i can, i can!

What have I been doing for the last 5 hours, you ask? Thanks for asking! I've been spending loads of time making something I can buy for 79 cents at the store. Was it worth it? We'll see.

I recently finished a book (more on the book in a forthcoming post) on living a more provident life, specifically eating non-processed and local (i.e., in-season) foods. The book is very much in favor of the "local farmer," which is cool with me. I lived near farms growing up; I remember picking strawberries across the street from Grandma's house and buying corn from the produce hut on the corner, throwing a couple quarters into the honor-system lockbox. I'm not against local farmers by any means.

It just that eating this way takes time and energy. Growing it yourself? Time and energy. Finding a farm to support and choosing not to buy from the grocery store? Time and energy (and money). Taking your summer abundance and prepping it for winter? Time and energy.

This morning, I got up at 8 am and drove 40 minutes to a farmer's produce stand where I bought 25 pounds of tomatoes for $13.50. For the heck of it, I picked up 22 pounds of apples, plus some other weekly produce staples like corn on the cob, zucchini, bell peppers, and more.

The catch with my box of tomatoes was that they needed to be eaten. Now. Which means today I planned my first adventure in at-home water bath canning. (Thanks to my bud Rebecca for letting me borrow her stuff!)

I planned to use the majority of the tomatoes for spaghetti sauce and the rest for simple diced/crushed tomatoes. I chose to make something I could buy for 79 cents at the store. Although it is (likely) true that my in-season, local tomatoes are more healthy in their diced versions than the sodium- and high-fructose-corn-syrup-loaded varieties from Fred Meyer, but still, it took some serious time and energy to make them. I have yet to decide how I feel about that.

Five hours later, I'm exhausted. Canning is multi-tasking to the max. I talked to lots of friends about it and visited lots of Web sites. After surviving this afternoon, here's a run-down of my how-to:

1. Boil a huge pot of water and make an adjacent ice bath to blanch the tomatoes. You need to remove their skins since cooked tomato skins are tough and non-yummy. I ended up doing this in three rounds, since my largest cutting board is only so big.
   
   
   
2. Remove the core and seeds. After the first third was skinned, I used an apple corer on each tomato, one at a time, then picked up the whole seeping thing and gushed all the seeds out in the sink. (Bless heaven for garbage disposals.) I tore off the core and put everything "crushed" into a separate bowl. (Clearing my cutting board. Whew.)
   
   
3. Try not to freak out by red tomato guts everywhere.
   
   
4. "Sterilize" your glass jars in the dishwasher. I started the load at about this point. Take out everything from the dishwasher, make sure there is no soap, and run a cycle. Leave the jars in there until you're ready to fill them -- they stay warm and germ-free.
   
   
5. Start the spaghetti sauce. I did this on the back burner. I had to drop chunks of un-seeded, chopped tomatoes into the blender to puree them, then measure them out with a measuring cup. I had 5 quarts -- 20 cups of pureed tomatoes. I put them in the biggest pot I had. Note also that I halved the recipe for this sauce!! Insane. It filled my pot. Finally when all the ingredients were in, I went back to more tomato massacring.
   
   
   
6. Get the water bath going for the diced tomatoes. After the third and final round of blanching, seeding, de-gunking, I could can the diced tomatoes (while the spaghetti sauce was still simmering). I made four pint jars' worth.
   
   
7. Get another boiler going to dump in your lids and rings. Even the tops of the jars need to be hot and sterilized. I used a hot pot for this.
   
   
8. Load the jars with tomatoes and add lemon juice and salt. Because of the acidity of the tomatoes, to make them safe you have to add lemon juice when you're water-bath canning. Use a knife to mix it all up and get rid of any air bubbles.
   
   
9. Dry the lids and rings, wipe clean the rim of the pint jars, put them together, and drop the jars in the boiling water. Make sure there is at least one inch of water above the tops of the jars. Set microwave timer for 35 minutes.
   
   
10. Read the newspaper. Chase Wesley. Eat a cheese stick and maybe some cookies. (Notice I didn't clean up. We weren't done yet. The kitchen looked like a literal blood bath.)
    
    
    
11. Squeal at the sound of the microwave timer. Take the diced tomato jars out of the water bath. Don't let the jars clink each other or they'll explode!! (I've totally heard.)
    
    
12. Sterilize your second batch of lids and rings while filling your quart jars with spaghetti sauce. Repeat process from Steps 8 and 9: add lemon juice, wipe rims, seal jars, and dump in water bath. Set microwave timer for 40 minutes (40 minutes for quarts -- more than pints).
    
    
    
13. NOW clean up. Do a whole load of dishes and dispose of a lot of tomato cores and peels and guts. Wipe the splattered tile backsplash. Celebrate cleanliness.
    
    
14. Take out the quarts when the microwave beeps. Remember not to clink (See Step 11).
    
    
15. In 24 hours, check the seals on the jars. You can even remove the rings if you'd like. The seal will stay --and you did it right -- as long as the center doesn't "pop-pop" up and down. You've done it!
    

There you go. Canning for dummies. I get to do it again in a couple weeks with the 22 pounds of apples. I'm thinking: applesauce, pie filling, apple butter? Yum!

In the end, I got 5 quarts of spaghetti sauce and 4 pints of diced tomatoes out of my $13.50. When you add in the cost of about ~$20 for the (reusable) jars, that's um, $3.72 a jar. Or, if we just factor the cost of the produce we're at $1.50. Clearly more than 79 cents, but local, in-season, healthier food. That I canned myself. (Shane made fun of me: "All that for nine cans?" he said.)


If I was a person who lived in a farm or had a crazy garden and did this like every other weekend over the summer, I'd maybe die. Or maybe I'd become a pro and it would be easier. That would be nice.

In the end, my reflection on the experience is that I am simply astounded at the sheer effort it took to get those dang seeds out of the tomatoes. It took forever. I had wrinkly fingers like I had taken a bath for two hours! My apron was soaked! I also half wish I would have saved all the juices and seeds. Maybe I could have sieved them and drank real tomato juice??

So, was it fun? I had fun having a new project. Trying something interesting and different. I am sure I'll do it again, so I guess that means I enjoyed myself.

OK I'm tired. Are any of you expert canners? I'd love to hear about your experiences. Is it worth it? Do you love it? What makes you do it?