Pick your own is unfortunately, not consistently reliable. For example, the BWB time for whole or cut tomatoes in water (quarts) would be 45 minutes, but in tomato juice the time is actually 85 minutes. So I hope you canned the tomatoes in water. Otherwise your tomatoes have not been processed nearly long enough and that's the biggest issue.

Was the water in the canner clear or did it smell of tomatoes and have particles floating in it? If so, some of the liquid siphoned out of the jars, perhaps due to over-packing.

I think a bit more information is needed to provide the most useful assistance.

Carol

Link below is to the approved instructions for canning tomatoes. Pick Your Own is down right now so I can't check their instructions. Did you use the lemon juice called for? Did you hot pack or raw pack?

Agree with Carol that more info is needed.

Dave

Thanks for your response. I did pack the tomatoes in water. The boil water after the bath was clear -- I don't think there was any liquid escaping. There was a small area of calcified something on the side of the canner. That may have come from the dish towel I was using (the canning rack gets here Wednesday).

Those are pint jars. I also canned one quart jar. I'll definitely be using quarts in the future for whole/halved tomatoes -- the pints are just too small to hold enough tomatoes to make it worth it. Or should I really be crushing them in there? I lightly pressed on the tomatoes as I added them but didn't make an effort to pack them down to maximize the number in the jar. I took my inspiration from the cans of San Marzanos I buy -- plenty of tomatoes, not free-floating but not tightly packed either.

Sorry, I didn't see digdirt's additional questions when I posted the follow up. I raw-packed, using boiling water to fill in the spaces. Lemon juice is in there out of an abundance of caution, though I'm quite confident these tomatoes are acidic enough not to need it. Other info: 45 minute boil, jars sanitized by boiling, lids and screws, along with the tools, were sanitized with Star-san in water then moved to hot but not boiling water to soften the lid seals. Skins were removed by blanching and any dark or soft spots were cut out manually with a paring knife.

Then the raw pack will account for some of the change in liquid level as the raw tomatoes absorb some of the liquid while processing. Hot pack works better.

Raw pack also explains the bubbles as it is air that was in the fruit and is now loose in the jar. Another reason why hot pack works better.

Over time the fruit above the liquid will darken. It is still safe but unappetizing so can be tossed after the jar is opened.

In general I think most of us find that either the Crushed Tomatoes with no added liquid instructions work the best. See link below - sorry I forgot it before. The water method really dilutes the flavor. Or if you want them whole or halved then try the Whole or Halved Tomatoes (packed raw without added liquid) instructions but note the long processing time of 85 mins.

Lemon juice isn't optional. :) No tomato is acid enough as they all sit right on the borderline within a few tenths of a point of each other..

For future reference - anything that will be processed for 10 mins. or more doesn't require the use of sterilized/boiled jars.

So it sounds as if you did everything right and I agree that quarts are better than pints unless you use the Crushed Tomatoes instructions. I find pints work well for them.

Enjoy your canned tomatoes!

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Canning Tomatoes

All right then. Thanks for the handholding. Hopefully I can do one more test batch, maybe of crushed, before doing a huge batch right before the season's over.