Canning Tomatoes

Today I canned tomatoes.  Not a lot, just a gallon but in the terrible drought we are having I am glad to have any!  These are not Roma tomatoes just tomatoes from the garden of several varieties, some are heirlooms.  At any rate the skins slipped off easily after dropping each tomato in boiling water and leaving for 1 minute.  Then plunge in ice water.  The skins pop right off.  I do take care to remove any of the core and the blossom end of each tomato.

I started with about :

26-28 medium to large tomatoes
1/2 sliced onion
5 cloves fresh garlic
5 sprigs of fresh thyme
10 fresh basil leaves
kosher salt

Sterile jars are easy when running them and the lids through the dishwasher.  Since I used a cold packer I set it to heat with ample water.

To start I placed a slice of fresh onion, a garlic clove, and a sprig of thyme in the bottom of each jar.  Next I dropped the quartered tomatoes in and added 2 fresh basil washed leaves about 2/3 of the way up into the jars and finished packing full of the fruit.  I added 1 t. salt to the top of each jar leaving 1/2" head space.  Carefully I wiped the rims of each jar and placed the lids and bands as I tightened them.  I placed the jars in the rack and left the rack sitting above the water until it was almost to a boil,  Then I lowered the jars and filled to 1" over the jar lids with additional hot water.  The burner was set on medium high and when it cane to a boil I processed the tomatoes for 45 minutes.

When the time was up I turned the burner off and again positioned the rack so it sat up around the rim of the cold packer.  After it set 5 or 10 minutes I removed the jars to a towel covered cabinet to cool as I listen for the lids to ping.