Siouxland Magazine - Volume 3 Issue 3

Siouxland Magazine | EXPLORE /52
Fresh assorted tomatoes.
Saving Summer for Later
By Carol Larvick
As the days are getting longer and warmer, I love
getting outside. Sometimes I just take a walk, but I am
itching to begin working in my garden. Last fall, I planted
some spinach seeds, and this spring, I keep going out to
see how they are doing. Early March, when we had a bit
of warmth, they sprouted. I cannot wait till it is time to eat
the spinach. Every year I look forward to saving some of
my garden produce to eat in the winter.
During 2020, both gardening and preserving food at
home grew by 600%. No wonder it was hard to find
supplies like canning jars and lids. The prediction is for it
to be as popular this year as last year.
If you canned last year for the first time, or the hundredth
time, there is always something more to learn.
Tomatoes are a popular item to preserve. They work well
frozen, canned, or dried. Frozen is an easy option if you
have only a few extra tomatoes and freezer space. It can
be as simple as rinsing them in water and cutting the
core out, then putting them in a freezer bag. With any
product you preserve to use later, it is always a good
idea to think about how you will use it when that time
comes. Frozen tomatoes for example would work well in
soups, stews, casseroles; think of anywhere you would
use cooked tomatoes. Once frozen, they will not work to
put on a tossed salad.
I also fix tomatoes for the freezer by roasting them with
a bit of olive oil and some spices. When finished, I cool
them and package them up with a label that includes the
date, the word tomatoes, and what I did to them, so I will
remember months later when I am hunting in my freezer.
Have you ever thought about drying tomatoes? A friend
was telling me after they dry the tomato slices, she uses
a coffee grinder (that has not had coffee in it) to make
the tomatoes into a powder and uses them in place of
tomato paste. I think that is a great idea and plan to dry
some tomatoes this summer.
Tomatoes can be canned in various ways – tomato sauce,
stewed tomatoes, tomato juice, spaghetti sauce, and
salsa. One important thing to remember is to follow a
research-tested recipe if you are canning tomatoes or
any food product.
What is the difference between a research-tested recipe
and one from a blog or on a website? After COVID, we all
know about things we cannot see but can make us sick.
For long-term storage of home canned food, they must
be heated. But what temperature and how long we heat
them is based on the acidity and the density of the food
inside the jar. A research-tested recipe does just that; it
tests the recipe to make sure it will keep without having a
microorganism grow.