Grandma's Canned Tomatoes

Author Notes

Every year since he can remember, my father has canned fruits, vegetables, and jams. 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.

I've been helping Dad with canning since I was little, and we still always set aside a few August days to preserve the bounty of summer. 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.

The rule of thumb is to order three pounds of tomatoes for each quart of canned tomatoes you want to make. We usually pre-order ours from a local farm, and find that one large bushel yields about 16 to 18 quarts. Meaty tomato varieties work best for canning. We've used several different kinds, and the farmers we work with give us great recommendations on which ones to can that year.

Each quart of tomatoes will need a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of bottled lemon juice. Coarse kosher sat works best for canning, and using bottled lemon juice is the safest way to ensure a consistent level of acidity that will keep the jars shelf-stable. Canning can be a little labor-intensive and requires some practice and specialized equipment, like a wire jar rack for the water bath, but the result is well worth it. —Kelsey Banfield

Test Kitchen Notes

The best way to preserve peak-season tomatoes? Can them! The process requires a little bit of effort and planning, but altogether is quite simple—and once you taste a homemade batch, you’ll be hard-pressed to want to go back to the store-bought variety. Make a big batch towards the end of summer for a bright tomatoey burst all year round—especially during the chilly winter months when freshness can feel hard to come by.

Marisa McClellan for The Kitchn recommends paste tomatoes, which “are quite dry, very meaty and have fewer seeds than your standard slicer." Some of these varieties include Roma, San Marzano, Big Mama, and Jersey Giant.

Once your tomatoes are all canned, the fun part begins: all the recipes you’ll put them towards. Homemade tomato sauce, creamy tomato soup, tomatoey braised chicken thighs, the possibilities are endless. —The Editors