Ok..... which tomatoes for canning stuff?

[firemenlovechicks]

I live in West Tennessee (zone 7, I think) Unlike some folks, I do not eat raw tomatoes. But I have really gotten into canning over the last couple of years. I plan on making lots of spaghetti sauce, chili, soups, relishes, etc.... I may even can some tomato juice just to add to soup and stuff.

I know they say to use Roma tomatoes for things like spaghetti sauce, but what about the other stuff? What kind of tomatoes are most versatile?


I AM SOOOOOO LOOKING FORWARD TO GARDENING THIS YEAR!!! LOL


Jeff

 

[journey11]

I've grown Amish Paste, San Marzano and Genovese Costoluto (or is it Costoluto Genevese? ) The plum shaped Amish Paste and San Marzano I found quicker and easier to process. But the Genovese had fabulous flavor and were so nice and red. Great for paste IMO. The Genovese are fluted and really pretty.

I've bought some kind of plain, round tomato at the U-picks in Ohio before. They had nice flavor and acidity, but were better for canned halves and juice because they took forever to cook down for sauce. It was some kind of a determinate variety (determinates will put out a big batch of tomatoes all at once, nice and convenient for canning).

 

[firemenlovechicks]

Ok, so my assumption is that for sauces, chili's, etc.... the paste tomato is ideal because it takes less time to cook down...... everything else I should go with some "regular" type of tomato........ I know it seems stupid, I am just starting to expand on my home canning this year to include those "daily" foods instead of just the jams, jellies, salsa's, etc..... I just want to make sure I've got it right! LOL

Thanks!

Jeff

 

[patandchickens]

Yup. If your primary interest is in making thickish sauces, paste type tomatoes are your best bet.

(Well, in a way. It may be that in some circumstances you could get better yeild -- especially if you were in a cold climate where season-length makes it hard to grow many paste tomatoes, but this does NOT apply to YOU -- by simply growing the most prolifically-producing tomato you can find, then chopping or pureeing 'em and hanging them in a pillowcase or big jelly bag or similar thing, to let extra "tomato water" drip out. But since you live in a good long-season tomato growing region, it is not clear to me that you'd really be any better off this way).

If you want other wetter canned-tomato products, e.g. stewed tomatoes or canned tomatoes in juice to use for soups and chilis, then really anything works well. Heck, I was raised on stewed tomatoes and for-soup whole tomatoes in juice that were almost all Early Girls and beefsteak types, which is not your traditional canning tomatoes at all but work just fine for this kind of purpose. And give you good fresh eating too, off the same plants. (Not that you can't eat paste tomatoes fresh, I actually *like* them to cut up for salsa or salads; but it's not the same )

I would suggest maybe growing several different types of paste tomatoes and seeing what does best for you. Roma-type for SURE, maybe San Marzano, and maybe one or more of the heirloomy type things. Then you will have a better idea what to plant in future years.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you can find them, I suggest you try Big Mama's, a hybrid that I usually get from Burpee. They did not have any seeds this year, just started plants, so I don't have them this year but you may find some in a big box store or such. I don't live that far from you and they do pretty well here. They are the best paste type tomato I've found for me.

I grow a mix of tomatoes, mainly heirlooms but a few hybrids, and just mix them all together when making paste or puree. It may take a bit longer to cook them down (Had not noticed or considered that. Thanks Journey) but I find that I get some better flavored sauce mixing in some heirlooms. Or it is more accuarate to say my wife notices the different flavors. When straight canning tomatoes instead of sauce or puree, I use the non-paste.

I do not get enough tomatoes at one picking to fill up the pressure canner, so I freeze them until I have enough. One advantage to freezing them is that the skin really comes off easily when they thaw. One disadvantage is that they really get soft when thawed to the point you cannot easily cut flaws out of them.

So I handle the two different kinds of tomatoes differently, the flawed and not flawed. Those without flaws I wash off, let dry, then pop into a gallon freezer bag. When it is time to process, I thaw them, skin them, and pop them straight in the pot. They will split and such easily so you might lose some juice. I hold these over the pot when skinning them.

If the tomato has a flaw I don't want in my canned product, anything from a stink bug bite to black spots, I wash the tomato, cut out the flaw, core the tomato, and put the good part in a gallon sized freezer bag. They freeze into a solid lump. When it is time to process them, I put them straight into the pot, usually without first thawing them totally. I constantly stir mine when processing anyway, so I pick out the skins that float to the top while stirring and cooking. I get most of the skins out this way. If I am making sauce or puree, I run them through a mill and the rest of the skin comes out there. If I am canning them instead of making sauce, I go through them carefully when ladelling them out of the pot I cooked them down in and put them into another pot. If you let them cool a bit to where you don't blister your fingers, it is not really all that difficulkt to get them all, you just have to be a bit tedious and thorough. I bring them back to boiling before I can them.

You'll find a lot of us do things a lot of different ways. I'm not saying my way is the right way or that anyone else's way is the wrong way. It is just the way I do it. Hopefully you can get something out of this ramble that helps you.

 

[thistlebloom]

Ridgerunner- how easy are they to skin when you thaw first? I just run the frozen one under running water and the skin slips off easily that way. I'm not processing a lot at a time this way tho', just the ones to go in chili or minestrone or what have you. Just wondering if thaw-then-peel is quicker/easier,(someday soon I'll be canning! )

 

[Ridgerunner]

I think the thaw them slip the skin off is real easy. It is not a case of peeling. It just slips off. Sounds a lot like what you are already doing.

I'd never consider peeling tomatoes before I froze them. I know that is not your specific question, but there is just no comparison.

I think somebody on this forum mentioned they freeze them, then just run water over the tomato to where they can slip the skin off then core them, but I never had any luck that way. By the time they are thawed enough to core or trim, they just fall apart for me. I probably just don't have the right technique. But like I said, different ways for different people.

 

[journey11]

Truth be told, you could can any type of tomato you have, depending on what you plan to use them for. When I'm up to my eyeballs, I end up canning whatever I've got just because I can't give them away fast enough.

A lot of your heirlooms will be milder flavored, lower acidity, watery and sweeter. Those can be canned too, but you might have to add extra lemon juice for the acidity needed to waterbath can them. Some tomatoes like that won't give you a nice, red color either.

With the paste type tomatoes, I don't peel them at all. Just quarter and dump them in the pot. You can run them through a food mill or strainer later to remove the peels and seeds. (With a strainer, I use a spatula to stir and press them through...not as easy as a food mill, but it works.)

Ok, so my assumption is that for sauces, chili's, etc.... the paste tomato is ideal because it takes less time to cook down...... everything else I should go with some "regular" type of tomato........ I know it seems stupid, I am just starting to expand on my home canning this year to include those "daily" foods instead of just the jams, jellies, salsa's, etc..... I just want to make sure I've got it right! LOL

That would be correct. I tell you what now, there's nothing as versatile as canned tomato products. You'll save a lot of money and it will taste better too.

 

[patandchickens]

I've tried a whole bunch of methods (basically because I *loathe* the boiling water method of peeling tomatoes) and have come to the conclusion that for me the easiest method is to puree the tomatoes whole (skin and all) in a blender before cooking down; whereas the tastiest is to roast them, halved, in an open roasting pan and then run 'em thru a food mill to puree and to remove skin/seeds.

Pat

 

[thistlebloom]

I've tried a whole bunch of methods (basically because I *loathe* the boiling water method of peeling tomatoes) and have come to the conclusion that for me the easiest method is to puree the tomatoes whole (skin and all) in a blender before cooking down; whereas the tastiest is to roast them, halved, in an open roasting pan and then run 'em thru a food mill to puree and to remove skin/seeds.

Pat

So, Pat, you roast them and then can them? Do you need extra liquid?
Roasted tomatoes sound delicious. My mom use to do a lot of tomatoes, unfortunately I never paid attention and I'm a total noob in the canning department. Oh, and would you add anything else to them or just season when you use them?