Preserving Tomatoes. “Haciendo Conserva De Tomate”
It really doesn’t matter how many tomato plants we have, 100 or 60, every year we seem to have lorryloads of the delicious fruit. More and more crates appear every day, which means spending more and more time using them or storing them (and eating them, of course).
Although we adore “gazpacho” and “salmorejo”, are always eating salads with plenty of tomato, rub them on bread before drizzling on olive oil, etc, there is only so much we can eat before turning into tomatoes ourselves. Even a family of 30 wouldn’t be able to get through all the tomatoes we have at the moment.
Thankfully there are ways of storing them, ready for use in the coming months, when tomatoes are no longer in season. Occasionally we grate them and freeze a few small bags full that way, the only problem with that is I always forget to take them out the freezer the day before I need them and by the time I go to make lunch or dinner, it’s too late. So bottling them is, for me, the best way to have them on hand whenever they’re needed.
After having a migraine Friday night (hopefully not from the stress of having so many tomatoes) I was still feeling a bit under the weather Saturday morning. I thought it best to not do anything that required too much physical exertion, especially not in the sun. So when Pep walked in with yet more crates of the tasty nightshade he made my mind up for me. It was time to turn the terrace red, along with parts of ourselves too, mainly legs and feet. Its’ advisable to wear clothes you’re not too fond of!!
Out come the jars. We’d had time to preserve 6 largish jars a few days ago but Saturday there were loads more tomatoes so we used the biggest jars we have. The method we use is the one Pep’s mum Elena has taught us. Years ago she would cram the tomatoes into glass bottles as they didn’t have jars then. And instead of preserving them on the hob like she does now, she would use the log oven. The difficult part was getting the tomatoes out of the bottles when she wanted to use them, we’re told a fine stick was used for this purpose. Thankfully we haven’t got to worry about that now.
The jars need to be more or less the same height and you need a tall cooking pot or large saucepan big enough to hold all the jars with not much space left in between them, you don’t want them wobbling around all over the place. The other day I needed 7 jars to fill the pot but we only managed to fill 6 so I just poured water into a spare one and placed it in the pot along with the rest.
First off you’ll need to sterilise your jars. There are a few ways to do this. If you google it you can find different methods, from using the microwave or the dishwasher, the oven or boiling them on the hob. I use the latter way, it’s how I’ve always done it and I’m used to that. But you can do it how you want, as long as it gets the job done, that’s all that matters.
With your jars ready to go it’s time to get a bit messy. We half fill a capazo with water and add a load of tomatoes to get them more or less clean. You’ll need large, ripe tomatoes as they need peeling beforehand. To peel, I find it best to cut a line across the bottom of the tomato to give you a starting point. Then just peel away until all the skin has been removed. Cut the tomato in half then remove the core and any hard, stringy bits. All of this we do over another bucket or capazo.
Squeeze the tomato as much as you can to get rid of the juice and the seeds. Do this also over a “capazo” or a bucket, something that you can put your hands inside, trying to avoid (as much as possible) squirting juice and seeds all over the floor and yourself. We still seem to make a bit of a mess but at least it helps.
Once you’ve got as much juice and seeds out as possible, cut the tomato into a few pieces and place in a big bowl. We repeat all this process until the bowl is more or less full. When full, start filling the jars. There will be more juice in the bowl so every handful will need another quick squeeze before you place them in the jar. We also keep filling the water filled “capazo” with more ripe tomatoes until we have enough to fill all our jars.
The tomatoes need pressing into the jar so they’re tightly packed in. When the jar is as full as we can get it we tap it on the ground a few times (I leave this bit to Pep). This is to compact the tomatoes down as well as releasing any air bubbles. It’s best to use a tea towel or similar to soften the blow, the last thing we want is shattered glass and tomatoes all over the place. We can now fit a bit more tomato in the jar so it’s completely full.
The lids get screwed on as tight as possible (I also leave this bit for Pep to do) and into the kitchen they go, ready to be sealed using the bain-marie method. Place all the jars in the cooking pot so they’re well packed in. A bit of space between the jars won’t matter but you don’t want them to fall over or move around too much. They need to be upright for them to seal properly.
Fill the pot with water till it reaches the top of the jars but don’t cover them. Put the pot on the highest heat you have and bring to the boil. Once boiling you need to leave the heat turned up high for 20-25 minutes. After this time, turn off the heat and leave the jars in the water until the water has completely cooled down, preferably for over 12 hours. We finished boiling them at 3pm and I didn’t take them out of the water until the following morning.
The great thing about bottling tomatoes is there is no need for any extra ingredients, like salt or vinegar. The acid content is enough to preserve them for quite a few months. We still have a few jars left from last year’s harvest and they’re perfectly fine.
You don’t need to use jars this size, smaller jars are also fine and a smaller saucepan. We are only using these ones because of the amount of tomatoes we have at the moment. When the “cosecha” isn’t quite as plentiful we’ll preserve some in small jars too. It’s best to have different sizes depending on what you’re going to be using them for.
Ok, it’s time to say cheerio but I’ll be back soon with more tales from our “huerta”. Hopefully in my next post I won’t mention the word tomato, but I can’t promise anything!! Remember that I have a regular spot on Valley FM, every Saturday between 1pm and 2pm. You can either listen live online here or tune in to 94.5FM or 102.6FM if you live either in the Orba or Jalón valleys. If you missed last Saturday’s show here’s the link if you’d like to listen to it now. My little offering starts around minute 39. Thanks for reading. Any suggestions or questions, please feel free to contact us. See you soon. Love Georgie and Pep xxx
