Starting Tomatoes

Tomatoes started about two weeks earlier this year.  Now, everyone who knows me knows I will be in the kitchen almost non-stop during tomato season.  It's a do not call me, text me, Facebook me or drop by unannounced time.  If you happen to be a telemarketer calling me during tomato processing you can bet your bottom dollar the CRTC is going to hear about it!  I don't answer the doorbell which solves the problem of the door to door salesmen as well.

My husband picked up the first hamper of tomatoes on August 15.  Within a few hours my kitchen could easily be declared a war zone.  That's one thing you the reader doesn't see is the behind the scene borderline chaos when I'm canning.  There are jars upon jars everywhere, some filled and cooling, others waiting to be filled, and jars in the canners.  Pictured is fire roasted garlic tomato sauce, condensed tomato soup and to the right just out of the canner tomato juice.  I can run the BWB and pressure canner at the same time so can easily process two canner loads at a time depending on what I'm processing.  All of my tomato based sauces are pressure canned except seafood cocktail sauce, pizza sauce and taco hot sauce.   

A good portion of the tomato based products have been discussed so there will be links to the original posts as well as any tweaking I may have done.  Clicking on those links will give you the recipe, processing method and timing as well as any commentary.  While my signature home canned tomato based salsas (hot, medium, and mild) recipes are not on this blog there is are a few salsa recipes to try including a zesty salsa that is sure to please.  I will be canning and talking about my signature home canned tomato based spaghetti meat sauce and home canned chili.  While those recipes are not on this blog, the processing times are as well as a few tips and hints.  I am currently working on a few experimental recipes (eg. Italian Garden Tomato Sauce, variations on fire roasted sauces, Bolognese sauce).  Some of these recipes will appear on this blog after tweaking.  So there are a lot of tomato based home canned foods to look forward to...