Canned Tomatoes!

[gryphynshadow.livejournal.com]

Today, gailmom  went and picked up a bunch of canning jars for me. She found them on Craigslist, and scored 10 cases of 16oz. jars and 33 cases of 8oz. jars, for half the price they would have been retail. Hooray for Craigslist, the resale market, and smart shopping! Way to go gailmom !!!

Because she picked up jars, and because it's been on my mind lately, I'm thinking of canning and preserving food. Admittedly, so far we haven't had much of a harvest (although I've learned a lot, especially about my own habits and the need for workarounds there), but the local farmer's market should supply us with enough locally grown produce to make a foray into canning worthwhile.

The farmer's market is open on Saturday morning, so we're planning a trek out there to survey the offered goods. I'm hoping to score +20 pounds of tomatoes. I don't want to get too many to start with, because this will be my very first foray into canning all by myself, with no guidance from experienced canners (my mom and grandmother.)

With this in mind, today I did a little google work, and found this: http://www.pickyourown.org/canning_tomatoes.htm It's a step by step guide, with pictures, to canning tomatoes in a hot water bath. We don't yet have a pressure canner, but do have a hot water canner. Canner, plus jars, plus lids, plus tomatoes equals home canned tomatoes!

I feel pretty confident that I'll be able to successfully can tomatoes for the winter. I will, however, be sure to write up my experience with it, to share with you all here. Even if I screw up totally, and make a giant mess. Even if we wind up having to eat twenty pounds of tomatoes before they go bad. :P