Mason jars, with their lids and bands, have always fascinated me. The treats and foods they held were a mystery. How did they get in there? You mean an individual person can save tomatoes for winter? Don't you need a factory and machines to do this? Lately I have been thinking about sustainability, food safety, commercialism, and self-sufficiency. Canning is one way of being more in charge of the food my family eats. We know where is was grown, and how it was made. It will be a wonderful treat to eat in the dead of winter what we grew the summer. In no way are we a self-sustaining family. We could not survive on our tiny little garden and our food-growing methods. Often we make two trips to the grocery a week for milk (we need our own cow and a bigger refrigerator).
Greg and I tinkered around with canning some blueberry jam and salsa, separately of course, when we were first married. Recently we made some blueberry jam using the freezer method. So now it is back to tomatoes. I made tomato sauce using Soulemama's tasty recipe. I didn't have any balsamic vinegar, but it was divine nonetheless. There really is a difference between even good commercial tomato sauce and homemade sauce using your own garden tomatoes.
I didn't have many tomatoes as they have been slothfully slow in turning this season. A certain person who shall not be named insisted that my piddly amount of tomatoes would be enough for one batch (you know who you are). I was using my Red Siberians - small, tasty, small, juicy and did I mention they are small. In hope and desire to can something, I charged ahead. The blanching went well. I actually enjoyed it. The pureeing, spicing, and sauteing of garlic and red onions went swimmingly. The sauce smelled so good.
I think my first and probably biggest problem was my piddly amount of tomatoes. Here is what my labors produced.
There was barely enough sauce to feed our family of six for one meal. We do like our sauce, and a lot of it in this family. Oh well, we decided to put that tiny amount of sauce to use. There was no point of using a water bath since we couldn't ensure safety of the sauce with that gaping amount of headspace.
Tortellini with homemade garden tomato sauce!
Finally this week, our tomatoes have begun ripening in earnest. Today I will attempt to can some more homemade sauce. The taste is addicting. We will also attempt to process some apples and peaches we picked over the weekend. The kiddos are out of school for Rosh Hashana, so this should hopefully make for a good time. Wish us luck. I think we may need it. ;-)