I have four Brandywine Tomato plants. I started them from seed in a pot early this spring. Once they were growing well I transplanted them to a plot of soil right out our back door that I had turned over, broken up, and kept some grass clippings on in hopes of repressing weeds and maybe improving the soil. The plants grew and stayed healthy and well, I was pretty surprised. I'm not known for keeping plants healthy. I never constructed cages of any sort so my four tomato plants ended up as one massive vine/bush. It took over the entire area I had prepared and little by little as summer wore on it encroached into the yard and my brothers, who mow for me, had to mow less and less. :P Sometime in June, I think, I harvested my first tomato. It was delicious. Very meaty, sweet, and the perfect taste of summer.
Growing up we grew Roma varieties for canning as stewed tomatoes, turning into sauces, and salsa. I'm not sure if they are actually better for it but as I soon had more ripe Brandywines to give away than I had friends and family to give them to I decided to start stewing them. I've done four batches so far and will probably get to do a lot more if I chose to.
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| My cute harvesting helpers :) |
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| Eowyn is always so eager to carry them to a pile |
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| The harvest rinsed |
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| Cored then blanched (not sure how that big guy missed the coring...) |
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I peel straight into doubled grocery sacks which I then tie up before throwing in the trash; fruit fly control.
I chop them on a cutting board placed in a sheet pan to avoid getting juice everywhere; mess control. |
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Excited to "help" pack the jars.
I did some in quarters and chopped some others. |
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1 tsp. Salt and 1TBSP. Lemon Juice in case you worry about the acidity content of tomatoes not being high enough.
Process in boiling water bath canner for 40 minutes. |
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| I don't have a water bath canner but this large pot works. I use a rack in the bottom to keep the jars off the direct heat, I've read a washcloth will work, too. |
Coming up: I turned 10 pounds of my tomato harvest, so far, into Tomato Jam.
Do you have a garden? Or just a few plants like me? What have you done with your harvest(s)?
~Haley
That is great that your few plants have been so bountiful! I always tell people if all you do is grow a tomato plant in a pot it is still worth growing. One year I did not plant a garden. That is the year I realized that if all I had was one tomato plant in a pot it would be a whole lot better than nothing.
ReplyDeleteThis year I do have a garden and several tomato plants. I have canned about 30 pints and 30 some quarts of tomato juice/sauce. And rightnow I have a bucket full of tomatoes sitting on my counter rotting because I am too lazy to process them.
Okay, I exaggerated. I only have canned 18 quarts besides the pints. I just went and counted them.
DeleteBoy it sure seemed like a lot more. ;)
I've done 6 more this week making my total 23 quarts and 3 pints stewed/crushed and 7 pints 1 quart of tomato jam. 😁
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ReplyDeleteLots of salsa! And tomato soup! It was my first time making salsa and I was pleasantly surprised with how well it turned out. Your tomato jam sounds amazing....I may need to try that next!
ReplyDeleteI've never tried canning tomato soup but I do enjoy eating it! Is yours concentrated like the kind from a can?
DeleteIt isn't super concentrated, but you do add milk to it after opening it. I got the recipe from Aliesha😀
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