Canning Our First Batch Of Tomatoes At The Off Grid Homestead

Melanie and I processed our first batch of tomatoes from our off grid organic garden this year. We are going to can as many vegetables as possible this year on our path to self sufficiency.

Melanie has never canned before and has no experience with such things so it was all new for her. In her home country they have an eternal growing season so there is no reason to put away food. You always have fresh food on hand.

But up here in the Northern climates when we are covered in snow for months each year, we have to put away food to get through until the next harvest.

We harvested a mess of tomatoes from our organic garden. They are not pretty tomatoes by any means but they are organic and healthy. Vine ripened tomatoes are way better tasting and much healthier than those from the store. Store purchased tomatoes are picked green - unripe - and then gassed to artificially make them have that sickly red-orange color. And store bought tomatoes are not as soft and tasty as fresh vine ripened tomatoes.

We are eating as many tomatoes as we can each day in our meals but we have a lot left over so we are canning them.

We simply cut off the bad and rotten spots or any flaws. Then diced them up and put them into the blender to puree them.

Next they went into a pot and were brought to a boil.

At the same time we took our canning pot and brought some water to boil. The canning jars were in this pot. This will sterilize the canning jars.

We also put some rings and lids in another pot and brought that to a boil.

When everything was boiling at the same time, it was time for canning.

Using special tongs made for the job we pulled out a canning jar and emptied the water from it.

We poured the sauce into a jar to within half an inch from the top. Then pulled out a lid and ring and tightened them.

Then this jar gets set aside to cool down. When the liquid inside cools, it creates a vacuum in the jar and seals the lid to the jar nicely. When the center circle of the jar pops down then you know that you have a good seal.

The next day all four of our jars were nicely sealed.

The left over sauce went to our dinner that night so nothing went to waste.

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Troy
http://www.thedoityourselfworld.com
http://www.theoffgridproject.com

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