My Tomato Cooking, or How I Avoided Canning

My tomato cooking, or how I got around the canning thing, is, well, I cheated. You can’t cheat with canning, I know, I know. That’s why I’ve been procrastinating learning to can since I started growing food in my Los Angeles front yard three years ago!

After a 42 pound tomato harvest two days ago, I was urged by Late Bloomer friends to preserve some of my bounty. There are about 10 varieties represented here, mostly from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company and the small red tomatoes are Tomato, Red Cherry from Seeds of Change.

42 Pound Tomato Harvest of Heirloom Tomatoes

I got a quick canning tutorial from Josh, a gardener friend, and off to the hardware store I went for jars and lids, jar lifter and funnel. After committing to giving it a try, I consulted an article online that made the whole canning part just too much, so I settled on sterilizing the jars and filling them to keep in the refrigerator. So, I got about half way through the canning process. How long do you simmer for them to be sterilized, anyway?

Jars Simmering in Canning Bath

I had help, too, and it still took hours, but came out with tomato jam, tomato chutney, a tomato pie and tomato sauce, much of which I will share since it won’t keep more than a couple of weeks in the frig.

Red Cherry Tomato Jam

An online garden connection recommended I make tomato jam and directed me to the King Estate Winery tomato jam recipe online. While that was cooking down, we washed and sterilized the jars. There were a lot of tomatoes, so I decided to make chutney, and came up with my own recipe after consulting a few online. The tomatoes, garlic and pepper came from my garden.

Kaye’s Spicy Tomato Chutney

~

Kaye’s Spicey Tomato Chutney

2 lb. cored and chopped heirloom Tomatoes

2 cloves fresh Garlic, minced

1/4 c. chopped yellow Onion

1 c. Organic Whole Cane Sugar (more to taste)

1 Long Red Cayenne pepper, seeded and minced

1 tbl. peeled and minced fresh Ginger

Juice from half a Lime

Splash of Red Wine Vinegar

1 tsp. Himalayan Salt

1 tsp. ground Cardamon Seed

1/2 c. dried Golden Berries (may substitute raisins)

Cooking time – 1 hour

Mix all ingredients except the Golden Berries into the chopped tomatoes in a heavy saucepan and bring to a simmer. Stir occasionally, adding the berries after a half hour.

After an hour of cooking, raise the heat for a couple of minutes and stir to bring a glaze to the chutney.

~

(4) Chutney in 8 Oz. Jars, (1) 8 Oz. raw tomato juice & (10) 4 Oz. Jars of Jam

Then, of course, tomato sauce. Seriously, once I decided to not to preserve the jars for long-term storage, the only laborious part is coring and chopping the tomatoes. My sauce contained several varieties of tomatoes, onion and garlic, fresh oregano, thyme and basil, salt and pepper. All but the onion came from my garden.

Heirloom Tomato Sauce Simmering

This made 92 ounces of tomato sauce! That’s alota sauce if you’ve got to use it up in a couple of weeks. It would be so much better if I’d not cut the canning process short.

Heirloom Tomato Sauce Cooling in Jars

Because I have a lot of tomatoes, I made tomato pie. This crustless version is a variation on my quiche recipe I’ve been making for 30 years. This includes green onions and tomatoes and purple basil from my garden.

Tomato Pie Cooking in Oven

Kaye’s Tomato Pie Cooling on Counter

Tomato Pie Served

~

Kaye’s Crustless Heirloom Tomato Pie

1 lb. cored and chopped heriloom Tomato

10 oz. grated raw milk swiss or Jack Cheese

1/4 c. grated raw milk Parmesan Cheese

2 green Onions, chopped

1/2 c. Mayonnaise (this is the one I use)

2 tbl. organic Einkorn Flour

2 whole Eggs

1/2 c. organic raw whole Milk

Sliced Purple Basil leaves

Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix eggs, milk, mayonnaise and flour together with a mixer or hand beater till smooth.

Toss together cheeses, tomatoes, onions and basil. Add liquid. Stir and pour into a greased baking dish.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until top is light brown.

~

Hungry yet? What are you cooking with tomatoes? Are you a good canner? I’m a late bloomer gardener, and still have a lot to learn. Thanks for reading and please share with a friend. Happy cooking and gardening! Stay tuned for new episodes of “Late Bloomer” and growing heirloom tomatoes! – Kaye

Tags: Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, curbside gardening, do-it-yourself, farming on small scale, gardening web series, growing your own vegetables, harvest, heirloom, heirloom seeds, Kaye Kittrell, Kaye Kittrell Late Bloomer, Late Bloomer, organic, Plant photography, tomato chutney, tomato jam, tomato pie, tomato sauce, tomatoes, urban gardening, urban harvest

Category: Recipes