San Marzano Preserving

[gazza1960]

With Blight destroying most of our outdoor sans,Ive relied on 2 remaining GH plants to get a few pounds but Mr B has struck in there too and ive had to pull them green and ripen them in the window,so, instead of roasting them and chopping them for chunky  pizza sauce id like to try storing them in jars.

so having window redened these ones if I "hot and cold water" the skins off how would you jar preserve them ......any extra herbs etc ...and what fluid.

Ive asked as I couldnt find much in our A4A archive on the subject and Google only mentions canning.

cheers

Gazza

[gazza1960]

[galina]

What I do is to hot water the skins off, halve them, pack them tight with a few bits of garlic and herbs.  Tomatoes are only just the right ph for waterbath preserving, but by adding a table spoonful of vinegar to each jar, the ph is definitely safe.  Then I fill up with water, put the lids on and waterbath for 40 minutes.  The added acidity is not that noticeable, but you can counter by adding a little sugar.

Canning is the US term for putting things in jars.  There is a lot of good information on canning websites.  Here is a good one:
http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/tomato_water_pack.html

and not just for tomatoes.

[darkbrowneggs]

Previous post sounds good

In the past I have halved or sliced them put on shallow trays with a sprinkle of olive oil, little salt pepper and some herbs, and popped in bottom oven of aga overnight, or even a bit longer if they are wettish, then freeze them in trays when cool, break into chunks and transfer to resealable polythene bag.  Take out chunks as required

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

We grow amongst others a plum type from seed saved from a neighbour's fruit. Last year and this I sundried them. You need sunny windy days and I have a batch drying outside this very week. I almost half them, open them like a book though it doesn't matter much if you cut them in two. I scoop out the wet seeds and salt them well and let them stand for a few hours then pour the water out from them then set them on a grid outside. If the weather is wet I bring them indoors on top of a warm place - also each night -  but they get dryer far quicker outside. I may sprinkle a little more salt on them to help draw out liquid. After two days - no more- I wash them briefly to get excess salt off in wine vinegar to also kill any mould spores. This is important. Then they carry on outside when weather allows as they gradually get leathery. When I think they are dry enough they come in and are packed in jars with home grown fennel seeds and hot plain olive oil is poured over them. I finished up a jar from last year a fortnight ago.
I do fancy growing San Marzano. I haven't grown or eaten any yet and already have multiple packets of 15 different tomato varieties. I ought to stop collecting tomato seed!! What is it like inside? Solid, hollow, juicy, seedy?

[gazza1960]

I must ask Galina ......now ive water bathed a baby....water bathed me feet .....but ive never water bathed a jar of anything so
spill the beans on what you mean so that dear Ol Gazza can trial your method......???

Like the freeezing idea too Darkbrowneggs but our freeeza is at bursting point now...!!!!

Oh ToshoftheWuffingas,if only we had long hot days id like nothing more than to create sun ripened Jarred Tommies.

As for San Marzano "for me" they are king of the pizza Tommies(see  below)



A firm Tommy very akin to beef Toms in their density,and after taking out the core you can see they have very few pips which is
a real bonus.


I Roast mine for 20 mins @ 200 degrees and zip bag em and once cooled,skin em all.


For me the resulting pulp is Tops for a  Pizza base as it is not too runny,has few pips and has a unique flavour that is great when blended with herbs of your choosing plus you get all those scrummy little nuggets of charred burnt Tommy that add extra flavour.....and best thing is you can taste small pieces of the Tommy when eating your Pizza...yum !!!!!!!

see below............................

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,71619.0.html

Cheers

Gazza

[galina]

I must ask Galina ......now ive water bathed a baby....water bathed me feet .....but ive never water bathed a jar of anything so
spill the beans on what you mean so that dear Ol Gazza can trial your method......???
San Marzano "for me" they are king of the pizza Tommies(see  below)

Hot water bath - take the largest deepest pan you have, a pressure cooker of large size, or use  a purpose made waterbath pan.  The commercial ones have inserts to keep the jars off the base of the pan, but you can use a thick layer of newspapers or folded towels etc.  Place the closed jars on the 'base', fill with water to cover the jars and heat to boiling.  When it is boiling, start timing - 40 minutes for tomatoes.  Then take jars out and place on something heatproof, another lot of folded towels or newspaper etc, so the heat from the jars does not spoil your worktop. If you use pop up lids (like I have with these reused sauce jars) you will hear them go 'pop' as the lids pop down when they are cooling.  Any that haven't popped down, indicate that the jar hasn't sealed and won't keep.  Put in fridge and use soon, or freeze, or re-waterbath after cleaning the lid and the top of the glass carefully.  Any that have popped down of their own accord will store for a long time, years in fact (unless of course they get eaten).
An explanation is here

http://missvickie.com/canning/waterbath.html
or from the source I mentioned earlier

http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/using_bw_canners.html
Good luck!

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

You are convincing me about San Marzano. Tomato No 16 coming up!
We don't have long hot days here next to the North Sea in Suffolk. A bright breezy day is fine even if it is cool. If your washing gets dry on the line, so will some tomatoes on a grid. It may take a few days that is all.

[chriscross1966]

I just freeze them, if I'm in a hurry, it'll just be wash and freeze raw, but then when I get an evening spare I make upa big batch of assorted tomato basded thigns and freeze them... homemade baked beans is one of my faves, for the sauce you chop an dfry up an onion and some root veg (carrots, fennel, celery or celeriac) add a laod of tomatoes and one it's cooked down well blend it down, add some molasses sugar, honey or even homemade marmalade to sweeten slightly, in a big pan boil off some beans  (either fresh for about 5 minutes or if dried and soaked then around 15-20), drain and wash them hot, put in big pan that can go in the oven, add the hot tomato sauce and put in a n oven at 120 centigrade for 2 hours or so...

San M is prolly one of top five cooking tomatoes, the others would be Heinz, Black Krim, Giant Spanish and Giant Spanish Yellow 9dunno wht ther real names of the alst two are, I got the seed on ebay from Spain, and they are huge things) ....

[darkbrowneggs]

You are convincing me about San Marzano. Tomato No 16 coming up!
We don't have long hot days here next to the North Sea in Suffolk. A bright breezy day is fine even if it is cool. If your washing gets dry on the line, so will some tomatoes on a grid. It may take a few days that is all.

What do you do to keep the flies and birds away whilst they are outside drying?

[gazza1960]

Cheers Galina for the water bath explanation,the links were helpful too.....

and any and all contributions for preserving the San M,s

Ta

Gazza

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

What do you do to keep the flies and birds away whilst they are outside drying?

Birds are no problem and I have a fair range in the garden. Nor do they attract flies though an odd one might rest on one. It hasn't bothered me. I have seen no eggs for instance. The salt must put them off. Were you worried you could put muslin over them but then the breeze wouldn't do its job as well.

[Morris]

Hi Galina and Gazza

Haven't posted for ages, though have been lurking on and off.

I was also put onto 'canning' by Jeannine, and have since got my own copy of Putting Food By, and familiarised myself with the National Centre for Food Preservation website.

I have to say I'm worried about the garlic in those bottled tomatoes. The garlic adds a low acid ingredient which is not allowed for in the instructions to can tomatoes, therefore I'm worried about botulism risk? If you boil them for a good long time after opening that makes them safe, I think. It might be worth alerting Jeannine and seeing what she has to say?

It is a very low risk, but I would hate to think of you being poisoned!!

http://www.pickyourown.org/botulism.htm

PS Also, vinegar has half the acidity of lemon juice, so you need to add twice as much to your jars. I'm not sure how big yours are, NCHFP instructions say 1 tbsp of lemon juice per pint jar (= approx 500ml), so that would make 2 tbsp of vinegar per 500ml jar - just to make sure the instructions are clear for Gazza and anyone else who might be reading this.

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

Botulin is a by product of bacteria, not bacteria itself. I would not presume that once formed, it is destroyed and broken down by boiling without evidence. It is so deadly that one really has to take care in these matters.

[gazza1960]

Cheers for the input Morris,its always good to know the pros and cons of any kitchen storing of veggies.

We,ll take on board all the info afore we jar any,but at this rate I can see me making pizza sauce and freezing that
in this instance as I couldnt find a suitable pot big enough to boil the jars as per the instructions on the links.

GazNjude