Easy Canned tomatoes, fresh from the garden, into a jar with salt and sugar for the best flavours, and with only 3 ingredients! This recipe is one I have been making since my Mum taught me many years ago. I have used it just about every year since then. It is so quick and easy, because you do not not peel the tomatoes, which saves so much time. There is absolutely no need to peel the skins, because they will just shrivel up and mostly disappear. Alternatively, you could strain them out when opening a jar. Trust me, you won’t even notice them!
Homegrown tomatoes are a must in my garden for the most flavourful sauces and dishes. Canning tomatoes not only allows your to savour their flavours all year long. It also ensures you have a ready supply of tomatoes for the best gluten free dishes.
Canning fresh tomatoes is not difficult, and following a couple of essential steps makes the whole process a lot easier.
1. WASH AND STERILIZE
Wash the jars in the dishwasher on the sterilize setting. This is easier to do the night before and in the morning place the jars in the oven on the lowest setting to stay warm.
Alternatively wash the jars in hot soapy water, rinse them well and place them on the oven rack at 170 F for at least 15 minutes.
Rinse the tomatoes and check for any that are over ripe, or starting to decay.
Remove the core and halve or quarter the tomatoes to fit into the jars.
2. PACK THE TOMATOES INTO THE HOT JARS
Fill each hot jar with tomatoes and squash them down into the jar to release the juice
Leave ½ – ¾ inch space from the top of the jar to the lid
Remove air bubbles by running a knife around the inside of the jar
Wipe the rims clean making sure there are no seeds to prevent a good seal.
Place a lid on the rim of the jar and screw on the band. It needs to be tight but not too tight!
3. PROCESS AND STORE THESE EASY CANNED TOMATOES
Pre-heat the canner while filling the jars. Fill the water to the bottom of the rack, when it’s hanging on the rim of the pot. How much water you will need in the canner is just a guess! Therefore, have a kettle full of boiling water ready, in case you need more.
Add the filled jars of tomatoes to the canner rack. Let the jars sit for a few minutes to heat the glass before lowering them into the boiling water.
Ensure the jars are submerged completely with water about an inch or two over the top of the filled jars
Easy Canned Tomatoes
Equipment
- 1 Canning pot with rack
- 7- 9 Canning Jars with lids and rings
Ingredients
- 18-20 lbs tomatoes
- 1 tsp sugar per jar
- 1 tsp salt per jar
Instructions
- Rinse the tomatoes and cut out the core, removing any blemishes. Halve or quarter the tomatoes to easily fit into the jar.
- Pre-heat the water in the canner and bring it to a boil.
- Into each clean (750 ml to 1 L wide mouth) sterilized jar, put 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar.
- Add tomatoes skin side up, straight into the jar.
- Push each tomato down to squash out the juice and continue adding tomatoes, until the jar is full. You may need the handle end of a wooden spoon to push down the tomatoes further into the jar.
- Wipe the rim of the jar with a clean towel and place the lid on, leaving about 1/2 to 3/4 an inch gap, between the tomatoes and the very top of the jar. This headspace is important for the jars to seal.
- Remove trapped air bubbles with a knife between the food and the jar. Continue around the jar and allow all the air bubbles to escape.
- Carefully place the jars on the canning rack and let them sit for a few minutes. This is to make sure the jar is not cold when lowering them into the boiling water.
- Make sure that the jars are fully submerged by at least an inch over the top.
- Once the water is back to a boil with the jars fully submerged, then start a timer for 45 minutes and reduce the heat to medium low. The water needs to stay at a low boil.
- Carefully loft the rack and remove the jars from the boiling water.
- Allow the jars to cool for at least 12 hours before testing the seals. Just press down on the lid with your finger. They should be slightly concave with no movement up and down.
- If a jar is not sealed properly then keep it in the fridge for up to a week or use it right away.
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