Tomato Canning 101 (because there's still time!)
For a guaranteed taste of summertime all winter long
A number of years ago, an Italian friend made a pasta dish for me that was so delicious I was dumbfounded. I asked for the recipe, was given it, repeated it myself, and then threw the recipe away because the dish I’d produced tasted so banal I knew I’d never bother repeating it. Puzzling. Why such a gulf between the two?
Well, I later learned that my friend had used her mother’s home-canned tomatoes to make her pasta dish, not the store-bought tomatoes from a tin that I’d used when I’d made mine. That was the only difference, but it made all the difference in the world.
Ingredients are everything when it comes to cooking. Well, just about. Experience in the kitchen helps, too, but the fact is that you barely need any skills beyond being able to slice and drizzle if your ingredients are tip-top. Once I’d tasted the dramatic difference between home-canned tomatoes and bought tinned ones, there was no going back. I had to learn how to do it.
The first time was with savvy friends, which made it all a bit of a game. The next year I was on my own, so that was a challenge, but in a good way because it boosted my confidence. And on went the annual tradition. Ever since the taste of that memorable pasta dish, I’ve set aside an entire day every September, so I can can, I can, oh yes I can. And so can you, because I’m about to give you my complete, printable, step-by-step guide. Afterwards, we’ll sit down for a little chat about the process. Ready?