Tomatoes

I've been surfing around the web, trying to find a tomato canning recipe like the woman told my mom about. This woman dips hers in boiling water, then in cold to remove the skins. They are put just like that in hot, sterilized jars, along with lemon juice and salt and sealed--she says the heat from the boiling water keeps them warm enough and they make their own juice. She has been putting them up this way all her life--just as her mother did. I'm not sure what makes the jars seal, since the tomatoes aren't hot.

I love Janet's easy method of freezing the tomatoes that she mentioned in her comment. I have frozen them whole on cookie sheets, then put them in a freezer bag. Run hot water over them after they're frozen and the skin will slip right off--then add to homemade soup. My main problem with freezing them is lack of freezer space.

The method that Tipper described, involving boiling the tomatoes in a pot and then putting them in hot, sterilized jars, letting them seal themselves, is the way my grandmother used to do hers and I guess it is safe enough. For me, I think I'll stick to the water-bath method. I'll admit that putting up my own food, other than freezing it, or making jam, always makes me a little nervous. I've never known anyone to get sick off of home-canned food, but there are all those horror stories that you here about whole families getting extremely ill, or worse.

Hooray~I think I've found all the words the program botched in my writing project! As it stands right now, I have about 19,500 words written. I think the requirements are 15, 000-20,000, so I have room to shorten it and tighten it up a little bit.