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Bumpity bump!

So I goggle home canned tomato soup and guess what comes up? looks very familiar....LOL.

My partner has been using Campbell's tomato soup as some sort of 'comfort' food that he eats when he gets sick. He does realize that the cans leech poisons so we recently tried the Trader Joe's version, which comes in aseptically packaged 1 quart containers (similar to soy milk and almond milk containers). Problem is, TJs version has milk as the #1 ingredient, which he dislikes. Campbell's #2 ingredient is high fructose corn syrup by the way (which I dislike).

We hope to grow enough tomatoes this year to be able to can our own tomato soup. Hopefully we can get a version that we both like. He does like my gazpacho, which has no sugar or even carrots, so he said he can live without the sugar. I think I would use a little depending on what the tomatoes are like? Using carrots sounds really good too.

I have a couple of questions. Lots of time to get answers too, our tomatoes are just now sprouting. Well I have cherry tomatoes out in the garden, but not enough for soup.

1. I live above 1,000 feet (below 2,000). I can adjust for this two ways, I can increase the pressure, or I can increase the time. Those of you that have pressure canning experience, which of the two is better? any difference in the final product? Would a higher pressure make siphoning more likely?

2. Annie's recipe describes using a little bit of oil for the roasting. I thought oil in any canning was a no no. Is it that just a little is OK, but above a certain percentage oil/fat threshold is a no no?

I am thinking about the possibility of combining elements from both recipes, but I would not throw onions like this without sauteing or roasting. Sauteing is a no no, but I would guess that I could roast the vegetables, or some of the vegetables, is that right? Even before reading these recipes I was considering roasting or grilling some whole onions for this, but was unsure if any oil at all is safe. I am so glad I found this thread.

3. I have used several methods to make soups 'creamy' without cream. For gazpacho, dried bread is soaked in water and blended in. This might not sound very good, but it works (it is the traditional way to make gazpacho too). I have also used a little mashed potato, or a few mashed white beans, or some blended silken tofu. Not sure I will use any of these, depending on what the tomatoes are like, I might not need to add anything at all. However, was I to decide to make it thicker or creamier, any of the ingredients mentioned above (bread, tofu, potato or white beans) are unsafe to can with the tomato? I would of course mill the ingredients, or blenderize them so we have an even density distribution before the pressure canning.

I think having our own garden-grown tomato soup will be wonderful, and a great use for the pressure canner! thanks to all of you who shared recipes for it!

Above is the link for the original thread I was referring to. The site does not let me provide the link on the link box.

Katie's Roasted Tomato Garlic Soup Recipe is tested and approved as posted (that was Katie's job) and yes the small amount of oil is fine as most of it remains on the roasting sheet and on the skins which most remove for a smoother end product. Approved also is the one from the BBB that Linda Lou posted in that thread. But that is about it for tomato soup FAIK.

As you likely know you can't take a cooking recipe and convert it to a canning recipe and you can't safely combine recipes because you change the pH and the density. But you can follow either of the posted recipes to the letter and safely process them.

I can adjust for this two ways, I can increase the pressure, or I can increase the time. Those of you that have pressure canning experience, which of the two is better? any difference in the final product? Would a higher pressure make siphoning more likely?

Katie gives the processing instructions for your altitude ( 11 lbs. for up to 2000 feet) in her recipe so I'm not sure I understand that part of your question? "Adjusting" isn't needed when using approved recipes as all altitudes are covered. But should some sort of adjusting be needed under unusual circumstances it is always done in the pressure, not the time as pressure can be regulated, time is just a guess.

Higher pressure does not cause increased siphoning. It is inconsistent pressures during the processing that cause siphoning.

Part 3 of your question would be at preparation time of course and not part of the recipe prior to processing as none of those items could be added prior to processing. They are thickeners.

If neither of those recipes appeal to you as is then unless someone finds another approved recipe in another source, your best and safest option is to can one of the approved flavored tomato sauces and use it to make your soup as you wish at serving time.

Hope I have understood your questions correctly and that this helps.

Dave

From Linda Lou

Spiced Tomato Soup:
Cooking Directions:
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4 quarts chopped peeled cored tomatoes
3 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 1/2 cups chopped celery
2 cups chopped sweet red peppers
1 cup sliced carrots
7 bay leaves
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1 garlic clove
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt

Prepare Ball brand or Kerr brand jars and closures according to
manufacturer's instructions.

Combine tomatoes, onions, celery, peppers, carrots, bay leaves, cloves and
garlic in a large saucepot. Simmer until soft. Press through a sieve or
food mill. Add sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat 15 minutes.

Carefully ladle hot soup into hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Wipe
jar rim clean. Place lid on jar with sealing compound next to glass.
Screw band down evenly and firmly just until a point of resistance is met
-- fingertip tight.

Process pints 20 minutes at 10 pounds pressure in a steam-pressure canner.
For elevations higher than 1,000 feet, increase pressure accordingly
following cooker manufacturer's recommendation.

This recipe yields about 4 pints.

I would taste it before I added the full amount of sugar in case you don't like it that sweet.

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From Annie1992

Here is my favorite, from KatieC:

Roasted Tomato Garlic Soup

Recipe By :Katie
12 tomatoes -- *see Note
2 carrots -- cut in 1" pieces
1 large onion -- quartered
2 whole heads garlic -- peeled (or more, to taste)
olive oil
2 cups chicken broth -- (or 3)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil -- (or 1 Tbsp. dried)
cream -- to taste

Core tomatoes and cut in half. Place, cut side up, on foil covered cookie sheet with carrots, onion and garlic. Brush with olive oil. Bake at 400F for about an hour, or until vegies are roasted and a little blackened. Place in a large saucepan with the chicken broth and basil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Blend with a stick blender (or in small batches in a blender) until almost smooth. Add cream to taste. To can: Process in a pressure canner, pints for 60 min. and quarts for 70 min.For dial gauge canners use 11 pounds pressure at 0-2000 ft., 12 lbs. at 2001-4000 ft., 13 lbs. at 4001-6000 ft. and 14 lbs. above 6000 ft. For weighted gauge canners use 10 lbs. pressure at 0-1000 ft., and 15 lbs. over 1000 ft. *Note: These measurements are approximate...I use whatever it takes to cover the cookie sheet. This makes 1 1/2 to 2 quarts of soup.

I didn't have a stick blender so I just put the veggies through my Foley food mill after roasting them. It worked great.

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Process pints 20 minutes at 10 pounds pressure

Nine cups of low acid vegetables in only four quarts of tomatoes with no acid!!! Gasp! Is this an "approved" recipe?

TomNJ

If the recipe had called for water bath canning then no, the recipe would not be considered safe.

Hope that helps,
Brendasue

Sorry, but not precisely true. ;)

Just as with density, acidity and/or pH is still quite relevant even with pressure canning. Not only because pH is an additional safety factor in cases of improper processing - such as gauges that aren't regularly tested/recalibrated or inaccurate timing or improper venting or cool down practices - but because pH does not remain stable during shelf storage.

Dave

For the Spiced Tomato Soup, can I substitute 1 tablespoon dried basil for the cloves? I don't want to add that much sugar (1 cup), so what is the least amount of sugar I need to use for safety? Does the recipe even need sugar for safe canning? Thanks.

Susan

We were wondering too if we could make variations of this recipe. I have quite a bit of basil I could dry. I was also remembering in the old thread someone indicated it was OK to omit the peppers and carrots. This would help, as the peppers are ripening and the carrots still growing.

You can always safely trade dried herbs (not fresh). So yes you can sub DRIED basil (not fresh) for the cloves but I think 1 T is going to be too much. Basil often turns bitter during shelf storage and can ruin a whole jar of the soup. Go easy on it and then add more at serving time if needed.

Yes you can leave out the garlic or the carrots or the peppers since all are low acid ingredients but it is going to substantially change the flavor because of the proportions of the rest of the ingredients.

But leaving them out doesn't automatically mean you can just replace them with more cups of tomatoes IMO. Even though the tomatoes would be more acidic I think doing that would change the density too much.

Dave

Any reason not to can quarts of tomato sauce and to each pint add 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp chile powder, a crumble of dried basil, salt and pepper to taste (plus the citric acid, of course)? Call it tomato soup concentrate (or "Joanna's Quick Bisque") and add cream and chicken stock when you open it to finish the soup.

The next batch of tomatoes that could be used for the soup will be the green when ripe ones (a mix of Aunt Ruby german green, Dorothy green and evergreen). I will give DH the choice of the tomato-garlic with the long canning pressure times, substituting vegetable broth; or a version similar to what we made but omitting the carrots, red peppers and cloves, and using dried basil. We might use green peppers (not red) or leave them out, we'll see. I will post again when we make it, assuming we get more of the delicious green-when-ripe tomatoes.