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Old September 2, 2018   #1
ContainerTed
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When I'm doing my tomato juice reduction on the stove to get it really thick for canning. It's like the whole atmosphere contains that heirloom aroma. I've started my 12 quart pot full to within 1 inch of the top rim and will take it down about 35%. This is when I add canning salt and perhaps a teaspoon or two of sugar. I don't think today's batch will need any sugar, but the canning salt is mandatory. I don't add it until I get down to the level where I am putting it into the jars. It takes quite a while to reduce it, but it's soooooooo worth it.

This coming January, when I open a jar of this wonderful elixir, I'll be flooded with memories of the fresh tomatoes of July and August. This is what life and retirement should always be about.
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Old September 2, 2018   #2
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Originally Posted by ContainerTed View Post
When I'm doing my tomato juice reduction on the stove to get it really thick for canning. It's like the whole atmosphere contains that heirloom aroma. I've started my 12 quart pot full to within 1 inch of the top rim and will take it down about 35%. This is when I add canning salt and perhaps a teaspoon or two of sugar. I don't think today's batch will need any sugar, but the canning salt is mandatory. I don't add it until I get down to the level where I am putting it into the jars. It takes quite a while to reduce it, but it's soooooooo worth it.

This coming January, when I open a jar of this wonderful elixir, I'll be flooded with memories of the fresh tomatoes of July and August. This is what life and retirement should always be about.
Or you could be sitting with folks playing Bingo.
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Old September 2, 2018   #3
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Worth, if choices remain, there won't be any bingo cards. The last time I played Bingo was in 1970 when the DW and I went to Las Vegas. I was stationed at Edwards AFB at the time. We had tickets to the headline show at the Landmark and decided to play the "Free Bingo" to kill time before the show started. DW won twice for 40 bucks each time and I made the big "H" for $100. Just after the show, I hit a 4 wheel nickel slot machine for $600 and then we tried roulette for $20 worth of chips and hit it for another $560 on a last bet of my remaining chips on the number 21.

My garden was very late going in this year, but the tomatoes are coming in quantities that I usually see. That makes the tomato juice canning successful again.

Take care, my friend. Don't make me come out there. I hope you can take on the attitude of Megan McCain. Again, I love you like a brother. We never met eye to eye, but I like my world with you in it.
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Old September 2, 2018   #4
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I think the best smell in the house for me, is when I bring in the garlic to cure. Especially Spanish Roja, it smells amazing.
Matsutake is another thing that smells just amazing while you're cleaning or prepping them... it's almost better to smell em than to eat em. But we haven't had a good year for them in a few.
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Old September 2, 2018   #5
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When I'm cooking down tomatoes, I put on the exhaust fan to avoid setting off sensitive smoke alarms. My next door neighbor protested, saying that I made the neighborhood smell so yummy she was drooling!
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Old September 2, 2018   #6
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When I bake my weekly rye bread, or summer zucchini quick bread, or apple pie, and of course when making garlic basil tomato souce.
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Old September 2, 2018   #7
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Lots of things make the house smell good, from home cooking or canning, to right after a spring or fall cleaning, or after opening the house up after a big thunder storm has gone through and the air is so fresh and clean.
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Old September 3, 2018   #8
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I'm doing just that right now. Spent the past few hours cleaning, chopping and pressing them. Now they're boiling, 3 pots (20q+10q+8q) almost full. My biggest batch to date. I only have 21 q of canning of room, so it will be a while, and I will leave a few jars without processing for early consumption.

Ted, why do you add salt during cooking? When I started doing this, I thought that salt helps in the preservation, but then learned otherwise. I can stand corrected.
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Old September 4, 2018   #9
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It's a personal choice. Here's some of my reasoning on why I do it.

When making my juice, I use any tomatoes that are on the counter. I process a lot of cherries, saladettes, and especially beefsteaks. I know that I really don't have a problem with the PH of the mix, but I'm always putting my tomatoes for sandwiches into the fridge to cool before eating. That modifies the taste a bit. My sandwich will always get a pinch of salt to make the flavors pop, so I apply the same to my juice, which I also like cold. After many bouts of testing, this is the right combination of factors for me. Also, when the taste in the reduction pot is a bit too tart, I've been known to add a teaspoon or two of sugar to get the overall taste where I want it. Nothing else goes in.

Even though I use a pressure canner, I think the salt makes my juice "extra" safe. That's because I don't have to be so concerned about the PH of the liquid. I'm going to put some salt in the juice anyhow. I think it also helps with shelf life. I've kept a jar or two for multiple years to check shelf life, and found that I can easily keep my juice for up to three years with no apparent degradation of flavor. Using the pressure canner, I take the pressure up to 11 psi for 15 minutes and then to 15-17 psi for at least 5 minutes. Then I simply turn off the heat and let the temp and pressure drift down. Sterility of the jars and lids is always "job #1" in my process. My family thinks I'm a bit OCD about it, but none have ever been sick from my canning.

So, the bottom line is that I like my tomatoes and my juice cold, and I like salt on my tomatoes - both raw and as juice. It's so good to put a few quarts in the fridge out in the garage. Open one up in January and it's like summer all over again.
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Old September 4, 2018   #10
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Whenever I'm canning or making my spices, everyone in the house has watery eyes and is coughing even when I do it in the basement, lol.
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Old September 5, 2018   #11
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Ted, many thanks with your detailed reply. I too believe that a bit of salt helps in the preservation, and for me it enhances the taste. On the same page for this one. I usually add a bit, sprinkle it on the cleaned and cut up tomatoes before pressing them. Let them sit for a bit in a colander, amazing how much clear water drains out, making the puree thicker before it even goes on the stove.

Happy canning.
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Old September 5, 2018   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by taboule View Post
Ted, many thanks with your detailed reply. I too believe that a bit of salt helps in the preservation, and for me it enhances the taste. On the same page for this one. I usually add a bit, sprinkle it on the cleaned and cut up tomatoes before pressing them. Let them sit for a bit in a colander, amazing how much clear water drains out, making the puree thicker before it even goes on the stove.

Happy canning.
I may look at the pre-salting to release more water. But I know that clear liquid has a lot of flavor in it and that's why I have always chosen to cook it down. In the final analysis, I guess I'm making "juice" and you're makin "puree".

Is this one of those, ….. "A rose by any other name...…….."????
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Old September 5, 2018   #13
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Originally Posted by ContainerTed View Post
I may look at the pre-salting to release more water. But I know that clear liquid has a lot of flavor in it and that's why I have always chosen to cook it down. In the final analysis, I guess I'm making "juice" and you're makin "puree".

Is this one of those, ….. "A rose by any other name...…….."????
I cook down the clear stuff separate from the pulpy stuff, until it is about 1/3 of its former self. I call it "tomato liquor" and either put it back in the (lightly cooked) pulpy stuff or save it out for other purposes, such as meat marinade, soup flavor, etc.
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Old September 5, 2018   #14
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It's so interesting to see all our various techniques, all of them good, and work well in our personal circumstances.

Yes of course, the water does have much of the taste and the nutrients, and I feel bad throwing it often. I do keep and process much thinner material (juice) but wouldn't have room for all of it (as someone said, a nice problem to have.) This year in particular, I found the tomatoes had more water in them. And as we discussed on other threads, overcooking the sauce changes its flavor a bit and diminishes the "fresh" taste.

Still all good. Last time I made a batch, I poured the "water" in a glass and drank it. It was a bit salty but oh so good. Now I'll make sure to save some going forward and use it in cooking, to make rice, or add as stock.
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