Preserving Your Harvest

[WthrLady]

Correct. I was trying out a new mix. You just dump in your tomatoes and their mix and simmer. Their mix uses too much sugar.

 

[BReeder!]

I always use a tablespoon of lemon juice and a teaspoon of salt per pint of tomatoes. I've never had any problems with it.

My rule of thumb is currently 1/8 cup of ACV per pint of tomato. I did this with salsa and no problems. It does add a tang, but I like it in the salsa. For tomato sauce, I think I would go with citric acid or lemon juice. Citric acid doesn't affect the flavor as much and lemon juice is an appreciated complementary flavor around here.

 

[BReeder!]

I'm going to be brining a 5 gallon bucket of pickles later. I hope I have enough jars left for all that. I'm finally going to put some cucumber chips in the dehydrator too. If it goes well, I'm going to try making pickle chips too with a batch of refrigerator dill pickles. I'm using the dehydrate setting on our "Instant" (Instapot brand) air fryer oven. It has two racks just so I'm hoping it's fairly fast at dehydrating. We haven't used that setting yet.

 

[WthrLady]

I dumped the MrsWages Salsa. Even after simmering again it was runny, really RUNNY. I thought I'd save it for the spicy base for tomato chicken soup, but today I decided I wouldn't. When I opened the jars, OMG, GAG the STINK of it. It wasn't peppers, it was more like the stink of a teenage boy's sneakers after a season of soccer and a summer of being forgotten in the trunk of a car. Straight down the drain.

Tomato puree in the canner as we speak.

 

[BReeder!]

I dumped the MrsWages Salsa. Even after simmering again it was runny, really RUNNY. I thought I'd save it for the spicy base for tomato chicken soup, but today I decided I wouldn't. When I opened the jars, OMG, GAG the STINK of it. It wasn't peppers, it was more like the stink of a teenage boy's sneakers after a season of soccer and a summer of being forgotten in the trunk of a car. Straight down the drain.

Tomato puree in the canner as we speak.

Sounds unpleasant to say the least. Sorry you had to waste a bunch of tomatoes. We have salsa prep going on right now here. DW roasted the tomatoes and hot peppers and is now peeling the tomatoes. I have to peel the peppers later after working because her skin is too sensitive. She included some habaneros, which even I'm concerned about so I might pick up a box of latex gloves. We roast the tomatoes at 400F in the oven for about 20-30 minutes until the skins are noticeably coming loose. Then we drop them in cold water and the skins peel right off. We rinse the seeds out and remove "stem" part where the the tomato was connected to the vine. Then we chop up the tomato flesh and cook it down with it's own juices in a pot until satisfied with the consistency. For salsa we add in onion, garlic, sweet peppers (bell and banana today) and hot peppers (jalapeno and habanero today) along with seasonings like cumin, chili powder and black pepper, some herbs like oregano, parsley and cilantro and then canning salt. I add ACV to the jars before pouring the salsa in them to ensure there's the right amount per jar.

 

[vall]

Do you need to peel the peppers? I don't can my salsa, I freeze it, but I leave the skins on (tomato too) and toss everything in the blender after roasting. I don't notice the skins when I eat it.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I core my tomatoes and throw them into freezer bags as they become ready.
When I'm ready to process my tomatoes I thaw them out. *The skins just fall off*. It saves a lot of the processing time.

 

[WthrLady]

corn nuggets in the canner today
Am getting ready to pick the garden and growl at the weeds.

 

[BReeder!]

Do you need to peel the peppers? I don't can my salsa, I freeze it, but I leave the skins on (tomato too) and toss everything in the blender after roasting. I don't notice the skins when I eat it.

I peel the tomatoes. I don't need to peel pepper if they are not roasted. DW roasted them though, so the skins detached from the flesh and needed to be peeled. The roasted flavor is better by the way IMO. I also do not use a blender. Everything gets diced and cooked together on a low simmer until onions clarify and the salsa thick enough for our satisfaction.

 

[BReeder!]

corn nuggets in the canner today
Am getting ready to pick the garden and growl at the weeds.

corn nuggets? elaborate please.