Lets talk plum/paste tomatoes and sauce

[kellemk]

Earl, Your canned tomatoes look great! How do you do yours? I can tomatoes quite often but they don't look as nice as yours.

Mary

[Zana]

I'll second that question....inquiring minds want to know....lol

Zana

[where_with_all]

Suze,
Thanks for getting back to me.

[Earl]

Mary. Zana. You need a canner size, around 3 oz., that will pack into the jars as those are. Too, they need to have small stems so that when you remove the stem you don't cut into the locules as that will release the seeds into the jar. I used the Ball Blue Book whole tomato cold pack method. Just stuff them into the jar with care so they split/bust open and add water to displace any remaining air in the jar.

[Zana]

thanks Earl. I did about a dozen jars last night/this morning ...wee hours....and did more as basic sauce than whole toms. Don't have enuff uniform sized ones to do whole ones, yet. Most of my fruit STILL isn't ripe, go figure.....sighhhhh.

[kellemk]

Thanks Earl! I picked all my Kade Paste tomatoes yesterday. It's a hybrid plant but produces bunches of uniform sized friuts that are really meaty. I'am going to try to can them whole. Might try to use fresh juice to displace any air. If I pack them real tight maybe they won't shrink too much in processing. You're right! they're going to taste real good come January and Feb.
Mary

[spyfferoni]

I was surprised at how much longer you have to process the tomatoes if you pack them in their own juice instead of water. I wasn't reading carefully in my Ball Blue Book and followed the wrong directions the first batch I did in their own juice. The lady I talked to at the extension office told me I could still use them, just to cook them before eating. I will make sure to only use that batch in soups and stews. I do use tomatoes straight form the jar or can in the middle of winter for tacos and stuff---they beat the fresh tomatoes at the grocery store. This in my 2nd year canning anything and it is quite addicting.
Tyffanie

[halleone]

This is an old thread, but those pictures from korney19, whoa, thats almost tomato-p**n! It makes me want to grow each and every one of them....might just have to do that over the next few years!

[dice]

I grew Rio Grande this year. It did not have rugose leaves, but the fruit
were mostly good sized ovals, like a turkey egg (twice the size of Heidi
fruit, longer top to bottom than around). I did not notice a white stripe
down the side, but many of the fruit had a small "zipper" down the side,
like a long blossom end scar (what people usually mean when they say
"zippered fruit").

It was a definitely a paste, with thick walls and more meat than juice,
and it has good flavor, somewhat sweet when eaten fresh. Excellent
production.