CANNING TOMATOES RECIPES

Steps:

• Prepare the jars and lids: Wash all jars and lids thoroughly with soap and water and rinse well. Fill your canner with enough water to cover the jars by at least 1 inch and bring to a simmer. Using a pair of canning tongs, lower the jars in gently, tilting them to fill with the hot water. In a small saucepan, keep some water warm but not boiling; place the lids in the water. Have an additional kettle of water on to boil. Peel and core the tomatoes: Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Have a large bowl of ice water at the ready. Gently lower the tomatoes into the boiling water and blanch them for 60 seconds. Remove with a strainer and transfer them to the ice water. Once cool, slit the skins; they should peel off easily. Remove the cores with a small paring knife. You will need to do this in batches. Discard skins and cores. Prepare the sauce: Coarsely chop the tomatoes and add them to a large stockpot. Place stockpot over medium-high heat, crushing and stirring the tomatoes to keep from burning. Continue until all the tomatoes are added and crushed. Bring the tomatoes to a boil, then reduce heat and keep at a low boil. Reduce to the desired thickness, by a third for a thin sauce, or by half for a thick sauce. Fill and close the jars: Using canning tongs, remove the jars from the canner, carefully pouring the water back into the canner. Set next to the sauce. Turn the heat under the canner to high. Add two tablespoons of bottled lemon juice and one teaspoon of salt to each jar; add a teaspoon of sugar to offset the added acidity if desired. Use a ladle to pour the sauce into the jars through a canning funnel, leaving 1/2-inch headspace at the top. Run a clean chopstick around the inside of the jar to dislodge any trapped air. Wipe the rims of the jars with a damp paper towel. Place the lids on, and screw on the rings until just finger-tight. Seal the jars: Using canning tongs, gently transfer the jars to the canner, taking care to keep them vertical. When all the jars are in the canner, there should be at least 1 inch water covering them; if you need more, add water from the kettle until the jars are sufficiently covered. Bring the water to a full rolling boil, and process for 40 minutes. Remove and cool: Using canning tongs, gently remove the jars from the canner and transfer them to a kitchen towel or cooling rack, again keeping them vertical. Do not set hot jars directly on to cool counter surfaces. Leave to cool, undisturbed, for at least 12 hours. If any of the jars do not seal when cool, reprocess using the method above, or refrigerate and use immediately. Label and store: Add a label to the lid or side of your jar, noting the date it was canned. Remove the rings and store jars in a cool, dark place for up to one year. Refrigerate after opening.

Steps:

• Shape sausage into patties roughly. Take a pint size wide mouth jar and shape the patty on a cutting board. Remove excess sausage meat and continue to shape all the patties. Try to keep your patties on the thinner side. Mine were all about 1/4" to 1/2" thick. If you are using store bought sausage meat you will have some decrease in size due to high amounts of fat content while you are frying them. That will be fine but don't be surprised when it happens.
• Fry the meat and cook them on both side till they are golden brown. If they don't cook all the way through that is also fine since the pressure canner will cook them the rest of the way.
• Drain the patties and remove as much of the fat as you can by laying them on a paper towel.
• Stack patties in hot pint jars. I got 4-5 patties in the jars so you may gauge how many jars you will need based on the total patties. Do not fill the patties up beyond the 1" headspace.
• Fill jars with hot water to 1" headspace. Using a rubber or plastic spatula remove air bubbles and refill to 1" if necessary. Using a paper towel that has vinegar on it, wipe the rims of the jars to remove any grease or debris so that you will get a tight seal when you add your lids.
• Add hot lid (sitting in previously boiled water) and ring and tighten "finger tight". Place in pressure canner.
• Process pints in pressure canner at 10lbs of pressure for a weighted gauge canner and 11lbs for a dial gauge for 75 minutes, quarts for 90 minutes.
• When you remove them from thecanner the broth will still be boiling inside of the jars. Once they cool theywill have a ring of fat at the top from the fat/grease. As long as the fat isn'tthick on top and usually will only be around the ring on the outside the jarsare fine.
• Labeling: Make sure to label yourjars after they have cooled with the name of the recipe and the date canned.