Putting Tomatoes Up for the Winter
This weekend was time with Daddy. We had a busy morning with my errands and a little grocery shopping. Lunch was leftover barbecue which I had brought Friday from Johnny’s in Powder Springs, GA. The sauce is a Worcestershire based sauce and my family’s favorite. YUM!
After an excursion, which will be in tomorrow’s post, Daddy headed to the garden. Daddy and Mother have always had a sizable garden, but at 89, he finally cut it WAY back. He picked a few peas to add to the mess we are having for Sunday lunch, cut a good bit of okra, and brought in some tomatoes which he added to some he already had in the kitchen. He decided that there was enough to put up. “Put up” is our term for preserving food for the winter.
First, Daddy got out a large boiler (pot) and put water on to boil. I cleaned the sink, put in the stopper, and placed the tomatoes in the bottom. In a few minutes the water was bubbling; Daddy poured the boiling water over the tomatoes and we waited a minute or two. Boiling water over the room temperature tomatoes causes the skins of the tomatoes to slip right off (in the fruit is ripe enough).
After the peeling was done we cubed or sliced the fruit. This is the finished product.
Chunked tomatoes
The last step is to label the freezer bags and put in the tomatoes and the juice. These will be good in spaghetti or soup or what ever next
winter.
A day with daddy, doing necessary things, working in the kitchen, laying I stores for winter, all this family’s brand of country living”
!
Why do your tomatoes not have juice. When we did this I had all kinds of juice and I just scooped the tomatoes and juice with a measuring cup and it went in the freezer too. I notice that dad had even more quart bags than I thought. I must have brought them a supply of quarts long back and then I added 2 more boxes when I bought some for my house.
Perhaps it was because we did not have that many tomatoes to start with. These were extremely meaty fruits too.