Suzie,

Enjoy your tomato heaven. It is a wonderful thing, and you know that we don't get tomato heaven every year, either, unfortunately.

Yes, the leftover salsa is safe to eat if refrigerated. I usually put it in a Ball freezer jar (simply because I have them) and put it in the fridge and we try to eat it within a week, thought I believe it would be good for a couple of weeks in the fridge. And, if you were going out of town or something, you could put it in any freezer container and freeze it, and just thaw it out when you were ready to use it, and keep it in the fridge after that.

I am not sure about the liquid in the jar. Your tomato and other ingredient solids may settle down into the bottom in the next day or two. If that fluid has ever been at the bottom of my jars after making salsa, I've never noticed it, but I think it is fairly normal. I wouldn't worry about it. Because the water content of some tomatoes is higher than others, some batches of salsa will be a little more liquid than others. I never press out the moisture, but I do run all my tomatoes through my Roma tomato strainer using the salsa screen which gives you a nice thick, lumpy sort of puree. If the tomatoes you start out with have a higher water content, your salsa will too. I make salsa with everything from slicers to paste tomatoes and sometimes even including bite-sized tomatoes when there's too many to dehydrate in a timely manner, and they'll have varying amounts of water in them, but their quality and flavor are fine. I usually do scoop out the seeds and gel with my thumbs, or at least most of it, from the tomatoes before I toss them into the Roma strainer. That helps reduce the water content. I always think the salsa is too watery until I add the canned paste and sauce, and then---voila! Suddenly it is just fine.

I just wrote a very long (sort of like a non-academic dissertation, lol) thread on the great tomato year I'm having here. I'm so excited to hear that you're having one as well.

Having mentioned the Roma tomato strainer, which is my most useful kitchen helper ever, I now feel obligated to link it so that tomato newbies will know what I am talking about. It has simplified the processing of tomatoes so much that I wish I'd bought one 20 years ago. It so simplifies the tomato processing that I can and freeze 10 times as many tomato products as I did back when I didn't have it.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Roma Tomato Sauce Strainer/Press

I have an easy way to settle your worries. Just pack those individual jars into a large box with stuffing all around. Seal, add my address and head down to the post office and mail them to me. I'll keep a good watch over them. Shewt. I'll even letcha know if that liquid changes the flavor or not!

:p

bon

Dawn,
Whew!!! You've really eased my mind, because it would have been very hard to dump it after putting all that time and effort into making it, not to mention the waste of those beautiful tomatoes :-). And thank you for the info and link to the Roma strainer. That's definitely going to find a place in my kitchen. As I was making the salsa last night I kept wondering how in the world you were able to process all of the tomatoes and salsa that you make. I had decided that from June until frost you got no sleep whatsoever and were in your kitchen 24/7 slaving over a hot stove. I'm so glad to know that's not the case, lol! You mentioned using cherry tomatoes too, when you use them I assume you leave the skin on? Or maybe that's why the strainer is such a big help, you can leave the skins on and it strains them out? As far as the liquid in the jars, I used a variety of tomatoes and none of them are the Roma type, so that probably accounts for it in part plus I didn't force liquid out. Lesson learned. Larry has already sampled it and really likes it (yay!). The only thing I did differently from the recipe was use Cajun Belle peppers instead of green peppers. Those and the jalape�os came from our garden too. This tomato heaven summer is so welcome after last year's disaster! We're enjoying it while it lasts.

Bon,
I don't think I can get them out of the house past my husband, so I guess we'll just have to suffer through this batch. Sure appreciate your generous offer though, lol!!!

Suzie

Dawn,
I'm posting this here instead of on your tomato thread, hoping you'll find it :-). The Roma strainer came today, and I was going to make salsa tonight but I got a late start after work and then spent a while figuring out how to put it together and use it so the actual "making" will be tomorrow after work. Question - any special tips on using it for making salsa? I did get the optional salsa screen which has larger holes, so hopefully it will be a little chunky and not just juice and puree. I watched the YouTube video but it wasn't all that helpful other than showing the variety of ways it can be used.

Suzie

Suzie,

Sorry I missed your July 3rd post. I was busy making tomato products all week and wasn't on the forum as much so I missed a few things.

If you've watched the video, you see how the skin and seeds come out the side. I put a small plastic bowl there to catch them and a separate bowl to catch the strained tomato puree itself.

I cut the tomatoes down to size so they go down the hopper easily. If you leave them too big and try to force them with the red pusher and they REALLY resist, they'll likely squirt out juice and seeds all over you and the kitchen. Guess how I know that?

Also, after I run the 8 cups of tomatoes through the strainer, I take all 'waste' and run it through a second time and sometimes even a third. You'll be amazed how much you get the second time. That's especially true with the tomato/applesauce screen which has such tiny holes. The salsa screen does give you a nice thicker puree that has small chunks in it whereas the tomato sauce/applesauce screen basically gives you tomato juice.

If you are making salsa from regular slicing type tomatoes instead of paste tomatoes, you may find the finished product is a little more watery than when you use paste tomatoes. That's okay...it still tastes great. However, if you're concerned it is too watery, just cut up your tomatoes to get them ready to run through the machine. (I don't cut up cherry tomatoes but just run them through whole.) Then, using your fingers, scoop out the seeds and the gel and discard them before you measure your 8 cups' worth for the recipe. I have a glass mixing bowl (I think it is Anchor-Hocking) with a white plastic or rubber lid and it holds 8 cups. It reminds me of a gigantic measuring cup because it has markings on it for cups, etc. So, I stand there and slice the tomatoes and then remove the seeds and gel and toss the cut pieces into the mixing bowl. When it is full, I have my 8 cups as called for in the recipe. The next thing I do is pour off any liquid that has accumulated in the bottom of the bowl, and then run the tomatoes through the machine. Sometimes the sauce is a little thicker or thinner depending on whether I used paste tomatoes or regular ones. Often I use a mix of different types of tomatoes...just whatever is ripe and needs to be used while it still is at the peak of perfection.

I hope you enjoy your tomato strainer. Before I bought mine, I thought a big salsa year was 30 or 40 jars. Now? We established two years ago that 85 jars was not enough (we give away a lot to friends and family), so this year so far I have made 120, and I suspect I am not quite finished yet. Some friends gave us about 5 gallons of peaches today, so I think tomorrow I'll make peach-tomato salsa.

One thing about the strainer that I do when making multiple batches in one day is I run all the tomatoes through the strainer in 8-cup batches, and put the puree in gallon ziplock bags in the fridge. Then, I go back and cut up all the peppers for the batches and add them to the bags, then the onions,etc. Once all the cutting and prep work is done, it is easy to make batch after batch in a relatively compact time. Sometimes I do all the prep work for multiple batches in the evening and refrigerate them, and then get up and make salsa first thing in the morning while it is cool. Or, I do the prep work early in the day, then wait until evening, after the sun is going down and it is cooling off, to make the salsa. I try to arrange it to where I'm not canning during the worst heat of the day. The most salsa batches I've made in one day is probably 5 or 6. Yesterday I did 4 batches. I thought I was done with salsa, and then Tim said "Hey, do you want some peaches....." lol. That's the story of my life. Every time I think I am done and am caught up and can catch my breath, something pops up that must be canned. Really, though, who could refuse an offer of fresh peaches????

Dawn

My Roma simplified my salsa making too. Al puts it together and gets the tomatoes ready for me. I should have bought that gadget a long time ago.

I said if I got enough tomatoes to make a couple dozen jars of salsa that I would be happy. I think I have made 25 jars, plus lots of fresh salsa, and BLTs, and given friends 'salsa kits'. I probably have enough tomatoes in my kitchen for 25 or 30 more jars of tomato 'something' and still have a few left in the garden.

I guess I gave away too many jalapenos to friends or used too many myself because I ran out and had to go buy some today.

Since I had put quite a lot of food into the freezer I didn't think I would be canning very much this year, but I have already canned 6 dozen jars. I haven't made any jelly or jam and will probably get apples from my son in the Fall, so I know there will be more.

Once I get past the tomatoes, I don't worry about the rest too much.

Suzie, just for kicks, let us know how the new Roma works, and especially what you did with the spring. LOL Mine is still in the box.

Thanks, Dawn, that helps a LOT! Now I have a better idea of how to prepare and what to expect. I have an old (it was my grandmother's) glass 8-cup measuring cup/bowl that I used for the first batch, it's the perfect size. Because I'll sometimes be doing this in the evenings after work I especially like the idea of prepping everything and storing it in a zip-lock bag for the next day. Some evenings by the time we eat and I check the garden it's getting on into the evening. The tomatoes I have now are different slicing varieties but a friend is giving me some and I don't know how many or if any might be paste tomatoes. Hopefully some are and I can mix them in with the slicing varieties.

Carol, our tomatoes are going to outlast our jalapenos too I think, so after a couple more batches I'll probably be buying jalapenos. Also the Cajun Belles that made a nice addition to the first batch have stalled, so there won't be any more of those unless they pull out of it.

If anyone else out there is considering buying the Roma strainer, the link that Dawn posted is directly to Weston and right now they are offering a great special - a 4 piece accessory screen set for salsa, pumpkin, grapes, and berries is included at no charge, and there is also an additional $5 or $10 off, I forget which. I checked their price against Amazon and Weston's price is better if you want the accessory set. Shipping is free, and it arrived in less than a week, and that was a week with a holiday, so they're speedy.

Suzie

Carol, Until you mentioned the spring one day, I forgot I had one. I went and looked and found it in the plastic storage box that holds my canning equipment. Since I don't use it and don't have any issues, I consider it non-essential.

Suzie, I bought mine from Weston too, and basically got the same deal, either 3 or 4 years ago. I've never found it priced for less with the inclusion of the accessory pack of the other screens and the grape spiral. This year, as Chris watched me hand-cranking it day after day after day, he said "you need one with a motor that would turn the handle for you". I laughed and told him I didn't really need that, but that they do make one (and I'd never spend that kind of money for it either!).

I love my 8-cup bowl. It simplifies so much. When it is full, I'm good to go.

If you two ladies would seriously overplant jalapenos like I do, you wouldn't run out. lol This week, I found 12 jalapeno pepper plants hidden in other planting beds away from the main pepper bed, and I had forgotten they were there. To make it clear, I knew that pepper plants were in that bed, but thought they were all sweet pepper plants, and I hadn't checked them for mature fruit because they are slower than jalapenos. When I saw a golden bell pepper and went to pick it, I found a huge number of jalapenos on the forgotten/misplaced plants. Most were red or corking or red and corking. I roasted them in the oven and froze them for winter-time jalapeno poppers and other cooking. Had I had red sweet bell peppers that day, I would have made red jalapeno jelly. Now I have red sweet bells but don't have any red jalapenos in the garden, unless some have turned red since Monday evening. Sometimes it is hard to get the veggies for canning to be ripe and ready at the same time.

Since our friends gave us about 5 gallons of peaches last night, today and tomorrow are going to be all about making peach jelly, spiced peach butter and tomato-peach salsa. I haven't even started yet because I've been away from home running errands, including restocking the fire station with Gatorade. I guess I'll do the prep work now, and the cooking and canning part tonight when it is cooler.

Suzie, Peppers are one of the few vegetables that you can really 'push' along with extra fertilizer when they stall. Part of the problem usually is heat and drought, but I've noticed that if I feed them, they really respond with new growth and fruit set. Any fertilizer is fine, but in mid-summer I sometimes will use a fairly fast-acting synthetic water-soluable fertilizer like Miracle Grow for Tomatoes to push the peppers hard to produce.) I haven't done this yet myself this summer but think for sure that the sweet peppers would benefit from it and so would the dedicated pepper bed that has jalapenos and habaneros. I like to garden as organically as possible, but will resort to a little Miracle Grow at times when the conditions dictate it. Peppers respond so well to fertilizer that you can almost overfeed them with no regrets.

Dawn

This is a great thread! I did my first canning ever, last week. Annie's Salsa. It turned out great! I had an extra pint too. I canned some plain tomatos also.

Since I started gardening for the hobby of it, I didnt really know how to put my harvest to good use. Now I am focusing on learning to use and store my harvest. I love canning and want to learn more, but it took so long to process the toms.

Once again yall are talking about just what my issue is and so this morning I ordered my Weston Roma Sauce Maker & Food Strainer. I cant wait for it to come!

Tracey,

I am so glad you have taken up canning.

For too many years, I gave away as much as 90% of my tomato harvest because I didn't enjoy the canning process as much as I do now. Having the Roma tomato strainer has helped me become much more efficient and it has made canning more enjoyable. In the past, by the time I finished dipping the tomatoes in water to make them easy to peel, I was getting bored with the whole mess before I even reached the point of having a batch of salsa ready to can. For me, buying it really was a life-altering event. I just cannot believe how much I can now.

Another thing that will hook you on canning is Mrs. Wage's Mixes. Sometimes you will find some of them in stores (especially if you look for them before tomatoes and cucumbers begin to ripen) but I ordered my last batch directly from the website, and I'll link it below. With them, I have made an astonishing amount of ketchup, pasta sauce, pizza sauce and chili base, and more than a few pickles as well. (We love their new Spicy Pickle mix.) In past years, I spent a lot of time chopping up all sorts of ingredients to make similar tomato products and it took me so much longer than using a Mrs. Wage's mix. The Mrs. Wage's Mix products taste yummy too. I'm already wishing I'd made more of the pasta sauce and think I might make more later on in the summer, using some of the 100+ lbs. of whole tomatoes I have in the deep freeze.

I always prefer to eat the veggies fresh from the garden, but there's no way our small family can eat everything the garden produces in a timely manner. Hence, we preserve a lot. You don't realize how much food you're putting up until you're walking through a grocery store and find yourself mostly skipping the produce section because there's not much there that you want since you have it either fresh in your kitchen or refrigerator, or stored in your freeze, pantry, root cellar (tornado shelter), etc.

I started canning simple items in small amounts many years ago, just making a few jars of jelly and a few jars of salsa. Maybe a batch of pickles every summer. The more I made, the more I wanted to make. Canning can be addictive.

I don't know that Tim ever cared one way or another if I canned anything. He was perfectly happy if I did or if I didn't. Now that he is used to always having our own canned jelly and tomato products, I know he'd miss it if I stopped canning.

Much of our Christmas shopping for the folks who work for him or with him, our fellow members of the VFD and our family and friends is easy because all we do is buy gift bags and tissue paper and fill them with jars of canned goodies. I don't think we spend any less on Christmas than we would if we didn't can, but I think we give better gifts for the amount of money we do spend. Around Thanksgiving, my extended family members start dropping obvious hints like "will you make me a case of Apple Pie Jam if I buy you a case of jars?" or they just say "I sure am looking forward to my Christmas Salsa." or something similar. All the hard work of spring, summer and autumn pay off in December when I am doing my Christmas shopping in my pantry!

I love to grow things--anything and everything--but it certainly is more cost-effective when I am preserving enough food to justify all the money spent on the garden.

Dawn

Oops. Here it is....

When I ordered, I expected a long wait since it is peak canning season in much of the country. Instead, the mixes I ordered arrived within a week.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mrs. Wage's Mixes

Okay, we put the Roma through its first run tonight and it gets an A! It was definitely much better than dumping the tomatoes first in boiling water, then cold water, then peeling them. Larry put it together (he did use the spring) and he pushed them through while I turned the handle. I think having an extra set of hands was a big help. We did put the waste back through a couple of times and it was worth it, because there was nothing left but skins after doing that. One of the nice extra bonuses was a quart and a half of yummy fresh tomato juice because I strained the pulp as much as I could so the salsa wouldn't be as watery as the first batch. And it wasn't.

Tracey, I think you'll be really happy with yours too. Like you, I started gardening for the hobby, or enjoyment of it, and also for the love of home-grown tomatoes, and now I'm looking more closely at how I can make the most of it and preserve the harvest. Until last week the only true canning I had done was help my mother make pickles and make some of my own a long time ago. When I made the salsa last week I had to keep the Ball book right there in front of me every step of the way because I'd forgotten everything about how to do it. And it's a lot of work, even with the Roma, but it's so worth it. Everyone who has tasted the Annie's salsa just loves it!! So now I'm motivated to make more.

Dawn, I'll fertilize the peppers and see if that will bring them out of it. What a nice surprise for you to find jalapenos that you didn't even know you had! All those peaches sound just wonderful, and the tomato-peach salsa must be delicious! I'm going to try to get a few fall tomatoes planted in the next few days, if I can find some. I know the OSU guide recommends doing it between July 1st and 15th, and that window is about to close. I need to find a good chow-chow recipe that's made with green tomatoes. That's how my grandmother made it and hers was the best! Unfortunately I don't have her recipe. I just saw those Mrs. Wages mixes at Atwoods last weekend and now I wished I'd got some. Thank you again for all your advice and suggestions, you'll never know how much it's helped!!

Suzie

Ive been watching for some of Mrs Wages mixes for the last week or so, but I have only found Dill Pickle. I will get in gear tomorrow and see if I can find any before I order online. I know my gang would love the ketchup and pizza sauce. I also plan on doing BBQ sauce and pasta sauce. It took me a week to find my boiling water canner, so I know what you mean about it being peak canning season.

Suzie, I am not sure which part of the state you are in, but I was at TLC over the weekend and they had a better selection of tomatos than I expected. I was very happy with the 6 plants I got for less than $5. I might go back tomorrow and get a couple more...seems like I might need some cherry toms. Not normally a favorite of mine, but I am hearing about dehydrating them.....yummmmm

Tracey

Suzie,

I can just picture you and Larry in the kitchen making salsa. I agree that an extra pair of hands helps. Having used the Roma, I bet you'll never go back to the old boiling water/cold water method of peeling tomatoes again. I know I won't.

If you ever want to make the peach-tomato salsa, just tell me and I'll link the recipe from the Harvest Forum or you can go there and use the search box and find it. It is called Annie's Salsa with a Peach Twist, I think, and you basically substitute a quart of peaches for one of the two quarts of tomatoes in the original recipe. I think the person who devised the 'twist' also eliminated the cilantro and doubled the cumin. You could do that or could use the original spice amounts from the Annie's Salsa recipe.

Tonight I peeled about a billion little peaches about the size of a walnut, and a few big ones, and made 11 jars of peach butter. I hadn't made it in a couple of years and was worried I wouldn't remember when it was the right thickness and texture to jar up, but I did. I have the prep work done, except for the peaches, to make two batches of tomato-peach salsa in the morning, and also did the prep work this evening for six batches of Habanero Gold. That's a lot of dicing ingredients into 1/8" pieces and I am glad it is done.

First thing in the morning, I have to pick tomatoes (isn't that awful---I just cannot get ahead of them and stay ahead, but I'm down to only one bowl and a half inside right now) and then I'll be canning by 10 a.m.

I cannot guarantee that fertilizing will bring the peppers out of their mid-summer slump, but it likely will. Usually I get pretty steady hot pepper production all summer long, but the sweet peppers get in a snit every time we get a little bit too hot and then they just sit there and sulk until we have a nice cool spell. Still, if you just keep them moist enough and well-fed enough to stay happy, they'll produce like gangbusters in the fall.

I almost always plant fall tomatoes later than I should because (and I know I don't need to tell you this) I get bogged down in canning, dehydrating and freezing the current harvest and don't have time to be out in the garden, except to harvest. Tim and I were down in the D-FW metroplex earlier this week and stopped by one of my favorite nurseries there. It had a huge supply of big, healthy fall tomato plants for a great price. I looked at them and thought about buying some and discussed buying some and I just decided I didn't want to. I don't feel like we're getting enough rain here to get fall plantings off to a good start, and I am not going to run up a big water bill trying. It needs to rain some more before I get in a fall planting mood. I also don't care for the heat so it is definitely more fun to be inside canning than outside clearing out a row of old, tired tomato plants just so I can't put in new ones. Clearly I have a bad attitude about this summer weather, and I don't see things improving anytime soon.

When I see the Mrs. Wage's Mixes in the stores in April or May, I always think that I'll get some "later" when the harvest is near, and then a lot of them sell out before I do. This year I did manage to find the pizza, pasta and ketchup ones at Wal-Mart, but didn't buy enough so I ordered more. The other day I saw some of the Pasta ones at TSC and really wanted to buy them, but I've already made tons of pasta sauce and we really didn't need any more. The only one I've never used is the salsa one because I know there is nothing that can even come close to Annie's Salsa.

I never intended to do the kind of food preservation that I do now, but once you start, it is very addictive, and that's especially true when you realize how much better your home-canned stuff tastes. I also like that when we can our own food, we aren't adding a lot of the artificial flavorings, colorings, preservatives, etc. that you often find in store-bought food.

The best place to start when looking for canning recipes is the National Center for Home Food Preservation. If you don't find a chow chow recipe there that you like, you might try freshpreserving.com. Both feature safety-tested and approved recipes. There's about as many recipes out there for chow chow as there are southern cooks. The problem with lots of them is that we don't know if they're safety tested and approved. If you don't find one, let me know and I'll look in my canning cookbooks.

Dawn

Tracey, thanks for the heads-up on tomato plants at TLC. I live in SW Logan County north of Edmond and I might be able to run by after work today. I even have 1 or 2 TLC gift cards left. (And FYI if anyone in the OKC metro area is looking for a good fundraiser for your childrens' school or an organiztion, check out TLC's gift cards. They are the best fundraiser ever because for the purchaser, you spend $20 and you receive a $20 gift card to purchase items at TLC, versus buying expensive albeit nice wrapping paper or frozen cookie dough. And you can purchase them for yourself or as gifts for friends and family.)

Dawn, if I find some good peaches I'll ask you for that recipe. You can't go wrong adding peaches or apricots to anything! I have a wonderful recipe for Upside-Down Apple Pie and last year made it with peaches instead and it was even better!

Suzie

Tracey,

Lately I've been dehydrating paste tomatoes (mostly Heidi and San Marzano Redorta but also some Schiavonne's Italian Paste) that have been marinated in merlot wine and sprinkled with Italian herbs and sea salt before being put into the oven to dehydrate. Oh wow! It makes me want to plant fewer cherry types for dehydrating next year and more paste types. I rarely drink and when I do, I'd rather drink a frozen margarita than a glass of wine, but I love these wine-marinated sun dried tomatoes. I've been drying them every day for about a week now.

Suzie, Our existing peach tree was on its last legs and we already had planted two trees this spring to replace it, but it didn't make a lot of fruit this year and I let the squirrels have them because I was extremely overwhelmed with too many plums and too many tomatoes at the same time. I expected I wouldn't have any home-grown peaches this year, but figured eventually I might go buy some at a Farmer's Market. When our friends offered us some of the peaches from their trees this week, I almost said no because I'm still bogged down in the daily battle to use up or preserve all the tomatoes. Then I changed my mind and said yes and am glad I did. It doesn't feel like summer if you aren't eating juicy peaches. Now that I've had some fresh peaches (I won't even say how many I ate yesterday while I was peeling thme), I know it really is summer time.

Dawn

We never thought our garden will produce so much tomatoes until this year and was bit skeptical to order the Roma Food Strainer, but not wanted to wait for few years to regret I would have order 20 years ago LOL... so just ordered from the Dawn's link above with free accessorizes and free shipping for $54. Seems like a worth the money. -Chandra

Well, Ive been all over the west side of Edmond looking for Mrs Wages tomato spices. HD, TSC, TLC (found two cherry toms plants tho), Ace, DG and finally Crest. Crest had the pasta and salsa mixes. I was really hoping to get some ketchup and pizza, but now I have something to start with. Maybe I will make it back to Walmart to see if they have restocked.

Chandra, Im with you! Better to follow the advice of someone who has been there! This sounds like a case of "Work Smarter, not Harder"

Tracey

Chandra, I bought my Roma at the end of the tomato season year before last. Last year I didn't need it, so it sat in a closet for almost 2 years before I took it out of the box. It is amazing how little tomato waste you have when you finish. I guess I should say, 'how much waste Al has' because I still haven't used it. LOL

Chandra, since you're having a great tomato year too, I think you will get a lot of use out of the Roma. I agree with Carol, the small amount of waste is amazing. I followed Dawn's suggestion and ran it back through a couple of times and there was literally nothing left but skins.

Dawn, we have a dwarf peach tree but every single peach on it this year was wormy. I think I'll check out the farmers markets this weekend though. Now those wine marinated dried tomatoes sound really good, and that I can do! I'll need to use Black Cherries but those are a little large for cherries so they should work okay I think. I have a bowl of them sitting on the counter and almost can't walk by without popping one in my mouth.

Suzie

Chandra, I do not believe you'll regret it. I love my Roma strainer. I don't have an exact count, but I know that I've processed at least 200 containers (mostly pint jars, but a few quart jars) of canned tomato products and another 4 dozen or so of freezer jars. Without the Roma strainer, I never would have attempted that much in one summer. I'm not done yet, either, as I am making tomato-peach salsa right now.

Tracey, I got tired of waiting for the stores to restock and ordered online directly from Mrs. Wage's. I was impressed when the mixes arrived in about a week even though their website warned that during the busy season it could take much longer. Since I ordered, I haven't seen anything in Wal-Mart except the Salsa mix, although I have seen the Pizza Sauce mix in Denton (after I wasn't looking for it anymore) and I saw the Pasta Mix at TSC in Gainesville this week, after I no longer needed it. There are tons of people here who can and the mixes may be easier to find up there if you don't have a lot of canners frequenting the stores where you shop.

Here in southcentral OK, everyone is having a great tomato year, so the stores sold out of everything when the big harvest hit. I was fine as far as jars and lids and all that goes, but I needed more (and more and more and more) Mrs. Wage's mixes.

Next year I am going to stock up on them the first week I see them in the store....and then I'll probably have a total tomato crop failure.

Carol, I bet when Al retired, he never envisioned himself operating a tomato strainer. It may be so much fun that it causes him to unretire. : )

Dawn

Dawn, Funny you should mention that..because there always seems to be an offer in the wind.....

Suzie, For some people, the worms in the fruit are a problem every year unless they spray at the right time in spring. We've never had them here at our house, but I suspect that we've just been lucky and they'll find us sooner or later.

I dry some Black Cherries and it does intensify their flavor. I don't dry a lot of them because somehow every time I pick up one from the bowl so I can slice it in half, it somehow jumps right into my mouth and is devoured. It is funny how that happens. I bet they'd be great marinated in wine, but I'd have to plant more BC plants than we have now because I am not willing to give up eating them fresh now in order to have them dried later.

Based on all the food preservation I've been doing this year, I am going to make huge changes to my grow list for next year. I grow too many slicers and beefsteaks every year. While I do process the ones we cannot each fresh, they are too watery for many applications unless I'm willing to spend a lot of time draining off the excess moisture that's in them. It would be smarter to grow less of them and more paste types. I also will cut back on the bite-sized tomatoes. I grew tons of them this year so I could trial a bunch of container types, but they are very labor intensive both in the picking and canning/food prep stages, so I think I'll make a change in how many of them I plant too.

Carol, Well, I am not surprised. I would expect someone as talented and smart as Al to be in demand.

Most of the people I know here who have retired have discovered they'd rather work at something anyway---where it is a paying job, community service work, etc. Some of my friends who didn't have time to garden before they retired have discovered they love gardening now that they have time to do it.

Dawn

Thank you all for solving all of my past issues with canning.I have just placed my very first online order and looking forward to saving some time during canning. Oh by the way I am Kim and have been lurking in this forum for months. You all are such an inspiration to keep moving and doing.
Hope to be making salsa soon too.
Always luvncannin!

Hi Kim,

Welcome to the forum. I hope y'all are getting rain there. We aren't getting enough here, but it sure is better than last year.

I'm glad you decided to stop lurking and to talk to us so we'd know you were there. Now, don't be a stranger and keep talking with us, OK?

I think I may be thru making salsa for this year, but then you never know. Sometimes I just wake up one morning with the urge to can something, and often that something is salsa.

You won't believe how much more fun canning is after the Roma strainer takes all the drudgery out of the tomato prep. I wish I'd bought one 20 years earlier than I did, but better late than never.

Dawn

Thanks Dawn.
We did get enough rain to wash the dust off the leaves, then it moved on.
I will be making salsa as soon as my Roma strainer comes in and I can get to market and get tomatoes. my plants have just now started looking good and of course its too hot, but I have beautiful onions and peppers.
Happy salsa making!

Hi, Kim. Welcome to the forum. If you've been lurking for a while then you've probably already figured out this is one of the nicest, most knowledgeable, and most helpful groups you'll ever find online. This is always my go-to place for gardening information, and much more too. I'm turning into a salsa making fool this summer, thanks to this wonderful crop of tomatoes. I've made 2 batches and have 2 bags of tomatoes cut up and ready for the Roma in the refrigerator now for the next 2 batches, and a bucketful of tomatoes on the table for batch #5. I've starting feeling a little selfish because instead of giving tomatoes away like I had been doing, I'm hoarding them all for more salsa, lol! But the goal is to have enough salsa to give away, so I guess it evens out in the long run. My husband asked if I'm going to make anything other than salsa with them, so I'm thinking about some tomato preserves or something along those lines. There's a recipe for tomato preserves in the Ball book that looks interesting. And of course if the production holds up (fingers and toes are all crossed) there are always all those great things you can do with green tomatoes!

Let us know how your Roma works for you.

Suzie