something with my tomatoes. Thanks for the advice.

Carla Burke wrote:I have one similar to this: https://www.lehmans.com/product/weston-tomato-press-and-sauce-maker/

It has attachments and screens for different types of foods, so you can do almost anything, from making seedless juices to thick, seeded jams, pastes... But, one of the things I like best, is that no matter how much you're doing, you don't have to stop after each small batch, too empty the hope and clean the screen, because all the peels & seeds get pushed out one direction, while the pulp gets pushed out another - both going into containers you choose. So if you have a lot to do, you can use buckets, and just keep going until it's all done, before you have to stop to clean it up.

Indeed, the Weston looks almost identical to the Victorio I mentioned. This Victorio is on E-Bay for $65.00.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/364627004837?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1q51gBY2ERTGTdbYL1qDQEg5&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=364627004837&targetid=2320093655185&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9019203&poi=&campaignid=21222258394&mkgroupid=164713660992&rlsatarget=pla-2320093655185&abcId=9408285&merchantid=505747889&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwoJa2BhBPEiwA0l0ImNn5VV84Rlff6thiqrFdcMUh3sBc7wpam28e5Yc5ucjK12dfZWWxzRoCD58QAvD_BwE
It works the same way too but it can be overwhelmed: It has to be cleaned if you do a bushel of tomatoes: The various screens can get clogged. Also, the tomato juice will sometimes squirt and make a mess on the kitchen counter. It attaches to the counter but to prevent it from damaging the counter, I use a different,[old] table outside.

I live at a higher altitude and my sauce/juice tomatoes ripen slowly - I end up harvesting in small batches and not having enough all at once to go into canning.  So, as mentioned earlier in this forum, I wash them and cut an "X" in the bottom end of the tomatoes and freeze them as I harvest.  I end up canning in January when I'm not so busy with all the other garden and preserving jobs.  When I am ready to process the tomatoes, I fill a clean kitchen sink with warm water and dump all the frozen tomatoes into the sink.  As I remove the tomatoes from the sink, the skins just fall off.  I reserve the skins and cook them down separately into a paste which I stir back into the sauce as a very last step.  I simmer the tomatoes until most of the water is cooked off and the sauce is somewhat homogenous.  I then use a food mill to remove the seeds which is much easier to do without the skins.  I hot water bath the sauce.  The sauce doesn't separate in the jar and it's smooth enough to be juice or sauce or soup, so I do not add anything to the sauce (except the requisite salt and bottled lemon juice), and herbs and spices are added as the canned sauce is used.  

I have some cherry tomatoes in the dehydrator now.  I just slice them in half and put them on the tray, cut side up.  They do their thing for about a day.  I don't want them crunchy, instead a little pliable.  Because of that, I don't store them at room temperature but keep them in the freezer, but as you say, a giant bowlful fits in a quart bag no problem.  All winter, I can then toss handfuls onto salads.  They're like candy!  LOVE them!

Rez Zircon wrote:

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:
I suspect that I'm a super-taster. To me, tomatoes that are pureed with the skins on are nigh inedible. I sure know that the skins are there!

I'm that way with apple peels. No can swallow. Body is sure they're toxic waste. (I'm waaaaaay out the far side of supertaster....) Don't like tomato skins either, but have found if I process tomatoes in the food dehydrator instead of cooking them down for sauce, the skins are less of a problem and I can usually eat them.

So I slice them fairly thin, season them liberally (garlic, rosemary, or whatever sounds good) and put 'em in the dry heat until they're somewhat shrunken but not yet stiff... at this stage they're cooked but still juicy, tho most of the water is gone. Then shovel 'em into quart freezer bags, press 'em flat for good packing, and into the freezer they go. Five gallons of fresh tomatoes reduces to less than a quart of thick but ready-to-use sauce, with minimal effort.

Well, at least the ones I manage not to eat straight out of the dehydrator. :D

I have a ridiculously excessive number of tomatoes coming this year... must figure out how to adapt this for the cherry tomatoes; rough count on four VT100 vines was over 2000 fruits in progress. I don't know how you even pick that many, other than whack 'em with a stick so they fall into a basket.

I cut them up, put them in a large colander then salt them to dry them out a bit.  The liquid collected is awesome to drink and can be canned as well.

I have always thrown fresh, rinsed tomatoes in the freezer until I had enough to can and then run it through a mill (lately) or used an immersion blender to take care of the skins (for many years but I recently decided to switch to dicing and then freeze drying them so that they don’t take freezer space and I can do anything with them that I’d do with the other. I haven’t actually tried this method but it sounds reasonable and useful. Always before I just reduced it and made ketchup, spaghetti sauce, bbq sauce, tomato paste and sauce and canned it.