Tomato
This Grandma-Approved Tomato Recipe Has Our Community in a Tizzy
Stop what you’re doing and can some tomatoes.
Stop what you’re doing and eat a tomato immediately. Unless, of course, you are already in the middle of eating a tomato, in which case well done; and while I have you, I hope, in between your tomato sandwiches and BLTs and no-cook sauces, you saved a few of those summer jewels to can for later. Tomatoes are at their peak right now, and you can squirrel away some of that late summer flavor for the dark days of winter with just a little time and know-how.
Canned tomatoes are certainly a staple in my home kitchen—everything from quick pastas to Sunday afternoon braises benefit from the juicy-sweet addition. Of course, most supermarket shelves are lined with multiple brands of whole-peeled, crushed, and fire-roasted canned tomatoes, but have you ever made your own? Considering that it’s tomato season literally right at this very moment, it’s high time you considered doing some canning. The Food52 community certainly has.
“Every year since he can remember, my father has canned fruits, vegetables, and jams,” writes Kelsey Banfield, a food blogger and community member. “He learned his techniques from his mother (my grandmother), who typed up her time-tested instructions for how to can tomatoes and other seasonal produce, and made an entire booklet for him when he moved out of the house.” Lucky for us, Banfield’s dad shared his mother’s recipe for canned tomatoes with her, and she shared it with Food52.
| 12 | pounds ripe tomatoes |
| 4 | teaspoons Kosher salt |
| 4 | tablespoons bottled lemon juice |
| 4 | sterilized quart jars with lids and rims |
| 12 | pounds ripe tomatoes |
| 4 | teaspoons Kosher salt |
| 4 | tablespoons bottled lemon juice |
| 4 | sterilized quart jars with lids and rims |
How to Make Canned Tomatoes
Below is a truncated explanation of the recipe. Find the full recipe for Grandma's Canned Tomatoes here.
Canning yourself certainly takes a bit more effort than a trip to the grocery store, but it’s well worth the journey. The ingredients list is small: just ripe tomatoes, Kosher salt, bottled lemon juice (skip fresh here to maintain the acidity level—this is paramount when it comes to making fresh produce into a shelf-stable product.) You’ll also need sterilized quart jars with lids and rims.
To start, quickly blanch tomatoes to make for easy peeling. You’ll use about three pounds of fresh tomatoes for each quart of canned; this recipe calls for enough to make four quarts of canned tomatoes, which is definitely the minimal amount we’d recommend making at once. After all, winter is coming, and with it, pale, watery tomatoes. Imagine how bummed you’d be to find you only preserved enough of summer’s finest for one or two jars—just take a canning day and make a bunch, for the sake of your future self.
Banfield orders tomatoes in bulk from a local farm; if you can’t do that, head to the nearest farmers market, like Food52 Software Engineer Jeremy Beker, who recommends asking for 'seconds' or 'canning tomatoes' which, as Beker says, "just means ones that aren’t quite as pretty."
Cram peeled, cored tomatoes into the jars along with the salt and lemon juice. That’s it! Tightly seal the jars and prep them for a swim: Submerge the jars in a stockpot of boiling water for 45 minutes, then let them cool. Check the seal, label with the date, and they’ll be good to hang out until next summer’s tomatoes pop up. What a dang delight!
“Learning how to can tomatoes has been essential for my home cooking skills because I use them all winter long—they're great for making sauces, soups and spreads,” writes Banfield in the recipe headnote. Just imagine how happy you (or someone you gift a jar to!) will be come December.
If you have a preferred canning method that differs from this one, we welcome you to use it! First-time canners, here are a few recourses you may find helpful if you're at all nervous:
- FDA Canning Tips
- USDA Canning Tips
- Clemson University Home & Garden Information Center
- National Center for Home Food Preservation FAQ
Written by: Rebecca Firkser
Popular on Food52
22 Comments
On the other hand, I never peel the tomatoes. It's just not worth it. I boil them down into a concentrate.
I usually buy a couple of 25-lb boxes of plum tomatoes at the farmer's market and just spend a weekend doing it. Any leftover sauce can be frozen, but since I don't have a separate freezer, I do try to can as much as possible. I'll sometimes oven-dry a few and store them in a jar with olive oil and rosemary.
Anyway, I hope you'll consider revising this article to include more basic information.
Unfortunately, it has become so cost prohibitive as well as difficult to find enough of the right Roma tomatoes to work with.
If you want to ensure you are canning safely, I think you should point people to the proper resources like the Ball Blue Book as well as local extension offices. Safety first, y’all!
I use vinegar instead of lemon juice, because i think it doesn't interfere with the tomato flavor and the acid content is stable. Acid content is important. You don't put just tomatoes and a little acid in the jar, either, you need tomato juice to fill in all the gaps and remove the air. You have to not fill the jars too full, but also not too empty, as both as bad in different ways.
And for the love of all that is holy, sterilize everything! Wash every jar, lid, ring, utensil, pan, countertop and your stove with hot, soapy water, give everything a rinse in a bleach water bath, then drop everything in a pot of hot, scalding water to wait for use. Be careful putting in tomatoes and juice, make sure your jars are wiped free of any juice or debris from filling them with a hot soapy cloth. screw the lids on tight. All jars should be put into a full-roll water bath that is deep enough to allow for 2 inches of water above the top of the jars. I routinely canned quart jars of tomatoes, but I had a giant waterbath canner that allowed for the room needed to cover the 2 inches above the jars and remain at a rolling boil without drowning my kitchen in boiling water.
When you open home-canned tomatoes, inspect them before using, if the tomatoes are not under juice, that's a problem. If they are not sealed properly, that's a problem. If you see mold or flecks of black on the tomatoes, jar or lid, throw the contents away and sterilize EVERYTHING!
Canning is chemistry, and as such can either be good chemistry or bad chemistry. It needs to be done in a sterilized environment with the utmost caution. Your suggestion of the ball book is a great one, they'll talk you through all the particulars of basic canning safety. There's an excellent book called "Putting Food By" that also does an excellent job of more detailed instructions for all kinds of canning, freezing and other methods of preserving your harvest, as well as some dandy recipes to can.
By all means can tomatoes and other lovely produce, just do it correctly and BE SAFE!
Another trick I can pass along is about waterbath canners. It can be hard to find one that is tall enough to have the requisite space for two inches of water over the top of the jars, you almost always have to order them from someplace that specializes in that kind of equipment. But if you have a pressure cooker with a jiggler on top and not a gauge on that accommodates quart jars, these usually have ample space for that extra water and can easily be altered to do the job. The trick is to take out the rubber gasket that seal that makes the vacuum when pressure canning, close it in a locking fashion like you would if pressure canning, and don't put the jiggler on top. This closure more than enough to provide the pressure for waterbath canning. As always, use care when removing the lid to make sure you don't get spewed with scalding water, but in all other respects it acts in the same fashion as a waterbath canner with those changes. These are also an item that can be found in reuse shops and in ads, not everyone wants a giant pot that weighs as much as a small child if they don't use it all the time. I often used both canners at the same time when in the heat of canning season to waterbath many quarts of tomatoes at the same time and cut my time standing in the kitchen down to something more manageable. I don't can as much as I once did, I don't have a giant family to feed all year round, but I still use both canners for their individual uses.
But remember folks, you need two full inches of water OVER the top of your jars for waterbath canning. No cheating!
You do not need to sterilize the jars - just make sure they are clean, and run your fingertip along the rim to be sure there are no chips. If you are canning something that only processes in the boiling water bath for 10 minutes (bread & butter pickles, for example) then you do need to sterilize the jars. Just put them in the boiling water bath and let them simmer until you’re ready to fill them.
I find tomato purée to be most useful in my pantry. Cut up cored tomatoes and boil until soft. Put through a food mill back into the pot. Simmer until reduced - I usually reduce by half over several hours. Put 1/4 tsp citric acid powder in each pint jar, and add 1/2 tsp salt to each jar (optional). Ladle in hot purée to 1/2” from the top. Put on lids and bands, finger tight, and put in boiling water bath for 40 minutes. Turn heat off, uncover, and let sit five minutes. Remove with the jar lifter onto a kitchen towel on the counter. You should hear some satisfying pings as the lids seal. The next day, check the lids for a good seal, label and store. This is the best way to use up a boatload of tomatoes..
Last year I also made V8 juice and canned it. Quite delicious. I’ve got a hundred pounds of tomatoes waiting for my attention right now😱😱😱
In the winter I’ll remove as many of the rock hard tomatoes needed for a recipe, allow to defrost on a plate for about 15 min, then run them under tap water which works the same as the boiling water blanching when they are raw! The skins peel off easily and with a bit more defrosting the tomatoes can be chopped up and used! And I daresay taste every bit as good as a San marzano!
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