How to Can Cherry Tomatoes
A dear friend and neighbor invited me to her home to pick grapes for my How to Can Grape Juice post. Her entire backyard fence was full of the yummiest, juiciest grapes and I was allowed to take as much as I wanted! Her son ran out of the house and let me know that they had more cherry tomatoes than they could use and boy did they have a lot! He gave me a grocery sack and I filled it up and took it home. Aren’t they a lovely orange color?
I knew I only had a day to use them all up before they went bad, so I searched online about what to do with them and I did a lot of research to find out if it was safe to can the tomatoes without cooking them first and if it was safe that there is air in the jar after they cook down. Check here if you want to read about it.
It appears since I water bath canned them for 90 minutes that they would be free from bacteria and it seems the air in the jar is not a problem as long as the lids seal (which they did). This was the easiest thing I have canned and a good way not to waste tomatoes.
The nice thing was, I packed the jars all the way to the top with tomatoes. I filled up 4 quarts and then used the rest of the tomatoes in salsa which turned out spectacular.
Watch this video to find out how to can the cherry tomatoes and what to do with them once they’re opened (it’s in the middle of the video episode). I did not put the onion or the thyme in because in my opinion, that would require pressure canning and I do not have a pressure canner. I can always add those in later anyway.
Here’s another good resource for canning tomatoes in larger batches.
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I canned plum tomatoes by raw packing them in hot jars and pouring hot water over them and putting them in a water bath. I didn’t add salt or lemon juice and I didn’t cook them as long as what I have read in your comments . Will these be safe to eat? They’re all sealed.
I would think they are safe since they are all sealed, but to be sure, I’d call your county’s extension service. I’m not an expert, but they are. Botulism is nothing to mess with!
Just to be clear: a sealed jar does not equal safely preserved food. You can pick up a case of mason jars with the lids on them, and if you leave them in your hot car, they will self seal. That isn’t “processing” the food to be rid of the potential “nasties” inside. You need to add the lemon juice to increase the acidity, which is why you can water bathe tomatoes in the first place. Yes, even sealed jars can grow bad bacteria.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x115k7r_french-food-at-home-s3e25-well-preserved_lifestyle
Well, they were completely full when I put the tomatoes in the jar, and they shrunk quite a bit. I used them in about 6 months and they were just fine!
Just curious how long your tomatoes stayed good with that amount of head space? Thanks!