Ok, do I REALLY need to? Can I cook the tomatoes with the skinns included, then can them?

This is important as I have a lot of smaller tomatoes-including grape and cherry tomatoes that I was going to throw into the mix-cook a bit and then hot pack and can.

C'mon folks, I really need some good insight. Is there a problem with the skins? I just figured they would add "fiber" to a sauce receipe.

I am under a time schedule to complete everything soon-and to save a lot of my harvest.

Thank you for your advice in advance. Best wishes.

Lawrence

I'm not clear on whether you're talking about canning tomatoes or sauce. Or both. With sauce the skins don't matter because you're straining, puréeing anyway before bottling. For canned tomatoes I personally don't like the shreds of skin and if you're talking about cherry tomatoes, there'd be lots of skin in proportion to pulp and juice. But some people aren't bothered and if you want to include skins, it's up to you.

Another option is to freeze tomatoes until you have time to deal with them. Skins come off thawed frozen tomatoes quite easily.

Carol

Add fiber to the sauce - lol - good one! I guess lots of chewy red twigs could be called fiber.

Below is a link to the same question from last week with more answers to consider. ;)

Dave

The skins will come off in the processing, break into pieces, and roll themselves into, as Dave says, little "red twigs." Teeny little things, like the size of an apple stem, say. I find they are not chewy or tough, but can get caught in one's teeth.

I have canned tomatoes this way and eaten the results and it was fine, but I've decided I much prefer the results without the skins.

The easy solution, as suggested above, is to can SAUCE rather than whole tomatoes; just throw 'em in the pot whole (cut out any bad bits, but you can leave the cores in), and when they're cooked down, run them through a food mill or sieve. The skins, cores, and some seeds will be kept behind and you'll have a lovely sauce.

I do this when I'm in a hurry, when I have a zillion pounds of tomatoes harvested that day, or when a lot of the toms are small and a pain to peel!

THen I can a smaller amount of whole tomatoes or crushed tomatoes, which I peel first, when I have a smaller quantity of larger toms.

That way I've got some of each to use for whatever I need later --- MOST of my canned-tomato needs are for sauce, but I like having some with actual tomatoes on hand.

Hope this helps!

Happy canning. Let us know how it goes.

Zabby

It saves a lot of time and juggling hot tomatoes to leave the skins on. The idea of freezing the tomatoes first sounds simple, but if you are like me and have 50 tomato plants and full freezers that still isn't practical. Basically you can take off the skins or leave them on, it is a matter of how much it matters to you. Yes, the sauce is a little nicer without them, but honestly it doesn't bother us when we eat it.

Marcia

You can can yours with the peel left on, some do, if the peels don't bother you quality-wise. While it isn't recommended due to the effect on texture and the increased bacterial count a good washing and the processing will take care of most of it.

The salt soak wouldn't have any more antibacterial effect than regular washing does but it does add a great deal of sodium to the recipe - something most prefer to not do - even with rinsing as the salt is drawn into the fruit tissues.

Assuming you use a tested and approved salsa recipe then the acidity will compensate. If you use a personal recipe there is no guarantee of safety.

Dave

When you cook the sauce, add additional acd (lemon juice/vinegar), then BWB , that is enough for all intent and purposes.

I would rather soak whole tomatoes in water, with added vinegar to it, if I was going to use them fresh.