Too many tomatoes? Definitely not!

End of the season canning.......

But there are still tomatoes galore.  It helps that we covered them on the nights that we have had a frost.  They are mostly small and because of that, I decided to can them as tomato sauce.

 As you can see they are beautiful. It is so helpful to have a Food Strainer for this project.    I purchased mine several years ago and it has been a valuable tool in my kitchen.  You can purchase optional screens for pumpkins, berries and even one for salsa.  Yes, I now have those also.

Following canning directions.  Tomatoes are a high acid food (you must add lemon juice) and one of the easier foods to can.  The fruits are vulnerable only to heat sensitive  organisms.  They can be processed in a water bath canner.  

I recommend that beginning canners buy a good basic instructions book.  The Ball Book of Home Preserving.  It is often available in the canning sections of hardware stores, grocery stores and super stores.  It is also available on Amazon.com 

So far from these left over odds and ends we have added 24 pints of tomato sauce to our food pantry.