Canning Tomatoes

Fill a large canning pot with your canning jars and lids and enough water to cover all of the jars and bring to a roaring boil.

Once the boiling starts, put the lid on and sterilize.

Quart jars should process 35-40 minutes and pint jars 25-30 minutes.

Select ripe tomatoes, set them aside for a few days allowing them to fully ripen if you need to, this will give you much more flavor and sweetness.

Place a large pot of water on the stove over high heat and bring to a boil, have a large bowl filled with ice cold water set aside.

Use tongs to drop the tomatoes in the boiling water for 60-90 seconds, or until the skin cracks.

If the skin does not crack, remove anyway and place in the ice water to stop the cooking process.

Repeat until all tomatoes have been blanched.

Once the tomatoes are cooled, remove and discard the cores and skins.

Put a large sauce pan on the stove and turn on low heat.

Roughly chop the tomatoes into bite sized pieces and add the tomatoes and their juices to the pan.

Turn the heat up to medium high and add salt, pepper, lemon juice, garlic and sugar, (the sugar brings out the sweetness of the tomatoes).

Bring to a boil and then simmer for 1 hour, until the tomatoes break down and become a sauce.

Place in the sterile jars and seal, leaving about an inch at the top. Put into a steam bath for 20 minutes.

This is a great way to store Lady Moon Farms tomatoes.