IT'S TOMATO TIME !!!!!

 Actually its just begun. We have always planted about 15 Roma and San Marzano tomato plants. You cant beat them for Marinara sauce. We make and freeze marinara for pasta and pizza purposes. I prefer freezing over canning tomatoes as I don't like the addition of citrus or vinegar and botulism is not fun.
  This year should prove quite interesting as Erik decided to plant more. LOTS more . I think total count was 32. We did lose  about 6 so far. Not really lost I just did not baby them as the sheer amount of plants is overwhelming. I did some research and settled on the addition of Amish Paste and a Burpee Super Sauce .  I used seeds and started them in April  . They did not like the heat much but they  are starting to ripen now.

 

  My favorite thing to do is blanching and freezing whole tomatoes in small bags. Each bag is the same as a 14 oz can of tomatoes. Whenever a recipe calls for a can of tomatoes I grab a bag out of the freezer. The two gallon storage bags above represent 13 cans of tomatoes  .

  In my  junior year of college I was a Field Rep for a major canning corporation.  Part of my duties included testing each load of tomatoes harvested for insect dirt and rodent parts.  Yup . Needless to say when my summer job ended I was given cases of tomato products. Which I promptly gave away. It was many years before  I used canned tomatoes. I was however in my 20s and did not cook much . But still it is nice to know whats in your food.