Canned Diced Tomatoes
Home canning diced tomatoes is an easy way to preserve fresh garden tomatoes in the summer for adding to so many recipes during the rest of the year.
Equipment
- 1 water bath canner, with rack and lid
- canning jars-pints or quarts
- lids and rings for jars
- 1 Stove
- 1 Jar lifter
- 1 nonmetallic air removal tool
- 1 Ladle
- 1 funnel
- 1 paring knife
- 1 measuring spoon set
- 1 dutch oven
- 2 large mixing bowls
Ingredients
- fresh garden tomatoes
- canning salt
- bottled lemon juice OR citric acid
Instructions
- Add water to water bath canner and add canning jars to sterilize.
- Remove sterilized canning jars from canner and set on a clean towel...turn off the canner.
- Fill a Dutch oven with water and add to stove to bring to a boil.
- Wash fresh garden tomatoes with cold water.
- Add clean tomatoes to boiling water and boil for about 3 minutes until skins break.
- Add ice with water to a large bowl.
- Remove tomatoes from Dutch oven and add to the ice bath for about 3 minutes to cool.
- Remove peelings and cores of tomatoes and add to a large mixing bowl.
- Holding the tomato over another bowl, cut the tomato into pieces to be added to your jar, catching the juice in the bowl to be used to pack with tomatoes into each jar.
- NOTE: I set my bowl in the sink by the counter where I will fill my jars to help with any spills as I fill each jar.
- Add a funnel to a canning jar and using a ladle, add tomatoes and juice to each jar leaving about 1/2-1" headspace.
- Add 1 T bottled lemon juice OR 1/4 t of citric acid to each pint; 2 T bottled lemon juice OR 1/2 t of citric acid to each quart.
- Add 1/2 t canning salt to each pint OR 1 t canning salt to each quart.
- Remove air bubbles with a non metallic tool or flexible spatula by running it down the sides and through the center of each jar.
- Using a clean damp cloth, wipe the top and sides of each jar to remove any tomato residue.
- Add the lids to the top of the jars and the rings to finger tight.
- Use the jar lifter to add the jars to the water bath canner, making sure that when all are added that the water covers them by 1-2" of water.
- Since your sterilized jars have cooled down during filling, I begin with the warm water from earlier when jars were sterilized, and THEN turn the burner back on so that the contents of the jars and the water heat at the same time, reducing the chance of breakage.
- Cover the canner and begin the processing time when the water is boiling. Process pints for 40 minutes and quarts for 45 minutes.
- When processing is complete, remove lid from the canner and turn off the burner.
- Leave the jars in the canner for about 5-10 minutes before using a jar lifter to remove them from the canner and add to a draft free area on a clean towel for 12-24 hours before moving them.
- Check to make sure that all lids have sealed and indented before labeling them with contents and date and adding them to storage in a cool dark place.I often remove rings from my jars to make sure that the seals are still in place.
Notes
There's nothing like having canned tomatoes to add to soups and recipes during the winter months. So worth the investment of time!
The beauty of this recipe is simply to take the amount of fresh tomatoes that you have and fill as many jars as you can to process and keep for the next year to enjoy.