Canning tomatoes is an age old tradition. It is a great way to preserve home grown tomatoes. You can also preserve farmer’s market or store bought tomatoes you got for a bargain before they go bad. Making tomato sauce or diced tomatoes at home gives you the ability to preserve an abundance and to fill your pantry at a fraction of the normal price.
Whether you are making months worth of tomato sauce, whole tomtoes or just dicing and canning a few extras from the store before they go bad, canning is an easy skill to learn that will last you a lifetime!
Why bother Canning your own Tomatoes
Honestly? Control & money. lol. That’s putting it simply but it’s the long and short of it. You get to control what tomatoes and other ingredients are being used. If you’re growing the tomatoes like me, you now know exactly what has been used in the making of the products from seed to jar.
Not to mention the money saved. A can of tomatoes on average cost you around $1.26 for a 15 oz can where I’m at in SE Texas. It varies on name brand vs. store brand vs. organic. If your making a small batch of say chili, you’ll probably need at least 4 cans of tomatoes sauce for roughly $5.04. Cheap, right? Absolutely. Cooking at home is always a cheaper option and I encourage it!
But now try to think of this a bit different. A pack of organic seeds cost around $2.99 depending on the source. Each pack has about 100 seeds or more. That’s $.03 per seed, so $.03 per plant that grows.
One tomato plant can produce on average 20 pounds of tomatoes a season. Each pound of tomatoes makes you 1 pint jar of tomato sauce or 16 oz. So 1 plant makes an average of 20 jars of tomatoes sauce a year. Thats 20 jars of sauce for well under a dollar plus some TLC & potting soil.
Suddenly that $1.26 a can is looking pretty steep!!
What you’ll need
- 3 or more pounds of tomatoes (to make the process worth it!)
- Lemon juice (citric acid)
- Canning jars. The pint jars are 16 oz so closest to the common can sizes you are familiar with & fit in smaller/shorter pots.
- Canning starter kit. This will have the tongs, magnet, etc. that are really needed for efficiently. Here is an example of a set that doesn’t come with a pot so it is a bit more cost effective, but you can find them with a huge canning pot as well.
- Large pot. This will need to be able to hold enough water to cover the jars you choose to use. I typically just use a stew pot as it is perfect for pint jars. However, for something larger, like quart jars, you will need an actual canning pot for the tall sides.
The Process of Canning Tomatoes
- Sterilize Jars & lids
I do this in the large pot I plan to can in. It gets the water hot and ready to process jars and keeps the kitchen just a bit less wrecked!
Simply lay the jars on their sides on top of the lids and stack if needed. You may have to do this in batches, depending on quantities being canned.
Boil for roughly 10 minutes to sterilize everything, adding an extra minute for every 1,000 feet of elevation. If you have a sterilize setting on your dish washer, this can work too! Just remember to hear water at the same time.
- Use warm tomatoes or sauce & warm jars
Wait until the last minute to remove and fill jars & use warm sauce, diced tomatoes, etc. You don’t want to put cool jars into boiling water with a very hot pot bottom. Jars can and will break on you.
- Add lemon juice
If using pint jars add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or 2 teaspoons in a quart jar.
You can buy actual citric acid and keep with your canning gear. If using this, it is 1/4 teaspoon for pint jars and 1/2 for quart.
- Fill jars
Remove jars from the water carefully and put onto a towel. Leave the lids for now. Using the canning funnel, ladle or spoon mixture into the jars and stop at jar thread or roughly 3/4 of an inch from the top.
Move this jars and on to the next! Fill everything up and see if you have a bit too much sauce or not quite enough to fill last jar. If this a small amount left, I just distribute between all jars. If it’s 1/2 can or so. I just set it aside and use within a few days.
- Remove air and wipe lids
Use the air remover, this is the one that looks like stairs at the bottom, to get as many bubbles out as possible. You can also use a butter knife just be careful. Hot jars seem to crack easier. Plastic/rubber tools are better here.
Next, carefully wipe the top of each jar to be sure it is clean and will be able to seal properly.
- Put on lids
Now use the canning magnet to pull the sterile lids from the pot and set them onto the jars.
Add lid ring but don’t tighten. Put on just enough to hold the lid on during processing.
- Process
Using the canning tongs, carefully set the jars into your pot. Make sure the water goes over the jars by at least an inch. This is where the size of the pot matters.
Waiting for water to begin to simmer and then set a timer. 30 minutes for pint and 45 for quart.
- Remove and cool
Lay out a kitchen towel and carefully remove the hot jars from the water bath. Most of the lids will still be popped up at this point and that is completely fine. They will pop as they cool . Usually in the first 10 minutes or less.
MAN. That pop is satisfying.
Let them sit til completely cooled and then check tops. If not sealed, you can heat tomatoes and try the process again, or pop them in the fridge and use in the next few days. No big deal at all!
Recipes for Tomato Canning
This is my recipe for Simply Tomato Sauce.
Here is one for Easy Diced Tomatoes.
Until Next Time!
PJtxGirl
Frequently Asking Questions
Here are some of the common questions people have asked me when I’ve taught them to can or just had a little chit chat about it.
Is it safe to can tomatoes at home?
Absolutely! As long as you follow recommendations, mine or someone else that is experienced and you work carefully, you and the end product will be safe.
However, be warned! Canning tomatoes is a gateway drug into preserving. Next comes pressure canning and then dehydrating. (Sigh) Your life may never be the same!
Why do you put lemon juice in tomatoes?
To raise the acidity. This is to prevent bacteria like botulism from making you or your family sick later. Tomatoes have a bit of acid naturally, but lemon juice will lower the pH making them safe for canning and long term storage.
Is it ok to can tomatoes without lemon juice?
Easy answer is yes. Sure if you know you are making a small batch of say diced tomatoes just to make last a but longer and will be using and cooking them quickly, you could forgo this. BUT what if you don’t use them? Plans change, things happen. Will you remember later which ones do and don’t have lemon juice? How will you tell the difference.
It really is easier to just make it a rule to add it and make your life a bit more simply in the pantry.
Can I use vinegar instead of lemon juice?
Yes, but while lemon juice doesn’t change the flavor of the tomatoes at all, vinegar can. I’ve personally never done this because I keep lemon and lime juice in the fridge pretty much at all times.
What other things can I use instead of lemon juice for canning tomatoes?
Lime juice, vinegar, white wine vinegar, zest from citrus fruits, vinegar and of course you can simply buy a small container of citric acid.
Citric acid can be found with the canning stuff in any store that carries it. This is a great option if you don’t keep lemons or juice on the regular. It has a very long shelf life.
Do you need salt to can tomatoes?
Many people use it as a flavor enhancer and it is definitely a common practice. However, we try not to salt everything and cut it where we can.
Not putting salt in tomatoes and other things being canned allows me to salt the food as I cooked…or not. If you’re keeping track of salt intake, this is an easy cut.
What happens if you don’t peel tomatoes for canning?
Simply answer? You will have tomatoes skins in whatever you use them in. Jokes aside, the skins can get pretty tough during the processing. They stuck in peoples teeth or just look a bit unappetizing in your food.
I’ve also read that the skins can harbor bacteria. While it does seem like the canning process would take care of this, I would just rather not risk it.
Do you have to boil tomatoes before canning?
Nope. You technically do if make a sauce but for whole or diced tomatoes, I like to use the oven method to peel them because it helps warm them through a bit. You want to use warm product in hot jars to prevent the jars from breaking in the pot of hot water due to temperature differences.
In fact I don’t recommend it boiling tomatoes before canning. Remember they will be heated one way or another to peel the skins and then cooked in the processing. You don’t want them to cook into a chunky sauce.
Can you raw pack tomatoes for canning?
Absolutely. You may choose to not peel them, however, I recommend the boiling water process in my diced tomatoes article above. This way they are pretty much raw, but you’re not dealing with peeling them later when you’re trying to cook.
Just peel (or not), leave them whole or cut in half, pack the jars and cover tomatoes with boiling water. Then just follow the above instructions starting with “Removing air & wipe lids”
Is it better to hot or cold pack tomatoes?
It’s a preference. However, cold packing can result in the tomatoes leaving space as they process. This means there will be less per jars. This is avoided it they are hot when packed.
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