tomatoes coming in nicely

   15 tomatoes turned into 5 quarts canned
last night.  there are a few out there that
are bigger than my two hands.

  as for flavor, when we were done canning
we had a quarter of a cup left that would
not fit in the jars so we split it and
sipped.  heaven!

  we've been enjoying them fresh too.  one
slice of tomato for the whole sandwich.

  the previous post where i mentioned the
tomatoes getting some fungal damage (the plants
are too close together there) from the several
wet rainy days in a row.  i left it alone and
as soon as the sun came out the fungus didn't
progress and the infected leaves have mostly
fallen off.  no spraying needed.  i consider it
natures way of dealing with the problem.  it
did by dropping the fungus prone leaves.  there
is plenty of new green growth up top so i
consider them to be doing just fine.  sure they
would have done better spaced further apart, but
when we planted i tried to get more spacing but
was overruled by the management.  :)  next year
the management may listen...

  i'm not sure what we'll be like for final
production, but the size of the current tomatoes
are indicating a bumper.  if we get 40+qts put
up along with what we eat and give away
we'll be quite happy.

  the cherry tomatoes are doing well too.
plenty of sunshine with some rain here or
there makes for good tomato weather.  temperatures
are finally moderate enough.  looks to be the
mid 80sF this week and some rain in the forecast
here or there.


  songbird

 
My tomatoes also look nice but still green. I like mine to come in around
first half of September in the belief the cooler weather helps them taste
better. I have mostly beefsteaks and Romas. I am getting lots of cherry
tomatoes. I did get a handful of tomatoes two weeks ago with some bottom
rot after several days of heavy rain. But that seemed to go way now that
rain has settled down. I do not believe it was due to calcium deficiency
but due to uneven watering.

My pickling cucumbers also came in nicely. I made 12 pints of Bread and
Butter slices and 12 pints of dill spears. The cucumber vines are spent and
ready for the compost pile. I think I will try broccoli in that spot and
see what happens this fall.

In two week I should be freezing some green beans. I did not plant many
garden peas to freeze, so they are for fresh eating. I do can some whole
tomatoes but tend to turn the beefsteaks into tomato juice and the Romas
into sauce and salsa. Since it is just me, I go for the pints and I tend to
pressure can all tomato products instead of the Boiling Water Bath.

--
Nad

 ...

  we had one BER to start with and i found another
one buried in deep today when i was looking for
a worm.  we grow beefsteaks too and they have always
done well and taste great.  i'd like to try some
romas sometime.



  :)  starting broccoli from seed?



  they are so good i usually raid them along
with the strawberries.

  what kind of peas and beans have you planted?

  our peas are Little Marvel and Alaska Early.

  the wax beans are Top Notch Golden Wax Bush.

  the green beans are Tendergreen Improved Bush
(i'm not a big fan of these, but don't have a
replacement picked out yet).

  for pods next year i have Dwarf Gray Sugar
and Oregon Sugar Pod II, with maturity dates at
66-68 days that's two weeks later than the above
peas labeled at 55-60days.  i'm not sure if they
are saying i won't have pods until that long,
but that doesn't seem right.  i'm assuming they
mean until the peas are dry in the pod again.
they could add more to the label saying about
how many days are for pods, fresh peas and dry
peas.  that would help.  also funny, the days
to germination on the packages are 7-14 days
but that must be for cold spring soil as when
i've planted them they've sprouted in 3-5 days.



  does it cut down on time without messing up
the flavor or are you more concerned about the
risk of spoiling?

  in the years of canning we've done tomatoes
we've not had any spoil lately (we don't grow low
acid types for canning).  Ma has canned off and
on for 50 years.  she's only had a little trouble
from using damaged jars that didn't seal well.
i bought her new jars a few years ago and she's
a happy canner.  i like the quart wide mouth jars
because i can get my hand in them to scrub them
if they need it.

  when she cooks for the families she can use
4-6 quarts at a time.  for us we use 2 at a
time (most often for macaroni and tomatoes, in
the middle of winter it is our favorite).


  songbird

 
Romas are great for salsas and sauces. They have more pulp and less juice.
I use a Roma strainer that removes the skin and seeds so that it gives the
sauce a sweeter taste. Most store bought sauces blend the whole tomato that
seems to me gives the sauce a bitter taste.


I have not done this yet, not positive, I think Broccoli is a cool weather
plant. If it fails, oh well, better than letting the soil go bare. I might
change my mind and plant more leaf lettuce... From seed :)


Alaskan also for the peas.

Kentucky Wonder Pole beans growing up on a trellis. I have always had very
good luck with these beans. The Japanese Beetle trap thirty feet away seems
to keep them away from the beans. A few years ago those beetles have
stripped the beans in the past. The traps seems to work well and keeps them
off the beans.


I have done it both ways for canning tomatoes. I cannot taste the
difference and I have rarely had any failures of the Water Bath or Pressure
canning. I like the pressure canner because I do not need gallons and
gallons of water on my small stove and a pain to fill it up. My
All-American pressure canner heats up much faster than the BWB but takes
longer to cool down. Time is a little longer than the BWB by a few minutes.
Since tomatoes are a border line fruit on the PH scale it probably helps on
the food safety issue also.


Quarts are way too much for me since I do not cook for a family. One or two
pints are the perfect size for me for soups or chili.  I prefer the
standard jars instead of the wide mouth because they are easier to remove
with the jar lifter. I use a bottle brush for cleaning. My hand would have
a hard time in a wide mouth jar also :)

--
Nad

 
  when we juice we core them, then heat
them up to soften and then run them through a
hand cranked food mill to remove the seeds and
skins.  when we do chunks we soak the tomatoes
in hot water and then peel off the skins and
core them.  then to can them we make sure they
are good and hot and fill the jars, wipe the
rims, put the lids and rings on and then
process as usual.

  we don't do sauces or salsas, but we give
a lot of tomatoes away to my SIL who does
make salsa from them.



  :)



  we have a few Japanese Beetles here.  i
try to get them by hand when i see them.
there's not a lot of grass/sod around for
them to start from.

  if they get bad i'll try the traps, but
as of yet no reason to bother.  not for a
little chewing here or there.



  no worries here on the acid levels.
using Beefsteaks and they are fine.

  normal processing here is oven canning
so we are not boiling large amount of water
to seal the jars.  just preheating the
oven.  i do not recommend oven canning to
anyone else, but Ma has been doing it this
way for as long as i've been alive and
it's not that tough.  just need a reliable
oven or oven thermometer and a timer and
all high acid items come out fine for us.  

  low acid canning i would go with a
pressure cooking method for sure.



  we'll eat all week off it and sometime freeze
portions for later if she's making something
more complicated like lasagne or manicotti.
cold lasagne is the food of the gods for
breakfast or quick lunch on a hot day.  :)
i like to keep things simple...


  songbird