Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1/2 of a Bushel Roma Tomatoes
- 1 cup Canning Salt (follow directions for how much to use)
- 1 cup Bottled Lemon Juice (follow directions for how much to use)
Instructions
- Put your canning jars in the dishwasher to be washed and sterilized. You will need about half a bushel of ripe Roma tomatoes, either fresh grown in the garden or purchased at a farmers market. You will also need 8 to 10 canning jars and the same amount of lids and rims. Jim’s family only used Ball Canning Jars, so we have continued that tradition. Ball Canning Jars last a lifetime and we have hundreds of jars that were his parents that we still use.
- Next, wash your fresh tomatoes and remove any damaged or rotted sections.
- Next place a medium pot of boiling water to boil on the stove. You need enough water to cover 4 to 5 tomatoes. When the pot of water is at a rolling boil, gently lower it into the boiling water, a few whole tomatoes, but don’t make it too crowded, and be careful not to burn yourself with splashing water or the hot tomatoes.
- Let the whole tomatoes sit in the boiling water for approximately two minutes, and remove them with a slotted spoon.
- With a sharp knife and under cold water remove the skin and any hard middle core. Chop the peeled tomatoes into large chunks and put them in a large stock pot. In this large stock pot boil the tomatoes on the stove to start the cooking process and reduce some of the water from the tomatoes.
- Once all the tomatoes have their skins removed and chucked into the large stockpot, put in about 3 TLB of salt (salt to taste) and boil for approximately 40 to 50 minutes, you want a lot of the water to evaporate and the tomatoes to reduce by about an inch and a half.
- Place a smaller pot of water on the stove to boil to sterilize your lids and rims.
- Remove your jars from the dishwasher and keep them as clean as possible.
- After the tomatoes finish boiling, ladle all the stew tomatoes into the clean sterilized jars, leaving 1 inch from the top of the jar.
- Put 2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice in each quart jar to increase the acidity.
- Using tongs and hot pads secure the lids and rims and tighten the rims to the top of each jar.
- The jars of tomatoes in order to preserve for storing outside of the refrigerator, must be put in a water bath for 30 to 35 minutes. Place a large canning pot on the stove and fill with the jars and then enough water to cover the jars, bring to a boil, and boil for 30 to 35 minutes.
- Carefully remove the hot jars from the canning pot with a jar lifter and place them on towels on the counter watching to make sure that the lids suck in and make a popping noise. Depression in the lid ensures that the canning process has been completed and the jars have a sterilized vacuum.
Notes
You will also need 40 minutes for the Water Bath.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 min
- Category: Canning
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
