And yet more canning

More canning:
8/21, 4 pints Sweet Pepper Jam, Put 'Em Up
8/21, 4 quarter-pints Spicy Tomato Aspic, Put 'Em Up
9/11, 7 pints Quartered Tomatoes/raw pack, uga.edu
9/11, 5? pints Zesty Salsa, Put 'Em Up
9/19, 7 pints Apple Preserves
9/21, 8 pints stewed tomatoes, BBB
10/1, 7 quarts applesauce, BBB...for and with Sarah AJ, using her apples, and using Sara M's Kitchen Aid food grinder and fruit/veg strainer attachments (awesome!)
10/3, 8 pints Snap Beans, fresh, with salt, hot pack, pressure canner (using our fall crop of green and yellow beans; first time canning green beans other than dilly beans)
10/4, 8 pints applesauce, BBB

I mostly record only shelf-stable canned items, but I'm so excited about making things using Sara's KA attachments, plus the ease of freezing things using our new upright freezer, that I'll brag about this too:
10/3 3 pints + 4 half-pints Pear Sauce, frozen, pickyourown.org
10/10 3 pints pumpkin puree, frozen

We are getting a nice stash of food collected in our freezer...berries, green beans, corn, grassfed beef, and the venison Brian bagged during bow hunting season in Buffalo County.

One would think I should be done preserving veggies and fruits by now, but I am making applesauce again today (we picked apples - 3rd time this season - on Tuesday) and if the stars align right, possibly green tomato salsa and/or dilly beans this weekend.

Tomato Time

My tomatoes seem to be at their peak.  I have a crazy mish-mash of tomato varieties growing this year, thanks to my shopping at the UWGB heirloom plant sale and the UW-Extension sale, plus my desire to find ideal canning tomatoes:  

• a cherry tomato (good for snacking on;  I have limited myself to one plant/year and that is perfect)
• 2 (or 3?) stupice (a salad tomato;  too many plants for me...don't bother next year)
• a brandywine (love the gorgeous pink color and huge size, though it wasn't a great producer for me) *
• a green zebra (for fun...it's pretty and a yummy slicing tomato)
• a striped Roman (another one for fun;  it's a paste tomato so it's good for canning but not as large as my other paste tomatoes)
• a Hillbilly (not a great producer for me, but they are large fruits)
• 3 Polish linguisa (a plum tomato...definitely a keeper for next year...firm flesh, great for canning and oven-drying) *
• an Opalka (another great plum tomato with firm flesh) *

*definite keepers for 2011

As you can see, it's the canning (plum/paste) tomatoes that I'm really excited about.  Also, the hot new trend seems to be oven-roasted tomatoes (like this recipe).  It seems like everywhere I turn, someone else is talking/blogging about these.  I made up two baking sheets of them last week and am doing the same again tonight.  They turn out rich and sweet and are great for putting into sandwiches and pasta. 

Yesterday a friend and I canned some tomatoes.  Here's what we did:

9/4/10 7 pints crushed tomatoes, uga.edu recipe
9/4/10  6 half-pints heirloom tomato salsa, Put 'Em Up recipe (added the optional 1 tsp. cumin)

Lessons learned:

• Replace canning rack:  it's not meant for jars that are smaller than pints;  smaller sizes fall through and it's quite annoying.  I've known this for years but just haven't broken down and replaced it.  
• Don't crush the tomatoes to make juice.  The tomatoes cook down enough to make their own juice anyhow.  My crushed tomatoes turn out too watery for my taste...though really it doesn't matter a great deal.  They generally go into chili and soup and their consistency is not all that critical.  I probably could use a recipe for half or whole tomatoes to get the results I want with a bit less effort. 

Canning, Continued

 I tried my hand at pressure-canning stewed (crushed) tomatoes yesterday. 

Here are my totals at this point, including the recipe and method used:
strawberry jam, 6 pints, pectin box recipe(?), WB
pickled cauliflower, 5 pints, BBB, WB
pizza sauce, 4 pints, Allrecipes, PC
applesauce, 4 pints, Presto PC instruction book, PC
crushed tomatoes, 4 pints, uga.edu, PC

BBB= Ball Blue Book
WB= water bath canning
PC= pressure canning

A few observations and tips for myself for next time:

• My 2-cup glass measuring cup works better than my ladle for filling the jars.
• I love my jar funnel;  it keeps the messes down a little.  (Still, my kitchen looked like a crime scene for tomatoes when I was done.  How did I get tomatoes on the wall?  And no kids to blame -- they were at the park with Brian!)
  
• I heated the jars and lids in a roasting pan;  this worked well and kept things off the stove (thanks, Amanda, for the tip!)
• I had lots of mushy tomatoes as I was coring and dicing.  They were really hard to work with and I composted more than I wanted to.  I think there were a couple of reasons for this:  some tomatoes had been frozen, and some I overcooked when blanching to remove the skins (believe the instructions when they say 30-60 seconds;  that's really all you need!).   The end product looks more like a juice or thin sauce than stewed tomatoes. 
• A wire basket might be a nice addition to my supplies:  that way I can blanch lots of tomatoes at once and not have to use a slotted spoon with them individually.
  
• Many of my romas this year are too small for canning and not worth the effort.  By the time I take the stem out;  there's not much left (especially with the mushy ones).  Don't bother with the tiny ones!

I'm always open to more tips for canning!  Feel free to post yours here!  I'd much rather learn from your mistakes!  :)