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Post by hortstu on Feb 26, 2010 21:57:13 GMT -5
I'm looking for tomatoes for jarring for a sauce or gravy as my Italian in laws would put it. I've always grown tomatoes with the intent of eating them fresh so this is new to me.
I've never jarred/canned before but my mother in law would like me to grow and help her jar some this year.
I'm looking for open pollinated varieties that I can save seed from. I'm thinking determinate varieties are the way to go since they'll all finish around the same time but I can be convinced otherwise.
I don't mind long lists of suitable candidates but I'd like to hear your favorite as well.
Thanks for any help.
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landarc
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Post by landarc on Feb 26, 2010 23:40:31 GMT -5
Personally, I don't think you will go wrong with San Marzano, there are many types of these, but, an OP determinate is out there I think. A lot of people seem to like heart types, I am sure someone else can help with types.
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amideutch
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Post by amideutch on Feb 27, 2010 1:08:40 GMT -5
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Post by darthslater on Feb 27, 2010 1:27:32 GMT -5
I'm looking for tomatoes for jarring for a sauce or gravy as my Italian in laws would put it. I've always grown tomatoes with the intent of eating them fresh so this is new to me. I've never jarred/canned before but my mother in law would like me to grow and help her jar some this year. I'm looking for open pollinated varieties that I can save seed from. I'm thinking determinate varieties are the way to go since they'll all finish around the same time but I can be convinced otherwise. I don't mind long lists of suitable candidates but I'd like to hear your favorite as well. Thanks for any help. Hort, I am Sicillian and my family would never call it gravy, that is a Jersey thing. But to answer your question all tomatoes can be canned, they all have about the same ph when ripe with the exception of Jet Star. I like to use Ox-hearts because they are big and solid with less seeds than others, but you may prefer the standard canners. There are many but alot of people would probably suggest Opalka, you cant loose with those or Constaluto Genevse.
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Post by hortstu on Feb 27, 2010 12:26:01 GMT -5
Thank you landarc and amideutch for the suggestions and link. Darth those jars look tasty. Seems like you have a lot of experience jarring. Would you call these 3 your favorites? Opalka Constaluto Genevse ox-hearts Hort, I am Sicillian and my family would never call it gravy, that is a Jersey thing. But to answer your question all tomatoes can be canned, they all have about the same ph when ripe with the exception of Jet Star. I like to use Ox-hearts because they are big and solid with less seeds than others, but you may prefer the standard canners. There are many but alot of people would probably suggest Opalka, you cant loose with those or Constaluto Genevse. That's funny Darth... I grew up in jersey and never heard anyone call it gravy until I met my wifes family. Must be an Italian jersey thing. What do you think about determinates vs indeterminate... doesn't really matter just do one jar at a time, or it's great to get set up and do as many tomatoes as you can harvest a few times in late summer?
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Post by darthslater on Feb 27, 2010 13:03:00 GMT -5
Here is how I do it, First off I like all of those mentioned for sauce but there are many more, all good tomatoes can be used for sauce some may need to be boiled down or reduced to get a thicker consistancy. I can what ever I have in the garden each color however does have a different taste. The Blacks have a very rich flavor, The green is intense and spicy, The orange is a little sweeter and has a nice balance of acid to sugar. The yellow and white are subtle and fruity. But if you want a good sauce and dont want to try different flavors it would be hard to beat the ones already mentioned. Like I stated, there are many varietes and I am sure the other members here can also chime in and tell you their favorites. I always add citric acid to all my sauce just as a precaution you can never be to safe.
Darth
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sorellina
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Post by sorellina on Feb 27, 2010 13:27:09 GMT -5
Ciao hortsu- It's really up to you whether to go indeterminate or determinate. I get more tomatoes per plant per season with indeterminates and I would have to grow several plants of the determinates to make for what I get with one indeterminate plant. That being said, I don't can all of my tomatoes on the same day, it's over the course of the entire season. When they first start coming in, I puree what I get and freeze until I have steady harvests. My favourites so far are these: Uncle Charlie's Giant Italian Pear - my own family heirloom and along with San Marzano, these two are the only ones my family grows. San Marzano in all of its various iterations - really the gold standard for Italian sauce-making. In my opinion, this one has a far superior flavour to it than Roma. Romeo, Uncle Steve's Italian Plum, Prue, Franchi Pear, Matt d'Imperio are more or less similar-sized, very large red Italian pastes. Any of these will work very well for your needs. Opalka is just about my favourite tomato of all. It has fantastic flavour for fresh-eating and makes just an amazing sauce or juice. I can them whole as well, but unless you cut them, it will be hard to get many into a jar like that. I'm going to try some larger wide-mouth 1.5 litre jars this year for some of my whole tomatoes. Smaller canners I really like are: Kotlas, King Humbert (HUGE production), Pink San Marzano. These are all more or less Roma-sized (1x2" long or thereabouts). Bigger globes with good flavour would be: Clear Pink Early (det), Campbells 1327 (det), and Santa Clara Canner (indet). I've had very good luck with all of these. Try a few to see which ones work best for your personal tastes and climate, but it's a place to start.
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Post by hortstu on Feb 27, 2010 15:13:50 GMT -5
Here is how I do it, First off I like all of those mentioned for sauce but there are many more, all good tomatoes can be used for sauce some may need to be boiled down or reduced to get a thicker consistancy. My mother and grandmother in law currently do this year round with canned tomatoes... they remember jarring them in bulk every year with their grandmother/mother from the old country. We now have a 1 year old and we won't let her have canned foods, especially tomatoes, because of the BPA, thing. This has prompted us to get setup for jarring our own. We're looking at 2-4 pounds per week. No way my garden is going to produce that... too small. However I can buy whatever extras I need in bulk from one of the dealers at the local farmers market. I'm willing to be adventurous but like I said my garden is on the small side so I want to make sure we get enough of what theyre used to using. If it works out this year I will try some new ones next year. What does the citric acid do? kill potential pathogens? How much do you add? Ciao hortsu- It's really up to you whether to go indeterminate or determinate. I get more tomatoes per plant per season with indeterminates and I would have to grow several plants of the determinates to make for what I get with one indeterminate plant. I usually grow indeterminates too. I think you just convinced me to stick with them. That's exactly the kind of tip that I'm looking for but didn't know it. Thanks. I've seen the San Marzano in the seed catalogs but never the Uncle Charlies. Do you know where I can find some of these seeds? Yeah I keep hearing this one and amish paste over and over again. I'm going to try both. A member on Idig forums has offered to send me seeds of the costoluto genovese so I'm going to try those too. My garden is small so odds are I'm not going to have more than a half dozen varieties. I've got to grow some cherokee purps too... my favorite tomato period... I could eat those like theyre messy apples. Well if it's your favorite I think I'm going to have to add it to the short list... a multi purpose tomato will come in handy. Thanks for all the great tips and recommendations.
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sorellina
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Post by sorellina on Feb 27, 2010 15:27:03 GMT -5
Ciao hortsu-
Uncle Charlie's is starting to get recognized because I've listed it in SSE and distributed it to gardeners far and wide, but so far, it's not listed commercially. I'm your source. PM me if you'd like some seeds.
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Post by darthslater on Feb 27, 2010 15:33:43 GMT -5
I add the citric acid because all tomatoes may not be ripe when you go to can therefore not up to full ph. You should have no problem getting 2-4 pounds off of an Ox-Heart as the smaller ones are usally at least 1/2 pound by themselves. Indeterminates means that the plant does not stop growing like determinate which produces tomatoes on a shorter vine and ripens all tomatoes at once. I have had plants as high as 8 ft you will be shocked when you plant an heirloom indeterminate. We have people that report 100 lbs of tomatoes off of one plant. My personal best was perhaps 60 off of German Red Strawberry. Cowlicks Brandywine is reputed to have very high output and excellent flavor. I have a great saucer/puree machine it comes with various screens. Do not get a cheap one! They simply dont work like they should the best one I have found is a Victorio you can make baby food also with these. Mine gets all the seeds out and is very easy to clean.
Darth
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swampr
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Post by swampr on Feb 27, 2010 16:45:56 GMT -5
I have a favorite heirloom called Manny that looks a little like jersey devil. It is meaty and not too seedy. I usually heat coarsely chopped tomates until boling, then pour most of the watery juice off. I can more salsa than straight tomatoes, so will add my roasted pepper mixes in at this point, boil again then pressure can. Other varieties that have given me good flavor results canning are Sam Remo, Dad's Barber, and Juliet.
When making salsa I prefer to add garlic, onions, lime, and cilantro after opening the jar.
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Post by hortstu on Feb 28, 2010 1:56:23 GMT -5
I add the citric acid because all tomatoes may not be ripe when you go to can therefore not up to full ph. I haven't done much research on the canning side of this yet... mostly just the growing part. Does this act as a preservative or have something to do with flavor? Sorry I haven't gotten that far yet. Yeah the family goes through 2-4 pounds of canned tomatoes a week year round. I'm trying to imagine how many plants I would need to satisfy that... I'll be happy if I put a dent in it. Thanks I understand that I just didn't think that the yields were so different. Most if what I've grown has been ID. The last few years I've been trying to go with only open pollinated varieties so I could save seed. Last year was a wreck. Between the weather and all the travel I did for work I got very few tomatoes. No cherokee purples. The year before I was swimming in CPs. As of now theyre still my favorite but my experience is limited. Wow. Makes me want to start keeping track. My MIL has always cleaned em up after they come out of the can... aside from the skin of course. Do you suggest doing it before the jarring? I'll look into the victorio. Darth[/quote]
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Post by hortstu on Feb 28, 2010 1:58:00 GMT -5
I have a favorite heirloom called Manny that looks a little like jersey devil. It is meaty and not too seedy. I usually heat coarsely chopped tomates until boling, then pour most of the watery juice off. I can more salsa than straight tomatoes, so will add my roasted pepper mixes in at this point, boil again then pressure can. Other varieties that have given me good flavor results canning are Sam Remo, Dad's Barber, and Juliet. When making salsa I prefer to add garlic, onions, lime, and cilantro after opening the jar. Thanks for the tips swampr
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Post by darthslater on Feb 28, 2010 8:04:25 GMT -5
The Victorio Sauce Pro skins and seeds at the same time no need to worry about pureeing them. Or pre-cooking them and runing them through a food mill. You just wash them and put them in and start grinding. After that you can reduce them down to the desired thickness. You also my want to look into earthboxes, you can make your own.
Darth
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sorellina
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Post by sorellina on Feb 28, 2010 8:04:41 GMT -5
Ciao hortsu-
If your family goes through 2-4 lbs of canned tomatoes per week year round, I would definitely want at least 12 big red paste plants to start with. In this case, it's better to err on the side of too little at the beginning. No sense overwhelming yourself from the get-go. Our family eats tomatoes like that, too, and my first year in this house, that's what I did, just jars of whole tomatoes and sauce from 16 San Marzanos. It was more than enough to get us through the winter. Then I decided to expand from there and make salsas, ketchup, paste, all sorts of things that required tomatoes, so I needed to plant more.
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