The farm garden has just been blossoming lately, and has kept us very busy in our "free" time! LL's parents are currently on an Alaskan Cruise, so the job of caring for all of the garden produce has fallen to the kids. This is my first year being on the farm during canning/freezing season, and up until now I have helped with peas ("sweet peas" for you Southerners), sugar peas, corn, peaches, strawberries, string beans, lima beans and beets, but NOTHING could prepare me for tomatoes. After LL's parents lamented that they weren't going to have much of a tomato crop this year, we harvested TONS of tomatoes, and have spent at least 4-5 nights up until 1am canning tomatoes. We have made spaghetti sauce, tomato juice, whole sliced tomatoes, salsa, and ketchup, with still no end in sight. I love garden fresh tomatoes, but after canning for 12-14 hours a day on the weekend and from the time I get off work until 1am during the week, I am content to not see another tomato for a LONG time! Here is the process for making spaghetti sauce, in case you are interested:
Wash, core, and slice tomatoes, and bring to a boil on the stove:
In a separate pan, combine peppers, onions, (both are also from the garden) and oil, and boil until soft:
Using my fabulous Kitchen Aid Mixer and attachments, strain tomatoes and pepper and onion mixture and combine, bring to a boil back on the stove:
Add spices (we use basil, oregano, salt, and sugar), boil for 10 minutes, then pour into jars and can for half an hour. The result:
Of course, that is just a SMALL sampling ("one batch") of tomatoes... a bushel of tomatoes (that about 2 5-gallon buckets full) makes about 10 quarts. After canning at my house, we moved the operation down to LL's mom's house, and here is the result:
All of the counter tops are also full of jars. AND, there are MORE tomatoes still in the garden! Will it ever end?!?
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