3 Recipes to Preserve Your Summer Tomatoes

Summer time means bursting gardens full of delicious vine-ripe tomatoes! But what if a bunch ripen at the same time? There's only so many tomato salads and sandwiches you can eat at a time right? Don't worry! You won't have to waste your precious fruit. In the words of my granny, it's time to "Put 'em Up"!

Here are 3 of our favorite ways to preserve your tomatoes to enjoy later in the year:

Note: These recipes involve canning/water bathing them to preserve them. We do not provide instructions for that. However you process them is totally up to you and what your research/ comfort tells you.

Vegetable Juice

This recipe is great to make vegetable juice- the base of a ton of recipes. Use this recipe as the tomato juice in the soup recipe below

Ingredients:

22 lbs Blanched Tomatoes ( mixed variety if you can)

3/4 C. carrots- peeled and chopped

3/4 C. celery- chopped

3/4 C. bell pepper- chopped

1/2 C. Onion- chopped

1 Tbsp. Salt

1. Blanch your tomatoes. Drop your tomatoes in boiling water for about a minute or until peeling starts to crack. Remove from water and drop them immediately in a bowl of ice water. Allow them to cool and then peel. This will make it easy to remove all the peeling
   

2. Once the tomatoes are cooled and peeled, cut them into quarters and remove the core. Simply cut at an angle to get the core out of the center (if there is one).

3. In a large stock pot, combine carrots. celery, bell pepper, and onion and bring to simmer for 20 minutes

4. Run the mixture through a mill to get the juice out of the pulp. You want your juice to be nice and smooth.

5. Put the strained juice into a pot and add 1 Tbsp Salt. Bring back to a simmer, Don't let it boil as this will cause the juice to separate.

Put your juice in pint or quart jars and process however you choose.

Makes about 7 Quarts

Tomato Basil Soup

This soup is the BEST soup and an absolute staple at our house!

Ingredients:

4 peeled, seeded, and diced tomatoes

4 C. Tomato Juice ( recipe above)

Fourteen leaves fresh basil

1 stick Butter

1 C. Heavy whipping cream

Salt and pepper

Sharp cheddar cheese (optional)

1. Combine tomatoes and juice in a stock pot over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 30 minutes or until tomatoes are soft.

2. Remove from heat and add basil leaves

3. Use an immersion blender and blend until smooth

** If you are canning this for soup base, stop here. You can't can the cream or butter. If you decide to can at this point it is super simple to reheat and add the cream and butter. We can a whole shelf of this for winter

4. Stir in heavy cream and butter and cook until melted. About 5 minutes. Don't let it boil

5. Season with salt and pepper and top with cheese (optional)

Makes about 3 quarts

My Favorite Salsa

Ingredients:

4-5 quarts blanched tomatoes

4 onions- chopped

1 1/2 c. jalapenos- chopped

1/2 tsp alum

1/2 C. Pickling Salt

1 Tbsp. Garlic powder

1 tsp. Onion Powder

4 1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 C. Sugar

1 12 oz can tomato paste

1. Combine all ingredients BUT paste

2. Bring to a boil in a large stock pot

3. Simmer for 30 min

4. Add tomato paste

5. Process however you like

Makes about 12- 15 pints

Enjoy your tomatoes for months to come with these simple recipes!