Summer Tomatoes

Once again this Summer we put up some tomato sauce. The jars of sauce we put up last Summer lasted until just this last week. It's amazing to have the fresh taste of Summer tomatoes during the long cold months of Winter.

I gather up my favorite canning book...

A daughter to help...

with her Baby Bump too...

p.s. It's a GIRL 

Fresh picked and washed tomatoes...

dice them into quarters...

(removing the core and any bad spots)

Cook the diced tomatoes down for about 10-15 minutes...

peel off the skins and process in a food processor...

be careful the tomatoes are HOT

simmer down until reduced by about half...

(the reducing takes a good deal of time)

having hot sterilized jars (I run my jars through the dishwasher on a hot wash with a sanitizing rinse)

add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (don't use fresh squeezed lemons, it has to be the bottled type, it raises the acidity level to maintain proper pH levels, the lemon juice does not change the flavor of the tomatoes)

into the bottom of each quart jar and ladle in your reduced tomato sauce...

Put your quart jars of sauce into a boiling water bath for 40 minutes...

 there you have it- Tomato Sauce...

Summer in a jar...

until next year.

Canning tomatoes is a bit labor intensive. I set up a make shift outdoor kitchen under a shade tree, and the process takes the better part of the day.  

We have more tomatoes in the garden and I may, or may not, process another batch this Summer. 

I really enjoy the time working on the sauce, but more importantly I enjoy spending the time with family, creating memories and stories to share together. When I close my eyes and think of Summer I want to remember sitting under that shade tree on a Summer day chatting, working away, and being together. 

It's all part of

'Preserving a Past to be Proud of'

The Girasole Lady