Canning – Stewed Tomatoes

The weather forecasters are predicting we’ll reach 38° C or 100° F today so I got an early start on the day and headed down to the garden to harvest tomatoes and do some general cleanup. By the time I got back home shortly after 8 a.m. the day was already warming up and the air conditioner kicked in shortly after. Normally in the morning I like to turn the thermostat way up and leave the doors open to let the breeze blow through. This morning I thought it would be prudent to shut up the house and keep it cool straight away though.

I had enough Brandywine, Black Krim, and Manitoba tomatoes combined to prepare a batch of stewed tomatoes to can. Ordinarily I’ve either frozen my tomatoes or canned them as is but I had some veggies I wanted to use up so I decided to stew them this time. I used a basic recipe from the classic Ball Blue Book.

Yield: About 7 pints or 3 quarts. This depends a lot on how juicy your tomatoes are.

Ingredients

  • 4 quarts chopped, peeled, cored tomatoes (4 cups = 1 quart)
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1/4 cup chopped green pepper (I had orange pepper so I used that. I use whatever I have on hand.)
  • 1 Tbsp. sugar
  • 1 tsp. salt

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking. (I leave the cover off and cooked it for 15 minutes so the tomatoes cook down a bit and the mixture is a bit thicker. Personal choice.)

At the end of the cooking time ladle the hot vegetables into hot jars leaving 1-inch head space. Remove air bubbles, clean jar rims, and adjust two-piece caps finger-tight.

Process at 10 pounds pressure–pints 15 minutes, quarts 20 minutes. For my altitude here in Kamloops I need to process at 11 pounds pressure. You need to check the altitude for your location and adjust accordingly.

 

 

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I’m a writer, reader, and creative. I thought by now I’d have things figured out, but I keep coming up with more questions. I think that’s okay. I’m here most mornings pondering ordinary things and the thin places where faith intersects.

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