Fresh Pack Canning

Today was our first day of fresh pack canning. We picked tomatoes on Monday and then again today and ended up with close to 40 pounds of the following varieties, Abraham Lincoln - a large red tomato, Golden Delicious - a juicy yellow tomato of varying sizes, Stupice, a medium red tomato, Black Krim, a juicy deep purple tomato of varying sizes. All are heirlooms and have incredibly rich flavor.

Look at the big smile on Guy's face as he is filling these bowls with tomatoes, we love the harvest, it is worth every bit of effort that goes into the garden up front.

We decided to fresh pack these, we (the royal we because Guy did all of this) simply picked, cleaned and quartered/halved the tomatoes, then packed them tightly into pint jars that were warm, at least 180 degrees, from the oven, thanks for the tip Mom. We packed the tomatoes so tightly as to can them in their own juices, only adding a tablespoon of lemon juice to help with the acidity, and a pinch of salt.

Previously we had canned about 20 lbs of Super San Marzano Roma tomatoes, those we canned with green pepper, garlic and onion to use in all of our Italian sauces/soups come winter.

While the canning is quite a process, and made me very nervous at first, I have found that like most things, if you go slow, read up before hand, ask a lot of questions and follow directions the end result as as you expected if not better.

Now we have in our garage, 18 jars of fresh packed heirloom tomatoes, 7 jars of Italian style chopped tomatoes, 4 jars of basil/garlic tomato sauce.

Now its time to get out into the garden harvest a few more green beans, fertilize the eggplants and start planning the layout for the "Cold Winter Crop". We are thinking, sweet peas, parsnips and turnips, more beets, potatoes, broccoli, brussel sprouts and are looking for additional suggestions!