Those look great. Isn’t it nice to grow something the squirrels ignore?
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My husband said I’m sure they know better, lol.
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Yup. I let two melons ripened and they dropped to the ground. Nothing touched those red fruit or seeds, even after I left them overnight.
So I collected those seeds without any competitions.
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Prime-Ark Freedom primocane crop… Not many but they’re big and good. I’ve also either won the battle against SWD, or they’re gone for the season.
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Quint,
Do you mean did I ‘process’ the jars? No. I did freeze one, though.
Or did you mean are the tomatoes canned? I didn’t think this was what you meant. ?
I got out my bluetooth speaker and an audible book (!) and sat down at the kitchen counter to spend LOTS of time peeling LOTS of tomatoes. Mostly Better Boy, as I did not think to plant plum tomatoes . . . maybe next year.
I don’t blanch. The tomatoes are so ripe that with a dangerously sharp paring knife - the skins come right off. I put them in a bowl and ‘pressed’ much of the liquid out of them. I don’t bother removing seeds.
Then I lightly sautéed about 10 cloves of garlic and some diced Vidalia onion in olive oil. I add salt and pepper, dried oregano and basil - I don’t measure . . . just shake some in. And a shake or two of red pepper flakes. I sauté these spices in the olive oil - just for a minute or so . . . before adding the cut up tomatoes.
I guess most people would use fresh basil and oregano. I don’t. I just use ‘fresh’ dried. (Actually I like the Spanish brand, Badia - their spices always look so fresh.)
I simmer this, stirring often . . . smash it a bit! And pour it into the jars. That’s IT.
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Creatures from another planet.
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Pom,
Thanks for the informative reply. I was sure they were your own tomatoes. They didn’t look like canning lids so wondered how you were holding them for later use.
In the past i have simply cut up whole tomatoes and put them in freezer bags. Ok, but too hard to stack without them rolling around.
Last year i cut, seasoned, and cooked them with skins and all, then blended before freezing.
Then i roasted my cut up ones, added garlic, basil, etc. Blended and froze.
Today i grated them by hand into a coarse puree and put the separated skins away for other uses like soups.
All this was from large slicers but next year i plan to grow paste (probably Opalka) for most sauce use.
I love my Everleaf Emerald Tower basil. Highly recommend it from Territorial Seed Co.
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If you dip tomatoes into boiling water for a minute or two, then into cold water, the skins slip right off. No tedious peeling! Be sure to use a water bath canner if you plan to store the sealed jars more than a day unrefrigerated. Consult a canning book or Internet for full instructions. Do not try to experiment around making up your own system to do canning.
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Quint . . . you have tried a lot of methods! I tried freezing in plastic containers last year. Didn’t work too well.
I haven’t had luck with freezing. I always ended up with a lot of freezer burn. (Then I got a ‘Food Saver’ and it really does a great job - with meat, especially.) But it would be hard to pack the bags with tomatoes, I think. Maybe I’ll try that next tho . . . since I have a lot of tomatoes again. Their last hurrah, I think.
Those lids . . .
I bought them online, but I have also bought them at Walmart, before. They are very handy. I like the jars - even just for leftovers. Glass cleans up so nicely. Plastic . . . ‘ehhh!’ Not so much.
These plastic lids have rubber seals, actually. But, they are not for ‘canning’. You can freeze, using them. They suggest you use only the straight jars - and leave an inch of space. My son suggested I freeze them without the tops. Then screw the tops on once the food is frozen. I put my ‘test’ jar in a heavy duty ZipLoc bag . . . just in case!
These are the lids.
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Pom, I am a canner and once you get the hang of it, it becomes very simple. I will freeze peaches only. My other fruit does not freeze well. Freezing in plastic or glass isn’t great. Did you process your tomato sauce?
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I freeze tomatoes in wide mouth pints and quarts… the wide mouth pint has no curve or reduction in size at the top… never had one to crack when freezing tomatoes.
With widemouth quarts… you have to avoid the tomato mix freezing and expading up into that area at the top where the jar neck reduces in size. If it does that… will almost always crack your mason jar. Fill the quart only about 3/4 full and it will freeze fine.
Tomatoes, meat and juice mixed… when simply frozen like this are good for use in chili or soups.
That is about all we use them for.
In the freezer now…
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I like my food saver also. I have just been using it to seal up my stringbeans after blanching them. I usually do about 10 ounce per bag then toss them in the freezer. I also dehydrate tomatoes. Seems to work well and made a sauce from them a while ago. Peppers too.
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MrsG - Do you mean did I put the jars in a water bath?
No, I didn’t. I ran the jars and lids through the dishwasher - cooked the ‘sauce’ and filled the jars.
I’m not intending to keep these for any long length of time. Maybe use them in the next couple of weeks. I just didn’t want all my tomatoes to go to waste.
I guess Ill try to do it the ‘proper way’ next year.
Last year I froze several ‘vacuum bags’ of peaches. They were so good ‘going in the bags’ and so tasteless when I thawed them several months later.
New Subject
My Indian Free peaches are just about ripe. I thought I might like them better this year. ??? NOPE. The texture is odd. The flavor is odd. The color is odd. Extremely fuzzy! Some of the fruit is very nice looking - and some looks like the PCs got to them. Most are still hard as rocks - but some came off when I barely touched them.
Last spring I put some other peach variety grafts on the tree . . . and I think I’ll put more scions on this coming spring.
Is there anyone out there that really LIKES these peaches?
I wish I’d planted another variety.
A pretty one.
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I like mine. They take forever to ripen. October for me. Best when soft. I do admit that they are like a whole different fruit from regular yellow peaches, but I feel that way about white peaches in general. Yours are very good looking. Too bad you are not enjoying them more. Can you measure brix?
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Pom, most red peaches were originally grown in France and were pickled. They were really good. It is an odd peach. The red peach that is sweeter and better tasting is ‘Black Boy’.
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Many people on this forum like Indian Free.
I DO NOT. It was too tart for me. I don’t mind the fuzz. I don’t like the taste. Not only it was very tart, it tasted a bit of bitterness, to me, too.
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Are your IF fully ripe now? I thought it would be some tine in Sept for you. It is a very late peach.
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I doubted that they are fully ripe - but they were beginning to fall off. Just a few at a time. And others had damage spots which felt soft. So, I tested by very gently pulling - and the ones you see in my ‘basket’ came off with just a slight touch.
We cut into several of them - and some with obvious damage like PC bites - had rot around the pits and a worm or 2. Some appeared clean. I actually liked those better - although they appeared to be NOT ripe. They were a bit ‘crunchy’ but I preferred that to the mushy texture.
There are many still on the tree - and I’ll let those ripen and see what they are like when fully ripe. Maybe end of Sept?
I don’t have a brix measurer - other than my tongue! 
LOL
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