lol, I thought this might happen... but I didn't dare hope! I have more yummy fresh tomatoes than I can eat, or I know what to do with! I can't trade them, or even give them away, because EVERYONE around here grows them. I know tomatoes don't freeze... and I don't have any canning equipment. What can I do? I don't want them all to rot! It seems to me I heard a while back that you don't need a lot of expensive equipment in order to jar/store tomatoes for the year. What's the cheapest solution to utilize this, and hopefully store them for later so I can eat them throughout the year, put them in soups and sauces, etc.? Also, I don't want to jump the gun here, but it looks like I will soon have a similar issue with zucchini and yellow summer squash. So, same question, different fruit!
I love making salsa! But more than recipes, I need info on how to store what I make for long periods, so it doesn't just go bad...
My garden didn't do much of anything this year. I think it was due to the lack of rain, as when we got rain a few weeks ago it perked up a lot. But still I have gotten very little out of it other than greens and peas. If you can check out the current issue of Mother Earth News. There is an article in there about saving your harvest. I will have to check but I think it said you don't have to can tomatoes under pressure (thus no expensive equipment) because they are so acidic you don't have to worry about bacteria growth.
I found the article online so you don't have to get the magazine, though it is a good one to have. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Whole-Foods-and-Cooking/2007-08-01/Fresh-Local-Food-All-Year.aspx
For the tomatoes, we just make a simple pasta sauce, put it in plastic containers and freeze it. It reheats well on the stove or in the microwave. For zucchini, grated them, freeze in plastic bags or containers, then use later for zucchini bread. I don't know about the yellow squash, I've never tried to keep them. I planted some yellow patty-pan Native American heirlooms from Baker Creek seed, but we only got a couple before bugs killed them. I mention them because they are a lot more solid than the crooknecks I'd raised in the past, and I think we could have diced them and added them to the pasta sauce. Maybe next year. I just made a big pot of eggplant bharta and used a bunch of tomatoes and hot peppers in it, it's in the freezer now. I bet it'll be really good this winter.
Thanks for the great ideas! And Chad, thanks so much for linking me to that helpful article! I bought some pint mason jars today, so I should be able to can some with the water-bath method. One question though, for anyone who does this... is there a way to check the ph of the jar? I'd really love to be able to put herbs and such in, but I don't want to raise the ph above 4.5 from what I read. Oh well, if all else fails I can just can the tomatoes straight and add herbs later... I was thinking a good "someday" purchase for food storage of this sort would be one of those vacuum-sealers. That would be cool. But in the meantime, I can just grate or cut slices of the zucchini and other squash and freeze them in baggies (raw?)? That way, I could at least use them in soups and sauces...
I've been canning with my mom every year since I was 10, but never anything with a high pH. And we've used the dyebath method every year but last - it works, but get every fan you've got into the kitchen... it creates a WALL of steam for the entire DAY! I've seen what looked like boxes of test-strips in with the canning supplies at my grocery store though, maybe that's what you need? Mom's got a vacuum sealer too. She used it for years with all sorts of garden goodies... until they stopped making replacement baggies for her machine. It worked wonderful & the food always tasted SO fresh love, mom
Cut them up and stew them with whatever herbs you like. I don't worry about the ph. And my days of using mason jars is long past. Like Gaston said, make the sauces you like and just freeze them.
^I may end up doing that after all... but I thought tomatoes didn't freeze well. Is it just when you cook it down to sauce that it works?
I just wanted to say Thanks for starting this thread. I had quite a lot of things that I wanted to save from my garden and because of this thread I remembered someone had given me a vacuum packer and I got it out today and used it to save some stuff. I have given a lot of my stuff away but it's nice to have some things to save for the winter stews! Thanks!
Bell peppers freeze really well. I usually just stick them in bags in the freezer, and when I need one I grab it and chop it up. They chop pretty easy even frozen. Tomatos you pretty much have to cook them some for them to freeze well humblebee. Not that I've ever tried just popping them into the freezer, seems I eat them up while they are fresh.
We always freeze whole tomatoes in paper bags. You can't slice and eat them, but it works great for soups, sauces, etc. . . You take them out of the freezer, run them under hot water and the skins come off easily, then just throw them into the pot.
