Canning and preserving foods has become a lost art to many people in our generation. I still enjoy gardening and processing most of our food. Our family loves tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. If I don’t preserve enough of soup to last a year–they let me know very quickly.

My hot water bath canners more than pay themselves in the month of July and August as we processed our garden goodies. It is a good feeling to see the shelves in my basement getting filled with full canning jars.

Lancaster County, were we used to live, had many produce growers. If my garden did not produce enough I would buy a few baskets of tomatoes from a roadside stand. There are certains kinds that have better flavors than others. My favorite kinds are Amish Pasta and Mortgage Lifters. These heirloom tomatoes may not have the great shape but their taste is suburb to the hybrid types.

Tomato Soup–to can, THM FP

• 1 basket canning tomatoes (1/2 bushel or approximately 26 pounds)
• 2 bunches celery
• 6 large onions
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 tablespoons butter
• ½ cup THM Gentle Sweet
• 1 cup tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons Mineral Salt
• citric acid***
• Blend tomatoes, celery, onions, and garlic cloves together until fairly smooth. Put through Foley Food Mill or your preferred food mill*. Pour into a large kettle. Add butter**. Cook for 20 minutes. Add Gentle Sweet, tomato paste and salt. Bring to a boil. Wash 10 quarts jars in hot soapy water, rinse well. Add 1/2 teaspoon citric acid to each quart jar.** Ladle juice into jars . Add lids and rings. Place in a hot water bath canner. Bring water to a boil and boil gently for 30 minutes. Remove from canner and allow to cool. 10 quarts tomato soup.
• *if you blend the veggies well, you will not get much waste. The food mill will get the larger pieces. I dislike skin and seeds in my soup.
• ** the butter will prevent the soup from boiling over.
• This soup can be froze in freezer boxes. I use this tomato soup in recipes that call for tomato juice/sauce.
• You can pressure can this soup at 11 PSI for 15 minutes.
• ***tomatoes can safely be canned with the hot water bath method. However, if you are concerned with the ph level, citric acid may be added to lower the ph. Different types of tomatoes will have different ph levels.
• To make soup add a pinch baking soda and 3 cups broth/cream to 1 quart tomato soup. Heat until almost boiling. DO NOT omit the baking soda or your soup will curdle.
• To make a hearty version of this soup add 1 pound browned, drained ground beef and 2 cups cooked Dreamfield pasta.
• Disclaimer–This recipe was not approved by the FDA.

Hints for Tomatoes

For an easy way to peel tomatoes for canning in chunks. Dip whole tomatoes in boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Cool. Cut out the core and the skin will slip right off. Chop tomatoes up into desired size pieces.

For tomato juice–blend raw tomato chunks and put through strainer. Use in any recipe you need tomato juice. You will need to cook it 10 -15 minutes longer than if you had used already cooked tomatoes. Add butter to the raw juice to help reduce the foaming. It will not cook over as quickly.

Tomatoes can be frozen in chunks or whole. Remove from freezer and thaw. Pour off the clear, watery liquid. Blend remaining pulp and put through food strainer. This will give a very thick pulp. Cook as needed.

To make tomato paste, strain 1 quart tomato juice through a coffee filter. The clear juice will strain out. It should reduce by 1/2-2/3.

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 AROUND THE FAMILY TABLE COOKBOOK

There are many more canning and preserving recipes in  Around the Family Table Cookbook which features over 600 pages or recipes from a Mennonite mother of eight who loves to cook. These recipes are styled after the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating and are labeled with the correct fuels. There is also DIY recipes for Baking Mix and Sweetener that are more economical. Check out our NEW blog store at this link … https://aroundthefamilytableblog.com/store/