I'm a little late with this post. It's been about a month since I made these, and it was getting to the tail end of tomato season then. It's been busy!
You'll need:
Roma tomatoes, a 1/2 bushel or so (or however many you have of whatever kind of tomato)
Quart (1 L) or Pint (500 ml) Mason jars
An equivalent number of snap lids and rings
And per jar:
1/2 t citric acid per quart or 1/4 t per pint
Directions for canning:
Wash your jars in hot soapy water and rinse well.
Put a good-size pot of water on to boil. Put ice and/or very cold water in a large bowl or your clean sink. Our new fridge has an ice maker. I had no idea how much I would love this feature for canning.
Rinse your tomatoes well and rub off any bits of field dirt.
Take a sharp paring knife and cut an X into each tomato.
Working with about a half-dozen tomatoes at a time, put them in the boiling water for about a minute, then remove them to the ice bath.
Once they've cooled, their skins will slip off quite easily, especially if you've given them a starting place with that X.
Core each tomato and slice or rough chop. Put tomatoes into a large, heavy-bottomed pot and heat on medium. Let the tomatoes simmer happily while continuing to peel, core, and chop the rest.
Once the tomatoes are all in the pot and lovely and soft and juicy, squish them up with a potato masher. Cook until you like how they look. Add a sprinkle of salt if you wish, or not.
Prepare your jars with citric acid.
Heat water in a small pot and put your snap lids in there. They don't have to come to a boil. It's just to soften them a smidge to help them seal.
Ladle your tomatoes into jars, leaving about 1/2 inch head space.
As usual, "bubble" each jar with a skewer or chopstick to release any trapped air. Wipe each rim with a clean damp paper towel. Place a heated snap lid down and screw the ring on finger tip tight.
Put the filled jars into your water bath canner. Make sure there is at least an inch of water above the top of your jars. Don't start your timer until the water is boiling. Put the pot lid on and boil quarts for 45 minutes, pints for 35 minutes. If you're mixing jar sizes in the same load, be sure to process to the longest requirement.
Remove jars from the canner.
Repeat the process with the next batch. So simple and gorgeous and just waiting for your favourite chili, pasta, or soup recipe.
