I process tomatoes either following the crushed tomato recipe, or the tomatoes packed in water (hot-pack). To me, these end up looking nearly like identical products, but the processing time is SO different.

I know one issue for me is that I use a bunch of different tomato varieties, so I end up quartering (or even Eigth-ing) large tomatoes, and I almost never have a jar with whole smaller fruit, so maybe that's why the end product is so much the same for me. Since this is the case, and I don't really care about how they look (I just use for stews and soups), I end up doing crushed 99% of the time now, because of the shorter processing time.

Just wondering the rationale behind the timing? Is it because whole fruit would be denser? I try to be pretty meticulous about following approved recipes, and every year I have a nagging worry that I might be doing something wrong. I also like to know the "why" behind instructions because I feel more comfortable with the process. :)

So specifically what set of instructions and what time difference are we talking about?

Dave

I guess I'm looking at the No-added liquid recipe, which is 85 minutes! My crushed tomatoes have no added liquid, so is the difference the density of the jars?

Crushed Tomatoes (with no added liquid) is 35 min for pints.

Whole or Halved Tomatoes (packed in water) is 40 min for pints.

Whole or Halved Tomatoes (packed in tomato juice) is 85 min for pints.

Whole or Halved Tomatoes (packed raw without added liquid) is 85 min for pints.

So if you are doing Crushed Tomatoes with no added liquid then the processing time is 35 min for pints.

The rest of the times are for whole or halved tomatoes, not crushed. So yes the density in the jar would be much greater with much bigger solid pieces that the heat wouldn't penetrate as quickly.

But the Crushed Tomatoes instructions are very specific. They actually pulped with a mallet a few at a time, not just chopped in pieces.

Hope this helps.

Dave