Lemon Boy Crushed Tomatoes

When it comes to tomatoes most people are familiar with a few red varieties. However, tomatoes are available in many colours ranging from orangy reds to pinkish reds to yellows, oranges and even deep purplish black. The important thing to remember about tomatoes is different varieties have different uses. Slicing tomatoes (brandywine, beefsteak, etc) really are better used for that purpose, paste tomatoes (romas, etc) make better canning tomatoes while cherry varieties are great for salads. Contrary to popular belief there is no such thing as a low acid tomato either. Some varieties have a higher sugar content giving the taste of being less acidic but in general most tomatoes have a pH of about 4.3 to 4.6 which is why they need to be acidified when home canned. The home gardener is presented with the problem of preserving any abundance of tomatoes which means that even though paste tomatoes are better for canning any tomato is fair game for the canning pot or freezer!

Lemon Boy

I grow Lemon Boy tomatoes each year. They tend to be a bit more problematic for me having a lower yield and always the first to develop late blight. I think they are worth the extra problems due to their sunny bright colour and lovely flavour. They are a nice size tomato too usually about the size of a tennis ball or a bit bigger.

We planned on being away for a couple of days which presents a problem this time of year. I had extra Lemon Boy tomatoes that I knew I would not be able to use up before we left so I decided to can them as crushed. This really was small batch canning as I ended up with 2 - 500 ml jars of beautiful sunny yellow crushed tomatoes. These will be used in a sauce or soup later.

Bernardin (Canadian canning expert) has begun changing the popular gold canning lids with a shiny silver lid. There have been a few reports of Kerr's shiny silver lids having an increased seal failure rate but I have not experienced this using Bernardin's new lids. In the past the USDA (US) and Ball Blue Book (US) recommended removing the canning jar rings, washing and drying then storing them seperately. Bernardin is now recommending removing the rings then washing and drying both the jar and rings while checking for seal. Once this is done Bernardin says the rings can be replaced on the jars loosely for storage. I really like this idea! Washing and drying the rings will prevent any future rusting or sticking issues while replacing the rings on the jars will solve the storage issue. So it is the best solution yet.