Tomatoes in the Pantry

For us, tomato season is over. The leaves have all gone small, then spotted, then brown. There is no more (or at least very little) fruit that has not turned orange or red and been harvested. And, I think I can say it without offense, Kathy and I are tired of canning tomatoes.

I took stock of what we have in the pantry. There are 34 quarts, some of it in pint jars, of canned tomatoes. We have 4 quarts of chili sauce, a quart of spaghetti sauce, 3 quarts of tomato sauce, a quart of tomato paste, and a couple of quarts of tomato juice. It hasn't been a bad year.


I have also saved seeds. I used a fermentation method I found on the web. I saved, Hungarian Heart from the one plant that survived early planting. I also saved Italian Heirloom, John Baer, and Rutgers. The Rutgers didn't grow well, even though I planted pretty hardy looking plants from the Farmer's Market. I hope I don't have wilt in the bed they were planted in. Next year, I will have to plant them in a different place. I think that for canning, Rutgers and Italian Heirloom have been the best. If the John Baer would just get a bit bigger, they would be very nice because they have small stems and easy to remove skin.