Well not really a fail, but I will admit to not completely committing to this project 100% . I did wind up with 10 pints of tomato puree in the freezer, but I didn't have all of the right equipment which resulted in a huge mess (ruined a white t-shirt. Note to self: don't can tomatoes wearing white). I also wound up pouring boiling water down my arm because I was using tongs instead of a proper jar lifter. I have never attempted canning before mainly because I am a chronic half-asser and canning is something that must be done right or your family will come down with a nasty case of botulism and it will be all your fault. Actually, Sugar Snap keeps a healthy distance between herself and any tomato or tomato product so she would be fine, but the rest of us would be hospitalized. I had 15 good sized tomatoes red and ready so I followed the instructions more or less. I did boil the jars and lids first but I didn't use new lids like you are supposed to, I reused everything. Next time I will invest in some quart size jars. Here's what you do:
Bring three stockpots full of water to a boil. Also have a large bowl of ice water at the ready. In the first pot submerge your tomatoes for a few minutes, extract and put into the ice water. This will allow the skins to slide right off. At this point you can cut tomatoes in chunks or do what I did, put them in the blender to make crushed tomatoes. Put just a half of a teaspoon of lemon juice in with the tomatoes so they keep their color. In the next pot boil the lids and rims for the jars. You can reuse rims, but you must use new lids unless you want to freeze the tomatoes until they are ready to use. Boil those for 10 minutes. In another pot boil the jars. I did all of that, poured the tomato puree into the jars and then set them in the deep freezer. I plan to try this again the right way - using new lids and boiling the jars after they are full - and I will wear an apron. I'll let you know how that goes.
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