..Then preserved them as chopped tomatoes thereby storing energy for the winter.
This is 13 kilo of roma tomatoes, peeled and chopped. Preserved in a Fowlers Vacola water bath. Our customers get approx 20kilo of tomatoes a week, between them and we plan to preserve the rest. There's probably 20 kilo more in the fridge so far, and Mark's making tomato- sauce at the moment with less than perfect tomatoes.
This is the first year we have preserved in such earnestness. We are determined to make the most of all our produce, and set ourselves up for winter with summer produce. It is very new to us and a real learning experience. It has been very time consuming ( it took me most of yesterday to bottle the tomatoes) but I'm sure we'll get much more proficient at it, and I know it will be cheaper and healthier for us and will help to set us up for the'year without supermarkets' challenge that Tricia is running over at little eco footprints. We are running a little behind Tricia, planning to start in February. But if it's anything like our year without buying anything new challenge that we set ourselves a few years back, it will become a habit and we'll just continue on indefinitely.
Looking good so far Kate, I'm impressed.
ReplyDeleteMust be very satisfying lining the jars up in the pantry and stocking up for Winter.
I froze alot of tomato pulp last year and it was great pulling a tub out of the freezer to use for a meal.
Unfortunately I don't have a preserving unit.
All the best with the challenge,
Claire :]
Hmmm.... I'm starting to think I really need to hunt down a Fowlers Vacola kit....
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to can tomatoes! I try to do about 200 quarts every other year as we use a lot. I have to use a pressure cooker due to my climate, but they really don't take too long as I cold pack first. We do have tomato blooms in the greenhouse so that is exciting. Yours look lovely! Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteLook at those tomatoes. Roma are my absolutely favourite but I love all tomatoes really. I'm off to a preserving course this weekend and have been saving up for a Fowlers Vacola kit. I can't wait! serendipity2000
ReplyDeleteToday is (at least here) an odd time to suggest this, with 400 mm of rain predicted over the next few days. But in general, tomatoes serendipitously have the peak of their season usually at the best drying time of the year, and sun drying is a great way to store energy, and so easy.
ReplyDeleteI preserved my first tomatoes last season after harvesting about five kg a day. I thought I was so clever. Then I went to open my first bottle for a pasta sauce and I couldn't get the lid off! Shaun had already moved up to our new property but I was still in Sydney, so needless to say, I'll try again once the tomatoes finish (and Shaun is around for the extra muscle I'll need)
ReplyDeletei'm completely impressed. if i were near you kate, i would definetly be a customer. luckily for us there are many farms in our area, so belonging to csa's and shopping at farmers market, supports our desire to live and eat organic. (it's great here, we have year round organic farmers market). i hope that when i stop working full time, i'll be able to rent a space in a community garden and grow my own!
ReplyDeleteYou have got me inspired kate...I did a small batch of relish and the kids ate 4 jars within a week. Homegrown preserves are the way to go! Did you use a Fowlers' vacola preserving system?
ReplyDeleteHi Kim, yes I did. I was lucky enough to get one at a LETS trading day.
DeleteHow lovely! I wished I had a lot of tomatoes to harvest and can from the garden. we have a very small garden, not a lot of room, so what we harvest (which is very little) we eat straight away, but even then my tomatoes don't look as big and juicy and as lovely as yours, it must be because I am growing them out of pots? we haven't been having much luck at all with our garden this year to be quite honest. Maybe it's all the weird Sydney weather we have been getting. It feels very much like Autumn here.
ReplyDeleteThe first few years I tried growing food things were'nt all that successful Just keep trying and things will improve, I'm sure. Good luck.
DeleteKate can u pls say where energy is stored in a tomato plant. Thank U
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