Tomatoes.
The end is near. I promise. I really am out of jars now, and I've been ripping out tomato plants like crazy. Today I canned three quarts and seven pints of diced tomatoes in juice. Very labor intensive, as I peeled, cored, seeded and diced all the tomatoes, then heated up the juice I'd made earlier today, added the diced tomatoes, brought it to a boil, ladled into jars with lemon juice and salt, then processed them in the boiling water bath. I had leftover juice, so I canned another two quarts and one pint. Today's canning brought this year's total to:
40 pints salsa
23 quarts tomato juice
14 pints tomato sauce
7 pints barbecue sauce
7 pints diced tomatoes
3 quarts diced tomatoes
23 quarts tomato juice
14 pints tomato sauce
7 pints barbecue sauce
7 pints diced tomatoes
3 quarts diced tomatoes
5 half-pints sweet pickle relish
5 quarts refrigerator dill pickles
11 pints peach jam
6-1/2 half-pints hot pepper jelly
3-1/2 pints peach-blueberry jam
9 pints strawberry jam
5 pints apple butter
6-1/2 half-pints hot pepper jelly
3-1/2 pints peach-blueberry jam
9 pints strawberry jam
5 pints apple butter
I should have a few jars freed up by the time my jalapeno peppers are ready, so I'd like to make one more batch of hot pepper jelly. I may, if the tomatoes continue to pile up, buy another dozen pints for more salsa.
Besides canning tomatoes today, I picked, snapped, blanched and froze a bunch of green beans. I'd say there were about four pounds all together, but I cooked up a big pot of them to add to Annie and Otto's meals. Probably three pounds or so were frozen, but I won't know until I bag them tomorrow. The Fortex pole beans are producing again. I am so in love with that variety!
My neighbor, Pat, was in the hospital with pneumonia again this week. This is the second time this summer. The doctor told her she had to get rid of her little dog, Bandit, as she is too allergic to animal dander. I'm sure she's just sick about it, she was awfully fond of the little guy. Bandit has gone to Spokane with Pat's son. I do hope they keep him in their family.
Wow, I'm so impressed with all your canning! Amazing! Sorry to hear about your neighbor. How terrible to have to give up a beloved pet. Hopefully her son can keep the dog.
ReplyDeleteAhhh, tomatoes! We check them daily, just hoping they will hurry, and then.... they really start producing! I'm sorry to hear about your neighbor and her little dog. I think you had posted about visiting a month or so back.
ReplyDelete~~Lori
Hope Pat gets better soon. So sad to hear she has to give up Bandit, and hopefully he will get to stay in the family!
ReplyDeleteOn a different note - holy good heavens lady! That's a lot of preserving! I got tired just reading the list of items.
Please let Pat know that your cyber friend who has come to know her through your posts - sends my good wishes for her speedy recovery and my sad condelences at having to give up her Bandit. Makes me sad thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteYou know.. you could just skip buying those pints and just give me the tomatoes instead! I have lots of unused canning jars that are just aching for me to do some canning.
I was thinking, "No, you're not the same old.. . we like you just the way you are!" But ahem, yes, tomatoes. Must feel good all year to get your own out to cook with.
ReplyDeleteSigh.
So how do you feel about tomatoes these days, Granny. Friend or foe?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear your friend isn't feeling well. Perhaps 10 gallons of tomato sauce will cheer her up? ;-)
Poor, poor Pat. I remember she will ill last summer as well. I hope she can get better and stay healthy soon. I hate to hear she had to let the dog go, however. It must have been a good companion.
ReplyDeleteLast night I had a tomato salad. I think that might be my lot, aside from green tomato chutney. It's gone very cold, grey and wet here, and the plants are slowly curling up and fading into the autumnal scene.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'm over-run with squash. I've had squash soup, stuffed squash, sauteed squash and squash surprise!
You've been a busy girl. I still have jars and tomatoes coming out of my ears.
ReplyDeleteWow Granny! It's no wonder your jar stash is low...they are all full! Hope Pat is feeling better and so sorry to hear about the puppy. I would be devastated if someone said I had to get rid of mine! They are the only kids I'll ever have and they really are my family!
ReplyDeleteI haven't done any canning this week yet. We had a batch of cold rainy weather. I'm going to go out today and see if I have any ripe tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteLooks good Gran! Do you have tomato jars overflowing into your bedroom again this year?
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad about Pat. Two bouts of pneumonia in one summer is awful. I seem to remember my daughter saying if you have allergies and stay around the animal for so long your develope an immunity. I guess she was wrong.
ReplyDeleteHa! My kitchen counter looked just like that this morning. Imagine that!
ReplyDeleteTo all: Thank you, I will convey your well wishes to Pat.
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Cheryl, I don't believe for a moment she was allergic to the dog. She was allergic to her daughter's bird, and they had just had her taking care of the $&%@# thing again....and she hated it! The daughter (and son-in-law) didn't like Bandit, because their dog wouldn't tolerate being around him. I think they were the instigators behind getting rid of Bandit. Oh, the daughter also told me Pat's garden (the six tomato plants, row of bush beans and hill of zucchini) were just too much for Pat, and it exhausted her to do all that work. HAH! she picked beans twice, and I helped her pick the tomatoes. The whole thing just pi$$es me off!
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Erin, last year's pickles are still under the bed :-) So far I have all of this year's stuff in the laundry room, but I've had to move all of my canning supplies, the dog food, other stuff, to the plant window shelves. I have one big empty kitchen shelf, but I'm afraid the full jars are too heavy. The adjustable shelf is held by plastic pegs/thingies that might break. I need to find some metal ones!
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TIG, I'm overrun with squash, too. Not terribly, but more than we can consume. I'm happy about the butternuts though, as they will keep all winter.
wow - you really eat a lot of tomatoes! I'll be making pepper jelly this week too.
ReplyDeleteHope Pat feels better soon! Sorry to hear about Bandit. It would be a good solution to have Pat's son take care of Bandit.
ReplyDeleteGranny, your canning is so amazing! Wow! I usually just use my tomatoes up fresh or blanch and freeze them or give away! I wish you were my neighbor! :-) I could have learned so much from you.
Stevie From Garden Therapy, I can much more than we can use, but I have children who are happy to take the excess off my hands.
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RandomGardener, I visited with Pat today, and she looks, sounds and feels much better (she's back home). Her daughter-in-law was there, and she assured me they would make sure Bandit found a good home, or they would keep him themselves.
I would freeze my tomatoes if I had more room, but the freezer is full.
Your family will be stock with tomatoes that's for sure. I have not canned any tomatoes yet but have done dill pickles, icicle pickles, yum yum pickles & sour cherry jam. This weekend I am making corn relish. All from farmer produce unfortunately, wish I had a farmer like you next door :-)
ReplyDeleteDan, I'm already using a jar of the canned diced tomatoes tonight. I kind of wish I'd made more of those, I think they will be used up fast.
ReplyDeleteGranny - I've just started canning this year, just a few pints of tomatoes so far. I'm following the salsa recipe from the Ball Blue Book, and then the stewed tomatoes. I know I've seen you post canning recipes here and there, but if you feel like putting your canning recipes (pepper jelly & salsa in particular) into one post so I can find them and try them I'd be much obliged. I'm not at all familiar with Blogger...is there a way I can just search for these posts with keywords?
ReplyDeleteMy mother-in-law just bought me a cookbook where every recipe features tomatoes, I need to really get to eating these up or canning them. Tonight I'm trying Southern Tomato Pie, a first for our family! ~Your neighbor across the river.
Sheena, the salsa recipe is in my blog at
ReplyDeletehttp://annieskitchengarden.blogspot.com/2009/08/august-15-2009-99-jars-of-food-on-wall.html
The hot pepper jelly is found on the inserts in all of the pectin brands, MCP, Certo, Sure Jell, etc. I don't have any special one I use, I just buy what's available or on sale.
All the others are from the Ball Blue Book or the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning:
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html
If you want to search a blog from Blogger, there is a little white box with a magnifying glass at the top left of the blog page. Just type in what you're looking for and click on the magnifying glass.
I’m sorry about your neighbor. I just hope that her allergy will be gone so she can be with her baby dog. Your canning is really great. I love to try this. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI never thought that one can produce such number of cans for salsa made out of garden produce! I bet your tomatoes are really bearing a lot of fruits! I wish my tomato plants would bear fruits like factories! LOL. But it is really envying to see how many jars of salsa you got there. Actually, salsa is my all-time favorite, that is why I envy you! LOL
ReplyDeleteIsabella Boy, I made nearly that many last year, and we ate it all! I do give a lot away to my grown children.
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