Description
Packing tomatoes raw with no added liquid produces the most concentrated tomato flavour. Tempting as it may be, don’t cut back on the processing time. For safety, you need to ensure the heat fully penetrates all the way to the centre of the jars.
Ingredients
- Tomatoes
- Bottled lemon juice* (1 tablespoon for pint / 500 mL jars, 2 tablespoons for quart / 1 litre jars)
- Salt, optional (1/2 teaspoon for pint / 500 mL jars, 1 teaspoon for quart / 1 litre jars)
Instructions
- Prepare canner, jars and lids. See notes section for link to detailed instructions.
- Working in small batches, immerse tomatoes in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds or until the skins start to loosen or crack. Immediately plunge the tomato into a bowl of cold water and slip the skins off. Remove cores and any bruised or discoloured portions that become apparent after blanching. Leave whole, halved or quarter.
- Before packing each jar of raw tomatoes, add the required amount of lemon juice or citric acid to the hot jar. Then add the salt, if using.
- Pack raw tomatoes into prepared jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of the top of the jar. Press the tomatoes into the jar until the spaces between them fill with juice, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding more tomatoes. Wipe the rim. Centre the lid on the jar. Screw band down until you meet resistance, then increase to finger-tight.
- Place the jars in the canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process pint jars for 85 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.
Notes
This recipe is not recommended for jars bigger than a quart/litre. Each quart/litre jar holds about 3 pounds of tomatoes.
* Instead of bottled lemon juice, you can use citric acid, but I found it nearly impossible to locate, despite going to the canning section of many stores. If using citric acid, use 1/4 teaspoon for pint/500 mL jars or 1/2 teaspoon for quart/1 litre jars. [Update: A reader tells me you can buy citric acid at The Bulk Barn.]
New to canning? Balls has detailed instructions, complete with videos, on how to get started.