Friday, August 31, 2012

What To Do With Buckets of Tomatoes

As I was talking with Dwight (per Judy's instructions), he wanted to know what I was doing. Making tomato soup to put in bottles, says I.  And what is the recipe for said soup, asks big brother.  Finding it a tricky task to relate said recipe over the phone, I promised to post it on Penrose Mornings within the hour.  Who knows if I have made that deadline, but just in case it is still wanted, here it is:
(This beats the store bought stuff by miles, no nasty additives, is low salt, and ever so good.)
Home Canned Tomato Soup
1 peck ripe tomatoes  - how much is a peck of tomatoes,you ask?  According to someone who is supposed to know these things, it is about 8 quarts.  In my world it is a large kettle full of juice - very precise measurement.
4 onions sliced
12 sprigs parsley
2 bay leaves
1 tsp peppercorns
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp whole cloves
2 Tablespoons salt (I cut this in half and then let people salt it according to their taste)
1 Tablespoons sugar

I put my tomatoes through the Victorio juicer, so get them to the juice stage any way you want to. Put peppercorns, celery seed, whole cloves in a tea ball, or tie in a cheese cloth bag.  Put juice in kettle, add parsley, bay leaves, onions,  salt and sugar and tea ball.  Let simmer until it is at the consistency you want.  Strain out the onions, parsley, bay leaves, and remove the tea ball.  Reheat to boiling point after straining.  Pour into sterilized jars, seal, process in boiling water bath 40 minutes for quarts.

5 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Certainly worth trying - where do you get these recipes? Would basil work in this soup? Thanks, Ann.

Ann said...

I think Basil is worth a try. Sounds good.

Judy said...

Since the tomato measurement is so precise, I am surprised that the other ingredients are not?

Ann said...

A little bit of this, a little bit of that - and presto!
By the way, this recipe came from somewhere on the internet. I should have been more careful and given credit to where I found it, but after finding it in three different places, I shared it here.

Dwight said...

How much is a peck of tomatoes? is it as big as a peck of pickled peppers? Or smaller? No one I have asked has any idea how much a peck of tomatoes is. And do you have to run the stuff through a fancy doodad or can you use an old fashioned $450 vita-mix? And what if you just want to make 3-4 servings? Just wondered. Or maybe get a quart of soup from you instead and save all that work.