Tomatoes really are the easiest vegetable to can, because the period of sterilization is short, and many jars may be canned in a day, or if one is very busy a few jars may be canned daily without the expenditure of a great deal of time.

The best tomatoes for canning are those of moderate size, smooth and uniformly ripe. When a tomato ripens unevenly or when it is misshapen, it is difficult to peel, and the percentage of waste is high. Tomatoes should not be picked when they are green or partly ripe, for the flavor will not be so good as when they are allowed to remain upon the vines until fully ripe. Care should be taken, however, not to allow them to become overripe before canning.

In no instance should a tomato with a rotten spot be canned, even though the spot is cut out, for the occasional spoiled jar resulting from this attempted saving will cost more than the partly spoiled tomatoes are worth. If the housewife will can only uniformly ripe, sound tomatoes, saving the small, uneven but sound fruit for tomato puree, she will have a much better-looking pack and greater food
value at the close of the season. Yellow tomatoes may be canned in the same manner as are the more common red varieties, except that it is not necessary to remove the cores.

First of all, grade for ripeness, size and quality; this is to insure a high-grade product. We could, of course, can different sizes and shades together, but uniform products are more pleasing to the eye and
will sterilize much more evenly. If the products are of the same ripeness and quality, the entire pack will receive the proper degree of cooking.

Wash the tomatoes. Have ready a kettle of boiling water. Put the tomatoes in a wire basket, or lay them on a piece of cheesecloth or a towel, twist the ends together to form a sack, and let this down into the kettle. It is a good plan to slip a rubber band round the neck of this sack to hold the ends in place. The ends should be long enough to stand up out of the water and so avoid danger of burning the fingers when removing the product.

Have the water boiling hard. Lower the tomatoes into the boiling water. This is called scalding the tomatoes. We scald the tomatoes to loosen the skin. If the tomatoes are very ripe, one minute scalding will be sufficient. The average length of time for tomatoes, just perfect for canning, is one and a half minutes. Do not leave the tomatoes in the hot water until the skins break, as this gives them a
fuzzy appearance.

The scalding kettle always should be covered, to keep in all the heat possible. Begin to time from the minute the product is immersed in the boiling water. If you wait until the water comes back to a boil, you will scald the product too long and have mushy tomatoes.

Lift the tomatoes out of the hot water and plunge them immediately into cold water, or hold them under the cold-water faucet. The cold-dip makes them easier to handle, separates the skin from the
pulp, firms the texture, and coagulates the coloring matter so it stays near the surface, giving them a rich, red color. Then the shock due to the sudden change from hot to cold and back to hot again seems to help kill the spores. Do not let the product stand in the cold-dip. The water becomes lukewarm, softens the product and allows bacteria to develop.

Take the tomato in the left hand and with a sharp knife cut out the core. Be careful not to cut into the fleshy portion or seed cells, for this will scatter the seeds and pulp through the liquid, injuring the
appearance of the product. Cut out the core before removing the skin, for the skin will protect the pulp and there will be less danger of breaking the tomato. If the tomatoes are ripe and have been scalded
properly, the skin can be slipped off with the fingers.

The jars, rubbers and tops should be ready. Glass jars should be hot, so there will be no danger of breakage in setting them in the hot water, and so they will not cool the water in the cooker below the
boiling point.

Pack the tomatoes whole, pressing and shaking them well down together, but not using force enough to crush them.

Now we come to a point where tomatoes are different from most vegetables. Beans, carrots, peas, and so on, have hot water added to them. But as a large part of the tomato is water, no more is needed.
Another exception where no water is needed is with the “greens family.” So with tomatoes we add no water, but add one teaspoonful of salt and one teaspoonful of sugar, just for seasoning, to every quart
jar. I think that tomatoes always are improved by the addition of a little sugar, but this is not necessary and can be omitted, as also can be the salt.

The salt in canning does not act as a preservative, but as seasoning; so if for any reason you forget the salt, do not be alarmed. Your products will keep perfectly without the salt.

THE WAY TO SEAL

The products are in the hot jars now. The jars do not need to be full in order to keep. If you were canning by the “open-kettle” method, the air in the partly filled jar would not have been sterilized, and might contain the bacteria which cause the product to ferment or mold. But by the cold pack, the air in the can is sterilized while the product is being sterilized; and if the can is closed immediately after
cooking, a single spoonful may be canned in a two-quart jar and the product will keep indefinitely.

Place Rubber and Cover on Jar. Fit the rubber. Use good rubbers and see that they lie flat and fit close up to the can. Put the covers in place.

Do Not Seal Glass Jars Tight. If using screw-top jars screw each cover down until it catches, then turn a quarter of a round back; or screw down with the thumb and little finger, not using force but stopping when the cover catches.

If using vacuum-seal jars put the cover on and the spring in place. The spring will give enough to allow the steam to escape.

If using glass-top jars, with the patent wire snap, put the cover in place, the wire over the top and the clamp up.

The cover on a glass jar must not be tight while processing, because the air will expand when heated, and if the cover is not loose enough to allow the steam to escape, the pressure may blow the rubber out or break the jar.

When canning in tin we cap and tip the cans at once. The tin will bulge out, but is strong enough to withstand the pressure, and when the contents cool the can will come back into shape.

The jars are now ready for the canner. Tomatoes sterilized under boiling water require twenty-two minutes; in condensed-steam cooker, twenty-two minutes; in water-seal, eighteen minutes; in
steam-pressure, with five pounds, fifteen minutes, and in the pressure cooker, at ten or fifteen pounds, ten minutes.

If you use the homemade outfit or any water-bath outfit be sure the water is boiling when the jars of tomatoes are lowered into the canner. Time lost in bringing the contents to the point of sterilization softens the tomatoes and results in inferior goods. Use the ordinary good sense with which you have been endowed in handling the jars and you will have no breakage. At the end of the sterilizing period, remove the jars.

In taking canned goods from boiling hot water, care is needed to see that they are protected from drafts. If necessary close the windows and doors while lifting the jars out, for a sudden draft might break them.

Examine rubbers to see that they are in place. Sometimes, if the covers are screwed down too tight, the pressure of the steam from the inside causes the rubber to bulge out. Simply loosen the cover a
thread or two, push the rubber back into place and then tighten. In case the rubber does not seem to fit well or seems to be a poor rubber, it should be replaced by a new one and the jar returned to the
cooker for five minutes.

The jars should be sealed tight–covers screwed down, clamps put in place - mmediately after they are removed from the cooker.

Invert to test the joint and cool. If the seal is not perfect, correct the fault, and return the jar to the cooker for five minutes if hot, ten minutes if jar is cold.

Do not invert vacuum-seal jars. These should be allowed to cool and then tested by removing the spring or clamp and lifting the jars by the cover only. Lift the jar only a half inch, holding it over the
table so that, in case the lid does not hold, the jar and contents will not be damaged. Or, better still, tap round the edge of the cover with a ruler. An imperfect seal will cause a hollow sound.

Tomato Puree. Small, misshapen, unevenly ripened tomatoes may be converted into tomato puree. The tomatoes should be washed, run through a colander to remove skins and cores, concentrated by cooking to about half the original volume, and packed in the jars. Rubbers and tops should then be placed in position and the product sterilized for the same length of time as for canned tomatoes. Puree even may be kept in bottles sealed with sterilized corks and dipped several times in paraffin.

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