Canning Tomatoes

And now for the main event - the canning of the tomatoes. We started with a box of seconds (also known as ugly) tomatoes from the farmer's market. This is half the box, all washed and ready to go:


Here's a close-up of the jars, lids and rings:


... and the whole set up (all the tomatoes, jars, lids and rings):


Here's our work station at the kitchen counter:


We each get a bowl for the tomato skins and seeds and the pot in the middle is where the tomatoes go once they're peeled and seeded. I couldn't resist posting a photo of my newest aquisition:


Yup, I've joined the masses with my very own pair of Crocs. I managed to avoid the hysteria until now, but the bottom line is that I have no good shoes to wear when I cook and my feet hurt when I'm standing around the kitchen for too long. Canning this weekend seemed like the perfect time to buy a pair and test them out. I went loud with the fuschia and I'm really getting into it with the purchase of some jibbitz. They should be here next weekend so I'll post a new photo once they've been installed.

Here's me peeling up the final tomato:


You see all the tomatoes in the pot? That was a lot of hard work! Here's the pot with the freshly peeled and seeded tomatoes:


... and the pot after the tomatoes had cooked down slighly. You can see the difference in height. Tomatoes have a ton of water in them:


And, finally, the finished product:


Aren't they beautiful? I love the deep red color:


We love canning, especially because all that hard work is so rewarding when you see the gorgeous red jars all lined up. And it's even better in the winter when you open a jar and release a breath of summer.