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| I've got a big pot of Ball Basil-Garlic Tomato Sauce (Blue Book recipe) bubbling on my stove. I used tomatoes that I'd frozen at the beginning of the season and added some that I'd just picked to make a batch and a half. I increased the amount of onions and garlic to match the original recipe proportions. Now I'm worried that measuring the tomatoes before freezing them will lead to a lower thawed weight and thus higher proportion of onions and garlic than would be safe for canning. Here's what I did. What's your opinion? 20 - 30 lb tomatoes (This is where I'm not sure. Single batch calls for 20 lbs. I think I put in 30 lbs) Before you say I should have only made a single batch, I do know that. My biggest concern is whether the thawed tomatoes now weigh less than they should. It was 20 lbs pre freezing, and I added 10 lbs fresh picked. I didn't bother to weigh after thawing because I knew the weight had already changed after I squeezed out the pulp and seeds before freezing. Thanks! |
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| Ok IF I am following your info correctly then Yes I would say you need to add more tomatoes. Correct me if I am wrong but it was 20 lbs whole that you then squeezed out their pulp and seeds and then froze? That would have reduced the weight to approx. 12-15 lbs. thawed. Then you added to that 10 lbs fresh picked that you also squeezed out the pulp and seeds, correct? if so then they would have equaled approx. 6-7 lbs. These estimate of course all depend on the type of tomatoes used. Beefsteaks/slicers loose more weight when squeezed than paste types. Also please note that the recipe does NOT call for all the pulp/seed squeezing you did so by doing that you already skewed the recipe testing. So if not paste tomatoes then you end up with approx. 20 lbs of tomatoes +/- a couple of pounds. That is not enough for such an increase in all the other low acid ingredients. Obviously you now realize that you need to weigh AFTER you do the squeezing and compensate for it if you are going to do it because it is going to be real iffy fixing this.. If it were me I would freeze this sauce. That is the only way to assure total safety. Otherwise I'd add an additional 10 lbs tomatoes, weighed after doing the squeezing, to the sauce or with no squeezing done to them. Granted it might dilute the flavor somewhat but it should be fairly close to the proper pH. The alternative (which you normally would not have to do) is to double the lemon juice in each jar but that still won't insure proper pH and it will have much more of an effect on the end taste then adding more tomatoes will. Bottom line - freeze it, don't can it. Dave |
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| I'm sure it will taste better frozen anyway if you keep it a long time. I made some Tomato-Basil sauce with red wine (not a really cheap wine either) from Small Batch Preserving and after a year the basil got sort of bitter. Had to throw the last jar out - and it sounds like you made a lot more than I did! |
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- Posted by lisaincolumbus none (My Page) on Fri, Oct 11, 13 at 16:19
| I've now picked every ripe tomato in my garden and have added them, plus two store bought cans of diced tomatoes (gasp!) for a total of 8 more pounds. Since I know I had more than 20 pounds to start with, I feel safe in saying that I now have at least 30 pounds of tomatoes in the sauce. I'm short on freezer space and I have lots of shelf space, so canning is better for me now. I'll be doctoring it up when we open it, in order to get the seasonings just right for whatever we're doing with it. So, I'm hoping to avoid bitterness. |
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- Posted by readinglady z8 OR (My Page) on Fri, Oct 11, 13 at 18:39
| I've made that Topp Tomato-Basil sauce several times, but I've learned to cut the basil way back. I've also discovered for us it works best as a seasoning "base" diluted with broth or other plain tomato products. I still really like the stuff, but it does take some tweaking. I read this post before anyone had responded but decided I just couldn't come up with a definitive yes or no given the variables. I confess I was confused. However, with the added tomatoes and the fact that (I'm assuming) it's well-cooked after opening, I doubt there's an issue. Carol |
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| Before freezing, did you weigh the tomatoes before or after removing the pulp, etc.? When you took them out of the freezer, did you put everything from the freezer container into the pot? Or did you, for example, dump out the separated juice? |
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| I really hope someone can give a definitive answer here. I've always thought the recipes that gave tomato weights were the weight that I was to purchase at the market, not the weight after I cored and peeled the tomatoes. |
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| I've always thought the recipes that gave tomato weights were the weight that I was to purchase at the market, not the weight after I cored and peeled the tomatoes. Not always. It varies from recipe to recipe so you have to carefully read the instructions. Your assumption may be true when the instructions say something like "20 lbs. as purchased" or just lists 20 lbs tomatoes in the ingredients list and tells you what to do with them down in the instructions. But some recipe ingredient lists say things like "5 lbs. tomatoes cored, peeled and chopped" rather than "5 lbs. tomatoes, core, peel and chop". See the difference? In this case the recipe states 20 lbs tomatoes in the ingredients list. Then in the instructions it says "Wash tomatoes; drain. Remove core and blossom ends. Cut into quarters and set aside" It doesn't say anything about freezing, thawing, draining, peeling, removing the pulp and seeds, etc. Dave |
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| But some recipe ingredient lists say things like "5 lbs. tomatoes cored, peeled and chopped" rather than "5 lbs. tomatoes, core, peel and chop". See the difference? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ What is the difference ? I have to go back and check with my Freshman English Composition. It has been "cored......" OR you "core ..." ? One is passive , other is active form.(?) If I read any form of those instructions, I would think that you start with 5 lbs tomatoes. In general, it means raw tomatoes that you buy by the pond from store. You never or rarely weight them after chopping etc. Then, IMO, this is not a pure chemistry lab to be so exact to the atomic and molar weight. There should be always some room and flexibility for variation. That is why they often say "ABOUT". Then another thing I cannot comprehend is the significance of 1.5 coups of chopped onion(~one large onion), .5 cup basil in 15 lbs of tomato. What is the effect ? raising the pH ? Lets assume that all those additives added up to equivalent of 16 oz of water. So you diluted (15 x 16 )oz by 16 oz or that is about 7%. a 7% dilution cannot even make a measureable change in pH. i.e. negligible. |
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