A bushel and a half of tomatoes took me a little more than fourteen hours of work to process. I ended with twenty-eight quarts of tomato purée and a pint and a half of tomato paste. I just cooked down the last of the purée because there wasn’t enough to make a canner full and I can use it in the vegetable beef soup I’m going to can the first of the week.
My helper was unable to come over yesterday, but I managed to get it all done without too much trouble. Mr. FixIt put the finishing touches on the new steps by mounting solar lights on each step. We went out and sat on the deck when we were finished and it felt so good to catch our breath and enjoy the quiet evening.
If I were a great deal younger, I would invest in a freeze dryer. You can preserve a lot of food in a shorter amount of time, and it doesn’t take a whole room to store it. I don’t use my dehydrator like I should. I keep forgetting to use it. I did get a load of mushrooms dried. When I shared my canning shenanigans of this weekend with my friend Gail, she told me she has taken to dehydrating her tomatoes. Then when she’s ready to use them, she reconstitutes them with very little moisture and they come out thick and rich. I may have to try that. I dehydrated tomatoes a couple of years ago and I stored them in olive oil. They got all yucky looking and after a year, I threw them out. Maybe I didn’t need to store them in the fridge in the EVO, but my home economics brain said not to store them at room temp. I guess I’ll need to research that some more.
My first canner load of tomatoes, the pulp separated from the juice. The pulp floated at the top and there was a golden fluid in the bottom half of the jar. I know they are perfectly fine…they just didn’t look pretty. I Googled it and read that you should do a hot pack and heat the sauce, then process it. I tried that, and the second batch didn’t separate nearly as much. Good to know. I made two batches with no flavorings, one batch with chili and garlic, and one batch with Italian herbs.
I’m working up the peaches today. I love a good Peach-Blueberry Pie in the depths of winter, so I’m canning these in slices. And maybe a batch of jam. I think Peach Jam is my all time favorite. Once the peaches and soup are finished, I think I’ll take a couple of days off and go to the farm for some R&R and get off my feet for a while. I remember helping my grandma can when I was little. She made it look effortless. Let me tell ya…my dogs are barkin’!
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“Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer;”
Proverbs 30:24-25 ESV