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Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.

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Old July 12, 2018   #31
Worth1
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SQUIBB I have much to say on this subject and will try to post it when I get home.
Too much to post with the phone I would end up taking verbal shortcuts and end up insulting someone.
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Old July 12, 2018   #32
SueCT
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Well my tomatoes are always mush when I can them I always assued it was my technique.
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Old July 12, 2018   #33
ContainerTed
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I know we all want to grow more of our food, but common sense has to take over at some time. I make "JUICE" which is pure tomato juice and the meat of the tomatoes. I only take out the seeds and the skins. I will add a bit of sugar when most of the ones I'm processing are slightly tart. The only other thing that goes in is canning salt. I pressure can it in quart jars and it lasts for as much as 3 years (I haven't managed to consume it slowly enough to have a longer time check.)

Here's why I only make this thick juice. A large can of diced tomatoes is only about $1.50. Tomato paste is also pretty cheap. So, my thick juice can be used for sauces, salsas, spaghetti, and a myriad of other things. It tastes like biting into a big summer tomato and I love it cold and refreshing. So, yes, I can make the other things, but it is less trouble for me to simply buy the diced and super thick tomato products. My "juice" makes a wonderful tomato soup that doesn't have that "FLAT" taste of Campbell's products.

The key to it all is not to rush the reduction phase of my processing. This saves the flavors and colors and is critical to the whole thing. I put my canning salt into the reduction pots to achieve a flavor that pleases me. However, I've given some folks a taste of it and they have all had very positive comments. A couple of folks have offered me $5.00 a quart if I would just part with a few jars.

If you want to can whole or chunks of tomatoes, don't process them too long. Tomatoes have enough acid in them to can without any additives. Putting citrus or lemon juice in my jars would cause me to gag. The salt adds enough acid to balance out the variation of acid in the different tomato varieties. Right now, I am enjoying juice I canned in 2016. It tastes the same as it did when I put it in the jars. I store my canned goods at room temperature and I do not allow any direct sunlight to contact the area they are stored in.

Now, the folks who monitor our conversations about canning will not totally agree with me. And you should read the USDA's recommended methods and safeguards about canning. I only know that I've been doing my thing in my way for over 4 decades and I'm still alive and have never been ill from my processes. However, you should take my words with caution as you may be different enough from me that you won't get the same results I get.

All I can say is my juice is, for me, like drinking a perfect vine ripened summer heirloom tomato. And I can put that flavor bonanza into things like pizza sauce, chicken cachetori (sp), spaghetti sauce, picante sauce, and hundreds of other dishes. It makes the stuff you buy in the stores seem like bland ditch water. You might find you have a strange urge to go down to the local grocery store and slapping the produce manager hard enough to remove the smile off his face.

Take care. I'm going to make me a "Red eye". That recipe is 2 parts Natural Ice beer and one part my tomato juice in a frosty glass. Ummmmm, my mouth is watering already.
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Old July 14, 2018   #34
Worth1
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I have tried to hold back on comments so people could read what my good friend Ted does but here I am as promised.
I will try to explain myself without too much of my famous babble.
First and foremost people need to know the (why) not just blindly follow instructions from anything including recipes from the web and or the so called national safe canning instructions food site.
You really need to know the science behind all of it and not just run on blind faith.
Once you are able to do this it will open many doors for you.
First lets look at the players involved when it comes to getting sick.'
You should know them all.'
Next they are here and we eat them all the time.
The spores that cause botulism can be killed with time and temperature you need to look up on your own not me telling you.
This takes away the (faith) in what I say as being true.
Next the toxin that the spores produce.
It too can be killed with time and temperature but a higher one.
Look it up.
Next the media it can multiply in and what it cant.
That media and or environment is anything over a pH 4.6 or a lot of salt as in fermenting.

Fear, you should have the confidence in what you are doing by research not to have fear.
An example comes from someone here that was stressed because they left food out over night.
They should not be stressed out over this.
All they have to do is to bring it up to simmer or boiling for the required time and the food is safe to eat.
The only exception I know of is some sort of toxin rice can produce I have read about heat cant kill.
I cant remember what and or how it is but I have read about it.
Look it up dont trust what I say on faith.
Ltes explore this farther.

We buy raw chicken at the store and we can pretty much assume, 'even though I hate to use the word assume, it is contaminated with salmonella.
we know this but yet we cook and eat it anyway.
So now we have a soup or somethin left on the stive over night or all day.
It was covered.
The likelihood of it having anything in it that is bad is not much but it could be there.
All we have to do is heat it up, you have nothing to worry about.
If it was there you have killed it.

This is called fact based reasoning.

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