100 pounds of tomatoes is a lot

For the past few years, I have been lucky enough to buy tomatoes for canning from a local fish monger whose dad grows a lot of fresh veggies for their store.  This year was no exception.  So, for $.50/lb I load them up and bring them home (well, Matt actually does that part) for a long weekend of processing.  This year I also had a lot of my own tomatoes to use as well.  Maybe a total of about 130 lbs of tomatoes…that is a lot of processing.

I started out on Saturday morning with my salsa.  I had plenty of green peppers and jalapenos from my garden, so for a couple batches I only needed to use onions from the farmers market, everything else was my own.  Wow, that was satisfying!  By the end of Saturday I was wiped and my hands were officially burning (they are still a bit tingly – next year I will wear gloves when cutting the jalapenos).  I was able to can 18 pints of salsa though, and that made me happy.  I think this is the most salsa I have canned in one year, typically I start to lose steam around the 10-12 pint mark.  Pre-cutting all the veggies for the 4 batches and putting them in containers so I could just dump it in the pot with the tomatoes helped my cause.

Then yesterday I spent the day doing crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce.  Let me tell you, I always run out of crushed tomatoes.  Every year it is the same, I never have enough.  Well, now I know why I don’t have enough.  It takes a lot of tomatoes to make 7 quarts of crushed tomatoes…I guess I didn’t realize that going in.  Not that I don’t still have plenty of tomatoes, but the crushed tomatoes seem to be more time consuming. By the time I cut up enough tomatoes to fill my stock pot, I am about to pass out and ready to move to something different!

All in all I was able to can 18 pints of salsa, 7 quarts of crushed tomatoes, and 7 pints of tomato sauce.  I am adding that to my 13 half pints of peach salsa and 8 half pints of peach BBQ sauce.  It doesn’t seem like much when you list it out, but it will provide quite a few meals for my family this winter.  I have enough tomatoes to make another 10 pints or so of tomato sauce I think, and then I will call tomato canning season over.

This year is by far the most I have done canning wise, and I am so happy about it.  It gives me such a sense of accomplishment to see the jars lining up on my table and on the shelves.  I am already starting to plan for apple season which will be upon us in no time.

What are you canning or preserving these days?

I am linking up to the Barn Hop and Rural Thursday.

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23 Comments

  1. Your cellar will be a happy place this winter! I didn't can this year; I meant to but Dave, my husband, died last November and these months have been spent dealing with estate, emotions, lawyer, CPA and learning as much as I can about all of it. The learning curve has been steep but God has been faithful.
    When I do can, it's usually tomatoes, beans, pickles, jams, jellies and conserves. This winter, I'll rely on what I canned the previous year. It will have to do.

  2. I did about 8 quarts of stewed tomatoes and that was enough canning for me. Lol. It is so nice to have the jars lined up on the counter when you are through, though.

    1. Yes, the salsa unfortunately doesn't last long. If only I had another couple of stoves to use so I could can more at once! I end up losing steam after a couple days of tomato canning. We try to save it for football games and during our very cold January/February weather 🙂

  3. One year we had an over abundance of tomatoes and we canned about 50 jars of salsa. The sad thing is that it tasted so good it didn't last long! You make me want to grow extra tomatoes next year 🙂

  4. Awesome! Phew that's a lot of canning though, are you all canned out? I bet the salsa is amazing. No additional preserving here yet, although my mom's coming next week so we might rustle up something. I saw signs for apples and peaches on my drive back from my hike the other day, but it seems too soon for apples here. Maybe my aunt's pears will be ready though—should check 🙂

  5. That looks great! This weekend i'm planning on a canning weekend.
    I have jalepenos for jalepeno jelly and relish, and I have tons of muscadines ready to come off the vine. Also I have some blackeberry juice from this spring I think I will make into jelly while I'm at it.

  6. Having gotten hot pepper juice in my eyes once, I'd also recommend wearing a pair of safety glasses. I just borrow my husband's from his tool bag but if you don't have them handy, they're pretty inexpensive at the hardware store.

  7. Heather, the jalapeno recipe I used this year is over here: http://purplefoodie.com/pickled-jalapenos/. I couldn't find the recipe I usually use, so hopefully it turns out. I didn't want to refrigerate them, so I hot water processed the half-pint jars for 10 minutes at the end, just to be safe. I cut the jalapenos in halves this year, to save time…normally I slice them all up, but I realized we always chop them after anyways. Good luck.
    Great job with the tomatoes by the way. I have only managed three jars of tomato juice so far.

  8. I am so impressed. Canning that much at once is A LOT of work, I know.

    I did my first batch of applesauce this weekend. Hoping to do many more – we eat a lot of chunky applesauce. Our apples are just now starting to come in.

    1. Oh apples. I am hoping for a good year this year. It seems we have been picking in 90 degree weather the past couple of years, not the way I remember it growing up. We love applesauce here too. Also apple jelly…and probably some chutney and apple butter will be on the agenda as well.

  9. My sister just finished canning 187 quarts of green beans, 40 quarts of sweet pickles, and
    forze 100 ears of corn on the cob. stating on tomatoes today.

    Sue

  10. That is a lot of tomatoes. I've been putting up tomato sauce, potatoes, just in the last week and working on corn today. I've put up quite a bit of stuff this year so far and I'm not finished but our large family.

    Stop by the Carnival of Home Preserving sometime, would love to have you share this post or any other preserving post you'd like.

    http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2012/08/carnival-of-home-preserving-25-come.html

  11. I have been canning for years and put up everything I can get my hands on. I love seeing all the jars lining the pantry shelf and knowing exactly what I am feeding my family.

  12. Wow, what a successful and productive weekend. I have never tried it, but I remember loving to watch my mum preserving all sorts of fruit and vege as a kid, perhaps I should try it!

    1. It was something that scared me at first, but now I look forward to it every year. And it is definitely awesome to know that I can make a tasty meal with what is in my pantry instead of having to run out to the store in the middle of winter 🙂 You should try it!

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