Can you answer these tomato questions?
 

There are answers to some of these questions on this forum but I can not find them.


1) How to ripen store bought tomatoes? [URL="http://tomatoville.com/showpost.php?p=691660&postcount=13"]Found this here.[/URL]


2) when making tomato sauce how do you prepare the tomatoes beforehand to prevent the sauce from separating? I believe it has something to do with how you prep the tomatoes before making the sauce? Cook before running through sieve?




This one I haven't seen posted anywhere but would like to know what folks think.

3) Canning tomatoes question in many parts lol (whole, chopped, crushed)


I have read that citric acid or lemon juice need to be added for safety when canning tomatoes (water bath) but read a lot of folks say it gives an off flavor.
Why can't tomatoes be pressure canned instead of using citric acid? Is it because they loose flavor or deteriorate in quality when pressure canning?

I plan on making some Gumbo and Jambalaya recipes and there will be multiple ingredients including meat. The food will be pressure canned per/ Ball, due to the meats.

I know there are a lot of folks that are sticklers for following Ball recipes exactly, I heard a million times, "its a proven recipe dont deter from it"

Anyhow seems like no one actually follow the "Proven Recipes" to a T .

For example look up "canning Gumbo", the first few hits have recipes with flour in it.
I know this is a no no and wouldn't use flour as a thickener in anything being canned, I would thicken when it is re-heated.

Anyhow I want to be safe but wasn't sure if the reason for citric acid when doing a water bath opposed to Pressure canning was to retain the quality of the tomatoes.

I'm guessing that Pressure canning whole tomatoes would just disintegrate the tomatoes into a sauce anyhow?

I may try the water bath method with lemon juice when making my stewed tomatoes.

Feedback?

>>> I have read that citric acid or lemon juice need to be added for safety when canning tomatoes (water bath) but read a lot of folks say it gives an off flavor.
Why can't tomatoes be pressure canned instead of using citric acid? Is it because they loose flavor or deteriorate in quality when pressure canning?

>>>

I'd guess the main reason is for folks who don't have access to a pressure canner. I assure you from experience, that technique (PC) does not harm taste, nor turn the tomatoes into mush.

1.) Place the toms in a paper bag (not plastic) in a room temp area (not the window sill). Just a loosely closed paper bag will do the trick. They should ripen quite quickly this way.

2.) Bring a pot of water to boil. Core the tomatoes and cut a shallow "X" in the bottom. Drop them in the boiling water, retrieve them with a slotted spoon after two minutes, and place in an ice bath to stop cooking. This will simply loosen the skins which will be easily pull off then. Then use for cooking, either by fully blending, mashing, or chopping (removing seeds is optional, but good).

Alternate: if you've got a ton of toms and will be producing a lot of sauce, consider a food mill. Run the toms through the mill, which extracts the core, seeds and skins for you while leaving a smooth, velvety raw tomato sauce.

The more you cook off the moisture, the less water in the sauce to separate. Using some olive oil and/or butter (ala Marcella Hazan) and even a bit of grated Parmesan cheese will help emulsify the sauce, not only adding a lot of flavor and mouth feel, but reduce the separation. But there will be some due to the water content.

Skim off any watery parts while cooking the sauce. If you're working with frozen tomatoes, thaw them and press in a colander. You'll get a lot of watery stuff. Put the watery stuff in a separate pan. Cook down to about half. It turns into a very tasty "liquor". Cook the rest of the sauce to your liking; it won't take as much time as cooking down the liquor. Add the liquor back in its thickened state. Or don't if you like your sauce as is; you can add the liquor to other dishes.


Nan

[QUOTE=Nan_PA_6b;707751]Skim off any watery parts while cooking the sauce. If you're working with frozen tomatoes, thaw them and press in a colander. You'll get a lot of watery stuff. Put the watery stuff in a separate pan. Cook down to about half. It turns into a very tasty "liquor". Cook the rest of the sauce to your liking; it won't take as much time as cooking down the liquor. Add the liquor back in its thickened state. Or don't if you like your sauce as is; you can add the liquor to other dishes.


Nan[/QUOTE]

We have found that the longer you cook down your tomatoes the more you lose that nice fresh tomato flavor. We just stew the tomatoes until they are soft then let them sit a while and pour off the water or pour them into a strainer and let the water drain out. We never put it back into the sauce but we will use it in soup if we are planning on making any right away. We then run the drained tomatoes through a food mill and either freeze them or water bath them. This process makes a nice thick puree which is fairly concentrated so it takes up much less space in the freezer.

Bill

I stopped using a water bath to skin tomatoes. It makes the tomatoes take up water and then when processing you have to cook it down which can cause separation when canned. I also dislike my Victorio fod mill. PITA to clean and set up. My method below is a million times better than any other way I've tried.

What I do now is cut off stem scar, cut tomato in half, squeeze juice into a separate pot through a wire strainer, place tomatoes cut side down on a baking pan/dish and broil for 5 mins. Remove and let cool. Skins pull right off. Then I throw tomatoes and any other ingredients into my blender and puree. If I need to thin it any I simply pour the squeezed juice into it then can as usual. Otherwise I can the juice separately.

This eliminates a lot of work and results in a better end product. Cooking salsa/tomato juice on a stovetop for any amount of time changes the flavor. My method eliminates the flavor change and/or separation issues. Usually I have to puree each ingredient separate when making a big batch. I pour this all into a large pot, mix, then pour into my jars. I also roast my peppers this way.

"broil for 5 mins. Remove and let cool. Skins pull right off."

Smart. I think I'll try that when the time comes.

I just halve or quarter the tomatoes, squeeze any seed I want out, then toss them in to the vitamix, peels and all. The speed of the vitamix makes the peels become nothing. and you get the extra fiber and nutrients. If I want a roasted tomato puree, I'll bake the halves, after squeezing, season and some olive oil, skin side down in a roaster for about 30 to 40 depending on size of tomatoes and how caramelized I want them, then whiz in the vitamix.

Sorry, double post

[QUOTE=SueCT;707773]Do you know what you asked, lol? Everyone here has thier own method. There is no right or wrong. It is what you like best as far as work put into goes and results. I aim for less steps and as fresh as possible. Its like asking how do you make Spaghetti Sauce? As many ways as there are people. :)

I cut them into quarters, put into a pot and cook just until soft, then ladel them into my food mill and run it through, keeping all juices. I then use them in a sauce recipe with tomato paste, substuting them for canned tomatoes, which also have a lot of water in them. If I want a fresh tomato sauce without tomato paste then I simmer it down until I have a consistency I like. I expect that type of tomato sauce to be much thinner anyway, although you could cook it to what ever conistency you like. I no longer peel tomatoes unless I am canning them because I found the water bath thing time consuming, messy and seemed to just add more water to them. I don't throw away the tomato water any more than i do with canned tomatoes. I also think there is some flavor in it and I would rather reduce it to remove water than throw it out.

Think about how you like to make your favorite sauce now and just substitute your own pureed or crushed tomatoes for the canned. You will probably love it even more.

Experiment with different methods as well and see what you like best and how much difference the extra work of some methods over others make to YOU.[/QUOTE]

Sue, I do know there's a million ways to make a sauce. What I was looking for was the post that someone posted how to prevent sauce from separating. It was pretty cut and dry on the method. The comparison was to cook the tomatoes before running through a mill or sieve or running them through cold (raw). Don't freeze before cooking or processing?
I'm not sure which was which and was hoping to find that post.

My usual sauce recipe is a 2-3 hour roast on 225-275 spread out on a pan this makes for a very rich deep flavored sauce. Sometimes I chop in onion, garlic, spices and peppers.
I'm ok on the recipes but was curious about preventing separation.
I don't get separation on the roasting but wanted to find out what others are doing to avoid this issue in case I want to try another method other than roasting.

I think a lot of us misunderstood as you can see above, that that was all you were looking for. I can't help you with that particular question because I don't think I have ever had it happen in any sauce I have made, but I don't can mine, I freeze it.

By the way, I would never ripen a tomato in a paper bag. That causes ethelene gas, I think it is, given off by the tomato to be trapped, and cause the tomato to turn red, but does not ripen it. The best way to ripen a tomato inside, I think, is on the counter out of direct sun and wait.

Citric acid in water baths will protect against bacteria growth, it also helps the tomatoes keep their color longer.

I have pressure canned and water bathed. I found the water bath better, I thought they tasted fresher, but I must admit i only did it once or twice so I never delevoped and expertise at it. That could certainly have effected my results.

Hard to beat the flavor on the oven roasted sauce

Using the vitamix then canning, never had sauce separate. Before, I would sometimes drain lightly cooked tomato chunks in a cheese cloth lined strainer, saving the juices for a stock.

Do you puree the skins into it as well, Imp? If so, do you feel them after and does it help make it thicker?