Canning Tomatoes 101

A weekend spent with a few members of the Ulster County Italian American Foundation gave me the opportunity to learn the basics of canning tomatoes, and now I’m here to teach you.

I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to learn the process of canning tomatoes for a long time now. But not just to can them myself, but to attend a gathering where the main goal is to process a few hundred pounds of tomatoes into sauce, and jar those sauces so they’re shelf stable for use all winter long. Two weekends ago I was finally afforded that opportunity when I was invited to participate in and photograph a tomato canning party led by Celia from UCIAF, the Italian group that my dad and step-mom are a part of. And it was exactly what I hoped it would be; a day of fun, laughter and good food. And the cherry on top was the fact that I got to take home jars of tomato sauce, and I absolutely cannot wait to use them throughout the winter.

AN ITALIAN AMERICAN DESIRE

I think my desire to learn how to can tomatoes might be some kind of inherent desire in my blood. As most of you probably know, I’m Italian American, and I love recreating the recipes that my ancestors cherished. And while I often put my own spin on those recipes, I do try to cook in the same style as them, in a way that I consider to be the basis for so much of Italian American cooking. You use the freshest, highest quality ingredients that you have access to, and you use ALL of the ingredients that you have access to. So much of Italian American cooking is born from this; the ciambotta (stewed vegetables) recipe that uses literally an vegetables you have on hand, or the peppers and eggs sandwich created in Philly cheese steak shops where they had a excess of peppers and onions.

And I think that’s why I wanted to learn how to can tomatoes. Because my Italian grandparents, and those that came before them, couldn’t afford to waste any food. So what do you do when you grow more tomatoes than you could ever use in a single summer? You can them, and have fresh tomato sauce all winter long!

The process of canning tomatoes is not a simple or easy one, but it is most definitely worth it. We were lucky enough to have Celia and her family take charge of the process, dictating jobs to the rest of the group so that we transformed 300 pounds of tomatoes into over 100 jars of sauce in a few hours. There are a few different ways to can tomatoes to make sauce, but I’m outlining the steps that we took in this process. It may be time consuming, but it’s simple enough to recreate at home.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Clean ball jars and two-piece lids
A canning pot or another large pot (like a stock pot)
Canning tongs
Canning rack, or silicone trivets, or a homemade canning rack
Tomato crushing machine, or a food mill, or potato ricer
Lots of tomatoes
Fresh basil (optional)

SANITIZE YOUR JARS

You’ll want to start with clean ball jars with preferably new two piece lids (a band and a lid). Sanitize the jars and lids by either running them through the dishwasher on the sanitize setting (if your dishwasher has one) or completely submerging them in boiling water and boiling for ten minutes. When done, leave them on a clean surface to dry.

PREPARE YOUR TOMATOES

Plum tomatoes or San Marzano tomatoes (if you can get your hands on them) are the best to use for sauce, because they have less liquid than other varieties. Prepare your tomatoes by quartering them and cutting out the stem base and any bits of rot.

COOK YOUR SAUCE

You may have seen tomato canning recipes that ask you only to par-cook the tomatoes before canning, but for this one we cooked them down completely. Cook your quartered tomatoes over medium-low heat until they are starting to break down and thicken into a sauce, about 45 minutes.

CRUSH YOUR SAUCE

We used this fancy tomato machine to crush our tomatoes into sauce and remove the skins and seeds, but you could use a food mill or a potato ricer to do this. Use a strainer to remove as much liquid as possible from the cooked tomatoes, and then use the machine or the ricer to crush them. You can discard the extra tomato water that you strained off, but my dad (being who he is) saved it, because honestly it tastes just like tomato juice. And same for the pulp, skin and seeds that the machine/ricer removes. You can discard these, or save them for another recipe (I’m planning on using them in a recipe soon).

JAR YOUR SAUCE

Spoon your sauce into your sterilized ball jars, leaving about 1/2 inch of space on the top. We added a few basil leaves into each jar for some extra flavor. Use a clean cloth to wipe any sauce from rim of the jar. Then top with the flat lid and screw the ring on lightly; you want it to be tight enough that it won’t fall off, but not totally tightened.

PROCESS YOUR JARS

Boil a large pot of water (using a canning pot if you have one. Place your jars into the water, ensuring the jars are completely submerged by at least an inch. You want to ensure that the jars aren’t touching the bottom of the pot, either by using a canning rack, a silicone trivet on the bottom of the pot, or by wiring together extra jar rings to create a rack (like they did here). Boil the jars for 45 minutes, keeping the water at a steady boil.

REMOVE YOUR JARS

Use canning tongs (or use the canning rack) to gently remove the jars from the boiling water. Set aside and allow to sit for 24 hours. At the end of 24 hours, test to ensure that all the lids have sealed by pressing down on the center of the lid. If the lid doesn’t spring up, the jar is sealed. If it does, this jar is not shelf stable. You’ll want to keep it in the fridge and use it within a week or two. Screw the rings on until completely tight, and store the jars in a cool dark place for up to a year.

I already have a few ideas for how to use my canned tomatoes throughout the winter, recipes that will be coming soon. But recipes like my poached eggs in tomato sauce, chicken parmesan, and pasta puttanesca would all be fantastic ways to use these canned tomatoes throughout the winter months. We canned nearly 300 pounds of tomatoes and wound up with A LOT of sauce, but I know that most of you probably don’t have access to that many tomatoes. But you can use this canning technique on a much smaller scale, and if you have tomatoes growing in your garden, canning the excess at the end of the summer is a great way to ensure nothing goes to waste. And here’s a look at a few more photos from our day of canning tomatoes!