Bottling Tomatoes

With the great weather many parts of the country have been experiencing tomatoes are coming on in glut proportions.  Whether you grow them yourself or buy them cheap from the local fruit shop or supermarket, tomatoes are easy to preserve in bottles and are a versatile addition to pasta recipes as well as casseroles and soups in winter.

I recommend the Ball Mason regular mouth pint for tomato puree or sauce if you want a size that is roughly equivalent to a standard can of tomatoes.  This is a good size when you are making a spag bol or want to add some flavour to a casserole. 

The wide mouth pint is also a good choice if you are going to use the jars later for fruit as it is much easier to pack a wide mouth jar.  If you are going to make tomato sauce (as opposed to puree or passata), a sauce bottle may be more appealing.  There are a number of different twist top versions available in 150 - 250ml sizes whilst Bormioli Rocco make a fabulous embossed jar in a 1 litre size with a reusable fully hermetically sealed lid. 

Regardless of what jar type you choose, even if you cook your tomatoes first, the bottles must be treated further in either a water bath or a pressure canner.  This is to be completely sure that all bacteria has been killed.  The general recommendation for water bathing, depending on the recipe, is to process pints/half litre bottles for 35 minutes and quarts/litre bottles for 40 minutes, the time commencing from the time the water reaches the recommended temperature.  Whilst tomatoes are generally regarded as an acidic food and thus able to be safely processed in a water bath, it is recommended that you add extra acidity such as a tablespoon of lemon juice as some tomatoes are not quite acidic enough.

If you want to add other ingredients to your tomatoes, such as onion, celery or eggplant, it is regarded as much safer to process this according to the lower acid ingredient and so you should consider a pressure canner in these instances.  (Remember a pressure canner can be used as a water bath but a water bath cannot be used as a pressure canner).