I am officially feeling overwhelmed by food. It is canning season and it seems like our boiling water canner has been on non-stop since last weekend. We've canned peaches, pears, and corn in the last couple of weeks and now we're canning tomatoes. I am grumpy tonight because Geoff and I have been canning tomatoes since last night and almost half of every batch (about 3 quarts) isn't sealing. Every batch needs to be processed for 85 minutes so it is maddening when I pull out a batch and 3 quarts have tomato juice spewing out of them. The quarts that don't seal have to be eaten, frozen, or reprocessed (for another 85 minutes). We bought the tomatoes - two bushels - on Saturday from Titus Farm for $15 per half bushel, or $30 per bushel. We have half a bushel left to process. Even though I am stewing now, I know that in the middle of winter, I will be glad that we went through the trouble to can our own tomatoes. Store-bought canned tomatoes tend to have added ingredients like salt, sugar, etc. and some of them leave a metallic after taste in my mouth. Each quart of our home-canned tomatoes have a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice (an extra measure to prevent them from spoiling) and nothing else. And they taste like tomatoes.
Caroline's Lunchbox Menu, September 15: Breakfast - peach (Clearview Orchards), O's; Lunch - mac n' cheese with chard and cabbage, broccoli (Cinzori Farms), banana; Snacks - plain yogurt, watermelon, corn bread (Titus Farm corn)
Childcare Center Menu, September 15: Breakfast - Orange juice, Cheerios, Rice Krispies, Golden Grahams; Lunch - macaroni and cheese, broccoli, banana; Snacks - pudding, crackers
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2 comments:
Wow--that is a lot of canning. How wonderful!
I did want to note, however, if you ran out of tomatoes or became overwhelmed in the move to A2 or whatever, the Parmalat Pomi Chopped or Whole tomatoes are sold in boxes and contain nothing but tomatoes. They are from Italy, so there's a transport cost . . . but I bought them at Goodrich's a few months ago and haven't purchased anything since. We don't have canning equipment and our work is overwhelming (particularly during an election year). It's an imperfect alternative, but works . . . maybe next year!
I agree, Kate. I love Parmalat tomatoes. They taste like tomatoes and they don't leave a metallic after taste.
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