WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

[flowerbug]

...Those funky shaped heirlooms taste good, but they don't bottle very well.

we always skin, core and then chunk the tomatoes we put up so it doesn't matter what they look like. i'm not sure what you are doing with yours to worry about what they look like? are you concerned about them looking like distinct slices or quarters or halves or something else?

 

[LaurenRitz]

we always skin, core and then chunk the tomatoes we put up so it doesn't matter what they look like. i'm not sure what you are doing with yours to worry about what they look like? are you concerned about them looking like distinct slices or quarters or halves or something else?

They're harder to peel, so I use the weird shaped ones for puree or sauce. I do quarter them for bottling.

 

[flowerbug]

They're harder to peel, so I use the weird shaped ones for puree or sauce. I do quarter them for bottling.

oh, yes, we've had some really bad years with catfacing or other issues, but to peel them we dunk them in near boiling water for some seconds and the skin then comes off pretty easy for peeling.

i do the dunking before coring and put them in the sink of cold water to cool them back off again as it is hard to handle them when they are hot. we have a nice big double sink so i can run the cold water through from one side to the drain on the other side if i'm doing a lot of tomatoes (it is rare i'm not doing at least 7 quarts and often more than that).

the catfacing sometimes makes inclusions inside the tomato so i have to cut them carefully to get all of that out of there, which is a lot more work and time and i really try to get tomato varieties that don't do much catfacing. just makes for a harder canning season with as many tomatoes that we put up.

at the end of the season this year we had a lot of tomatoes with deep splits that were rotting on top and i didn't even bother to pick them. if we were really hard up for tomatoes i would have done them but we did well enough that i was, "Ok, let them go, the worms will eat them." but my inner tightwad was whimpering...

 

[Mini Horses]

but my inner tightwad was whimpering...

Yes!! But I toss mine to the chickens. Saves feed money, soothes my whimpers.

Today I need to process apples! Prob gonna fry, then WB in pint jars, like last batch. Love then for breakfast

 

[LaurenRitz]

I woke up angry this morning and I'm trying to identify the reason. Lots of things have come up, but the "inner tightwad" comment, while true for me as well, brought another into perspective.

I mentioned that I stripped a friend's garden. Well, I thought it was just going to be me, but her mother was there helping. Ok, no problem.

When we finished, she took all the tomatoes. I reminded her that I wanted some, and she said she had put some in the car. Bald-faced lie. She knew it and I knew it. I let it go.

Then I went over a few days later, and all those beautiful tomatoes were turning to sludge, no one turning or inspecting them.

Going to waste. That hurts more than not getting any in the first place.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Going to waste. That hurts more than not getting any in the first place.

Yep - it would bother me too!

 

[Mini Horses]

That's selfish and a shameful waste.

I canned 5 more pints of cooked apples. Plus put 1.5 pint in a jar to eat now. Didn't save any out last time & it's been annoying me since. Wouldn't open a jar because I had these fresh still waiting to process. Self punishment!

 

[LaurenRitz]

That's selfish and a shameful waste.

I canned 5 more pints of cooked apples. Plus put 1.5 pint in a jar to eat now. Didn't save any out last time & it's been annoying me since. Wouldn't open a jar because I had these fresh still waiting to process. Self punishment!

Bottles are for storage. Thou shalt not open!

I do the same thing!