Canning Etc. Season 2018

Yep, canning, freezing and drying has begun.

Along with the dangers of botulism. I am sure everybody has heard of it so I will not get into of the details here. Just google botulism if you want to know more about it. Figure if I don’t mention it here someone else will, With that out of the way, I would like to mention something else that is dangerous that is more common. That is scalding. Just being a little careless can cause a severe burn:

So far I have put up 14 quarts of salsa, about 10 gallons of frozen tomatoes and 10 small vacuum sealed bags of frozen table grapes. Got plenty left to do.

My question to the forum is this. I have tons of tomatoes that I would like to make some more salsa out of but I would like to have the time to can some grape jelly (like about 3 batches). Would it be possible to freeze the tomatoes (which is quick in comparison) and then at a later date made salsa while retaining the same quality out of the frozen tomatoes? Has someone else ever done that?

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Ha I did that one year, but never actually got around to making the salsa at a later date. I feel like it would be an even better way to make sauce, as the freezing causes a lot of the water to come out of the tomatoes, and you can more easily separate the solids from the water.

It is a common practice some places to can the tomatoes and use them at a later date. A former boss of mine is from Bulgaria and would bring back a tomato-pepper condiment called lyutenitsa. He says they would can the tomatoes, then when the peppers were ripe in the fall, take the tomatoes out and make the lyutenitsa and then can that. Talk about work! Though if you have ever had it, it is worth it. The stuff is amazing.

Again, that would point to making sauce and not salsa. But everyone’s definition of salsa is a little different. We make our canned salsa more towards the fresh side than the ketchup-y side.

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I think it depends on the kind of salsa you would make and how you froze the tomatoes. My salsa is very chunky and cooked and I’m not sure if the texture would be right after freezing. If you are doing puréed salsa then I can’t see a reason not to. Also I have frozen tomatoes by just dropping them in the freezer whole and unpeeled. I would think that would be an easy way to keep them for salsa if you think the thawed texture would be right. I actually have thought about this for my own use. If I were to try it I would prob freeze the tomatoes intact and skin them by blanching and then prepare them for the salsa. Might work.

Katy

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@k8tpayaso: Well, I have been using the Mrs. Wages and the Ball Fiesta mix according to the labels. The batches of salsa that I make always seem to be a lot less chunky for my preference. Maybe I boil them too hot or simmer them too hot or something. Then I water bath them for 40 or 35 minutes accordingly to the labels.

I freeze my tomatoes by washing under running water then coring them without peeling and placing them in a cookie tray in the freezer. After they are frozen I then either place them in a Ziploc bag or seal them with a vacuum sealer. Back into the freezer they go. When I am ready to use them I place them in hot water and then the skin is easily removed. Maybe your method is less work.

My thought for canning salsa using frozen tomatoes would be to simply boil them less hot and simmer them less hot. After all, the label says just bring to a boil and then simmer. It does not say anything about how hard of a boil or how hot to simmer. I am not an expert cook enough to know exactly what a simmer is anyway. :grinning:The mix contains sodium so it should be safe.

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I simmer mine for a good while until it’s as thick as I want it. Where mine is a lot different is that I use more volume of peppers and onions than I do tomatoes. Then the tomato juice and vinegar that I use is reduced down as I simmer it until it is as thick as I want it. I then add a small amount of tomato paste to bind it even more before canning it. I don’t think it’s the time that you cook it makes it thin it’s just that you don’t reduce the liquid down by cooking. Also those mixes just call for tomatoes and vinegar so you aren’t getting the added texture of the peppers. I use 2:1:1 tomatoes, peppers (a variety but not hot), and onions. In addition to that I add 1/2 to 1 portion of hot peppers depending on how hot the peppers and how hot I want the salsa. So actually it contains more of peppers and onions than tomatoes. Those peppers and onions make it a lot more chunky as they don’t “juice out” like the tomatoes do.

It’s not the salt that makes it safe to can…it’s the vinegar. You need the acidity to combat the bacterial growth.

As far as freezing tomatoes I usually peel by blanching, cut up, and freeze in portion bags. However if I’ve got a lot of tomatoes and very little time I put them in a Walmart bag and toss them in the freezer. I will peel them with hot water when I need them and cut them up as soon as possible. Tomatoes thaw fast. So you take a lot more care with yours than I do mine.

One of the few jars left of 2016 Salsa

Katy

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Wow, those are thick! Like you, I still have salsa left over from last year. 3 quarts to be exact. The labels say to eat it within a years time so now I am eating salsa all day to try to get rid of it. Just can’t eat it near bedtime because I won’t get a wink of sleep.

Yes, you are certainly right about the vinegar adding the acidity. Would hate to can a batch of salsa and then realized that I had forgot the vinegar! Maybe I was thinking the sodium preserved it because when I pressure can whole tomatoes, I always add one teaspoon of canning salt to each jar. Can’t remember if vinegar is added when pressure canning whole tomatoes though. Seems like it doesn’t but I could be wrong. Every year I have to look at the directions when doing this stuff. Was curious if the salsa mix had any salt and it was listed as having sodium.

If I had peppers and onions in my garden, I would surely do it your way. Probably would get burnt twice, once by the scalding water and then again when I bit into a hot pepper.:confounded:

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Wow that burn must have hurt. Silver preparations are wonderful to treat burns. I use a silver + aloe jel that takes the pain right out.

I make an onion pepper relish (knock off of Harry & David’s) that I will sometimes use canned tomatoes from the same season as I wait for the peppers to come in good. It really isn’t that much more work b/c the tomatoes are already prepped and ready to add. We don’t have a chest freezer so canning is my best option (plus we get power outages). And, if peppers don’t come in good, I still have tomatoes to use all winter.

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Yes, that burn hurt enough that I yelled a few choice curse words concerning my stupidity. I was lifting a quart jar with the lifter out of my boiling water bath canner. Instead of letting it completely drip off and then moving it sideways to set it down, I got in a hurry and lifted it out of the canner and then immediately moved it towards me and the splash got me :scream:. Always try to remind myself that can happen again. I will have to read up on silver preparations.

Well, I really like relish. Hopefully I will remember to plant a few peppers and onions next year and try that. Is Harry & David’s a recipe?

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It is a mail order gift company althought they have outlets in larger cities. They sell specialty foods. Someone gave my DH some of their Onion Pepper Relish and he loved it so I found a knock off recipe online and adjusted it and he has it on his sandwich every day.

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I posted this in another thread, but we did about 8 jars of salt pickles last week. They are not processed like regular pickles, just add brine to cuke slices in any jar you have, no special lids or rings necessary. The cukes ferment similar to cabbage, ala sauerkraut.

Most of them were made for our niece, but we kept a couple jars. We’ll give them a try in a couple weeks to see how they turned out. Here is the recipe from the other thread:

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That sounds good!

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It is a different mix of flavors - sweet and spicy with a tomato base and def onion flavor. It is made like a jelly - i.e. hot pack. Because peppers are often late to the party I wind up using canned tomatoes if the vines get blighted out before peppers come in good. The other fam favorite for sandwiches is roasted red bell peppers. Here is the onion pepper relish (notes are to remind me each year how to do this, LOL)

Onion Pepper Relish a la Harry & David (OPR) (The original recipe I modified - hot pack)
Sauce In the tall soup pot dissolve 2 c sugar with 1&1/4 cups white vinegar, 1 Tblsp salt, 2 tsp cayenne pepper with medium heat. Heat to dissolve dry ingredients.
Prep and Add the veggies (use the Nicer Dicer for all ingredients) (If shy on some veggies, incr others to bring total weight to ~5.25#)
2.25# tomatoes chopped (core stem end and squeeze out liquid & seeds, dice), or, drain canned chopped tomatoes, 2pts canned ~2.5# tomatoes
1.5# (3-4) red bell peppers (core and seeds removed), sliced in strips; Also can use other mild peppers
1.5# (~4 med) onions (cut off ends and cut in 1/2 inch squares)
When sugar is dissolved and liquid is clear in the tall soup pot, add all the veggies and bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about an hour, to soften veggies and reduce liquid to about 1/3 pot (about height of tines on salad fork)
When almost done, place 4 pint jars, lids, and stainless steel funnel in 230 deg oven to heat up to the boiling temp of the jelly in the pot. Put lids in center of oven or rubber gets too hot.
Remove ~ 1/2 c liquid and dissolve 3T clear gel into it and then add to pot and stir immediately.
Hot pack.
Use gardening gloves to grab jars from oven. Ladle mixture into heated jars, remove air bubbles, wipe rims with wet cloth then a dry cloth, lid & band immediately - before getting the next jar from the oven. Set aside to cool undisturbed at room temp. Lid should pop.
This recipe makes about 4 pt jars depending on how much the liquid was boiled down. Extra can be refrigerated for immediate use.

The Clear gel is just a thickener. Use what you are familiar with like pectin. This doesn’t and shouldn’t be a hard set so it flows onto things better.

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Ouch! And burns keep on hurting. Did you blister up?
@subdood_ky_z6b I just did some lacto-fermented cucumbers today. They are my absolute favorite when they turn out well.
Trying to decide whether to vinegar pickle or ferment some beets. I only have enough for one batch and I love vinegar beet pickle, but want to try fermenting them.
Wow, that’s a run on sentence.
I only put in four tomato plants cause I knew I wouldn’t have time to can. Frozen tomatoes have always disappointed me. Did have a lovely sandwich today!

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So, you have tomatoes to harvest? I guess it’s not too early, it is mid July. Our gardens just got a late start, because of the weather. Hopefully we’ll have bumper crops later in the summer.

Deer managed to stay out of the plots overnight, they had been in them for like three days in a row. I was out late last night bolstering up the fishing line fence around the tomato patch, so hopefully that will help keep them out for now.The plants look great, but have been ravaged, but they still have lots of fruit on them.

We would like to can lots of half-runners, tomatoes, pickles, and corn this year. All the plants look great so far, a lot better than last year, but we got a ways to go…

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Early Girls. Not the world’s best flavor, but better than anything in the store.
I saw your lament about the deer on the tomato thread, I think. Fortunately, we haven’t had critter problems here.
I planned the garden for fresh eating this year cause I knew Booger 1 and Booger 2 wouldn’t let me do alot of canning. They are pretty good, but I still have to be able to stop and tend to them. Last year I planted way too much, and it all rotted cause I couldn’t take care of it or put it up. It was frustrating. This year is better. Everything ripe is getting eaten (by us!), and the garden looks well kept.

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Ouch is right! Actually, it was not extremely painful at first, although I knew I had been scalded. As quickly as I could, I splashed cold water on it and rubbed it with ice. That did not help very much as the pain started then. Reminds me of the Johnny Cash song Ring of Fire with the lyric “and it burns burns burns”. It did not really blister up. My main concern was infection. I put Neosporin on it and it finally healed after about 2 weeks.

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Canned the jam from Beauty plum, black currants and also made pickled cucumbers, the first in this season.

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Looks really good.:grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Nice. I know that represents a lot of work.
There is a nice sense of satisfaction when that lid goes ‘pop’ that says, “OK, what I grew won’t go bad but will be waiting for us this winter, reminding us of the taste of summer.” :blush:

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I have been chopping all day for a triple batch of it to can in the morning. It’s a lot of work but soooo nice to see it sitting in jars on my shelves. @Antmary. Yours look wonderful!! Good job.

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