Ducks4you for 2022

[ducks4you]

As is tradition I boiled tomatoes to loosen up their skins. If you have never done it before, online instructions tell you that 10 seconds is sufficient. Remember, it has to be BOILING and when you introduce room temperature fruit you LOWER the temperature. You need to watch. Here they are, ready to be cooked up for canning. I had to be creative to get them all in one shot.

 

[ducks4you]

Usually when I process a crock pot is sufficient. Not yesterday! I had to haul out a big pot.

 

[ducks4you]

I got 10 quarts from yesterday, although the last 2 quarts will probably be labelled, "Tomato Juice." That works very well softening beans in, again, the crock pot. Right now tomato quart total is 53.

 

[ducks4you]

I have a lot of jars. I bought nine 12 packs of cheapo quarts last Fall. NOW, when I need them I switch out the cheap lids with Ball lids, and label the cheap lids, "Dog Broth."
We had chili yesterday, pressured canned one year ago. I don't trust the cheap lids for more than a couple of months, which is sufficient.
If "Pyg" , makes it to Thanksgiving she will be 15yo. She has lost a Lot of weight this year, so I feed her HB eggs, bread, treats and I pour stock on her dog food to get her to finish it.
Today's stock is mainly to feed Her.
When cooking DD and I use quarts of tomatoes primarily. I like to use pints for broth, so I have been saving them up for that. Right now I have chicken drumsticks with celery, onions, and carrots in, again, the crock pot.

 

[flowerbug]

i'm not sure what you mean by "boiled" as in when i can starting from whole tomatoes and am doing tomato chunks, first i start by rinsing them off and removing the stems and then i dunk them in boiling water for some period of time to loosen the skins. 10 seconds? hmm, don't count exactly, a very ripe tomato will be quicker than one that is more orange, the ones with green on top won't loosen up that for a longer time, we might just cut around that part.

i do not put tomatoes in water to boil until the skins fall off. i dunk them and then as soon as the skin is loose enough then i put them into cold water to cool them back off again so they are easier to handle. then we cut them into chunks and remove the core or anything that looks like it doesn't belong.

for doing tomato juice the process is different and quicker to start but then the milling takes up time so in the end the time is about the same or a bit more for juice. for juice we would rinse the tomatoes and remove the stems and cut away anything that looks like it doesn't belong and then remove the cores and cut the tomato into chunks as it goes into the pot. then we simmer all of that to soften it all up and to make the food milling go easier. the more we simmer until the stuff is all softened the better the amount of juice we'll get.

in either case no water is really added to these.

if you have a juicing machine that would separate the skins, seeds and core from the juice that would go quicker for sure and skip a lot of hand cranking on our part, but we really don't do juice that often any more because we use chunks for almost everything we cook anyways.

whatever work is involved is well worth it.

 

[ducks4you]

In order to keep jars from cracking in processing, I put cool jars in cold water, boiling hot produce ladelled into jars and put into boiling water in the hot water bath canner. I do not dilute my tomatoes, if that is your question.
I have cold packed tomatoes before, but I like the product better when they cook for awhile.

 

[flowerbug]

In order to keep jars from cracking in processing, I put cool jars in cold water, boiling hot produce ladelled into jars and put into boiling water in the hot water bath canner. I do not dilute my tomatoes, if that is your question.
I have cold packed tomatoes before, but I like the product better when they cook for awhile.

i never put hot things in cold jars or cold things in hot jars. i put the jars in the sink and spray them with hot water to warm them up, but i don't ever have a problem with them cracking.

i don't cold pack tomatoes. after the juice or chunks are cut up or milled they all get preheated and then put into the jars for sealing. since we oven can it is much faster to warm everything up before it goes into the oven.

 

[ducks4you]

Interesting. I just follow directions.

 

[baymule]

What a bunch of beautiful tomatoes! I’m smiling at the whole process. Y’all will enjoy those so much.

 

[ducks4you]

@baymule , you are So kind!
Had to pick up some things at Dollar General. They had 12 packs of cheapo pints, so I bought one. I am making so much broth for us and for the dogs, I thought, why Not?
Out of steam to can today. Tomorrow I should do more processing.