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How to Can Tomatoes
If I can tomatoes, you can can tomatoes. I did not grow up canning, but thanks to a sister-n-law who did, I have seen the light and how easy it is. If you’ve ever thought of canning, tomatoes are a great place to start. Do it! You have such a sense of accomplishment afterwards and can enjoy your bounty this winter!
If you’re just getting started I suggest you check out the guides here. However, here are a few steps that I love to share because I think they cut down on the time and keep it Cleverly Simple. You know I love that.
What You Need
quart glass jars ( you can pick these up at most grocery stores)
lids
tongs
salt (Update: it is now recommend that you use lemon juice)
tomatoes
Can Together
The people who can together, stay together. It’s so much more fun to go through this process with someone else. I canned our tomatoes with my sister-in-law and mom. We also had a few small helpers as well. Pictured above is my sister-in-law, the canning master, with my little guy. They are cleaning the jars before we sterilize them.
Sterilize Your Jars in the Oven
This picture is a little blurry, but it also feels somewhat artsy. Go with it. 🙂 We turn our oven onto 200 degrees F after we have washed and rinsed the jars. They can stay in there until you’re ready to use them. Don’t turn it on much higher as your jars can crack. Make sure you use tongs to remove them. They’ll be hot!
Ask Everyone for Tomatoes
Everyone loves the idea of tomatoes and then you get a bumper crop and you don’t know what to do with them all. Ask your neighbors, ask your friends and ask your co-workers. You’ll be surprised how many people will almost pay you to take some tomatoes off their hands.
Use The Sink and Boiling Water to Peel The Tomatoes
Once you’ve rinsed the dirt off of your tomatoes, place them in the sink, stem side down in a single or double layer. You’ll want to also make sure all the stems are removed. Boil a BIG pot of water. With the drain closed, pour the boiling water into the sink. Make sure the water covers the tomatoes completely. Let it sit for 1 minute. Open the drain. (You will want to use tongs. Don’t burn yourself!) Rinse the tomatoes with cold water to cool their temperature. The tomato skin will now slide off. You can de-core and cut them into chunks! Put the tomatoes into a large pot and get ready to simmer!
Simmer Slowly
One tip my sister-in-law shared was to bring the pot of tomatoes SLOWLY to a strong simmer or boil. You want the tomatoes to be boiling but you also want to make sure that the chunks of tomatoes can be cut with a fork. This tells you that they’ve softened enough to can. If you bring it to a boil too quickly, the juice will burn and the tomatoes will still be somewhat – not soft.
As they simmer, you’ll always want to skim the foam off the top. This is the impurities that rise to the top of the pan. Cool, eh?
Take it Slowly
Once you’re ready to can, make sure you sterilize anything that will touch the jars. We pour the simmering tomatoes into the jars with 1 teaspoon of salt. (Update: It is now recommend that you use lemon juice.) Wipe the edges of the jar and then place the lid and ring around them tight. You can find more tips here about this process. Once your jars are sealed, don’t touch them and them let cool naturally. You’ll hear a pop when they seal!
Enjoy It
Once you’re done you can enjoy canned fresh tomatoes all year long! We use canned tomatoes in chili and in homemade spaghetti. YUM!
Have you canned before? If so, what do you like to can?
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What kind of salt do u use plain or iodized
I used plain ol’ table salt.
Wow! I did learn one tip on here, keeping jars warm in oven, but other than that I wanted to share with your readers that this is not proper canning procedures at all, it might work, but is not safe! As another reader commented you do need lemon juice. Salt is optional and for taste only. And you must pressure can or water bath can the tomato filled jars! This is NOT optional! http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html. please do your research next time!
Hi Trina, the greatest research is done in living out what you do. I’ve canned tomatoes this way for years with no problem. Of course if Ball and others now recommend using lemon juice, I will think about doing that this year. Of course always do what you feel most comfortable with for you and your family.
Hello – first off, thank you for sharing! I look forward to doing this once my tomatoes start coming in. If I follow this process, how long can will they last & do I need to store them in room temperature or in the refrigerator?
Hi Aracell, they keep on a shelf. No refrigeration needed. I would read up on canning tomatoes before you do it, to make yourself comfortable. They last in the jar for one year but I’ve had them a little beyond that and they were fine. 🙂
You need to add acid to the tomatoes for safety. Bottled lemon juice or citric acid. Botulism loves a low acid environment.
Hi Sandy. Tomatoes have high acid which is why salt is all that is needed. Of course, always do what you feel comfortable with, but the acid level in tomatoes is one of the reasons I’m so comfortable canning them myself. 🙂
According to Ball, you MUST add lemon juice to tomatoes. Today’s tomatoes can range in acidity. Salt alone does not make canned food safer. The food then needs to be processed in a boiling water canner for the recommended time.
If you don’t add lemon juice, you MUST pressure can them for the recommended amount of time.
Thanks for the tip Chris. As always, do what you’re most comfortable with. Salt has worked for me for years but I’ll definitely look into changing to lemon juice this year.
Do you just put a teaspoon of salt on top of the tomatoes or do you mix it up with the tomatoes or does it even matter? Thanks for the tips on canning, this way is really easy!
Hi Donna,
I usually put a few ladles of tomatoes into the jar, add the teaspoon of salt and then fill it the rest of the way. You do not want to mix it up. You want the Tomatoes to be as hot as they can be so that after you add the lid, the lid will “pop” to give it the good seal you need.
cool! did you submerge the cans into water after you had filled with tomatoes? or did you just fill them and then leave them on the bench to seal? any ideas on how long these will keep for?
Hi Robert. We do not submerge them at all. We wipe around the edges, add a tsp of salt and then put the lids and rings on. The key is to set them on the counter and not touch them until they completely cool. Usually within about 10 minutes you hear the “pop” as they seal. Of course, do you what you feel most comfortable with. We usually use them within the year.
We use the Mrs. Wages Ketchup mix and it takes 6 lbs. of tomatoes, but I think that’s about 10 cups of smashed tomatoes. I personally don’t care for the homemade ketchup but the rest of my family uses it. Rural King had a big sale on Mrs. Wage’s mixes, so we bought a lot then. They were 2 for 2.99, which is a great price!
I come from a canning family, and I have now started doing my own. So far I have just done salsa with our tomatoes, but my family does ketchup, salsa, bbq sauce, pizza sauce, and the big one, tomato juice. We don’t like chunks in our chili or spaghetti, so we use that. We also do peaches and pickles. We freeze cherries, corn, apples and peaches. Oh I forgot, we also can green beans. My grandparents and parents can enough to provide for all of us for the whole year. It’s a great family affair! I enjoy going and helping when I can. Eventually I hope to do all of my own.
Wow! You are a pro! I’m wondering, how do you make the ketchup? We usually just do the chunky tomatoes and then make it into whatever we want in the future. The ketchup sounds amazing, though. Does it take a lot of tomatoes?