Plumpton Goes Green Recipe Collection
Tomatoes
There are many reasons for choosing to preserve tomatoes. On environmental grounds, it reduces a family’s carbon footprint to eat locally grown vegetables all year round. The jars are re-used, which is another environmental boon. For health reasons, there is evidence that it may be better: most tins are lined with the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA), which can leach into food. If you are on a tight budget, it also makes sense to buy vegetables when they are in season and cheap.
Last year I decided to attempt to preserve enough tomatoes in jars to last me until they were in season again. I made my goal (just!) but on the way I also discovered two interesting things: 1) it was fun! and 2) home-preserved tomatoes are so much tastier than the ones in tins that I hope never to need to go back to them again.
The thing that makes home preserving tomatoes so much easier than many other vegetables is their high acid content. This means that you don’t need any fancy equipment, such as a pressure cooker. A pan big enough to hold a few jars, covered in water, is enough. That said, your job will be much easier with a pair of jar lifting tongs to remove the jars safely from the boiling water. Also, ideally you should use jars that are intended for home preserving as they are more robust than a re-used mayonnaise jar.
Once you have your jars and tomatoes and a big pan, you are ready to go. First, you must decide whether having bits of skin floating in your tomatoes bothers you. If it does, wash the tomatoes, plunge them in boiling water for a moment or two, then put them in cold water. This will loosen the skin so that you can easily remove it. If skins do not bother you, skip this step. Next, roughly chop the tomatoes, being careful to reserve the liquid from inside them. Boil the chopped tomatoes for five minutes. Ladle them into clean jars (they do not need to be sterilised) leaving about half an inch of space at the top of the jar. If your tomatoes are very sweet, you may want to add a teaspoon of lemon juice to each jar to increase the acidity. Close the jars and place them in a boiling water bath for 30 minutes. That’s it! The resulting tomatoes may well look a bit paler than the commercial counterpart, but they will have loads more flavour.
And if you are looking for something more interesting to do with your tomatoes, you can also try this recipe for Mexican salsa. It is lovely on its own, with tortilla chips, or folded into an omelette or combined with a bit of sautéed chicken and served on rice.
Spicy tomato salsa (as adapted from a New Mexico State University recipe)
7 cups peeled, cored, chopped tomatoes
1 cup seeded, chopped long green chillies
1 cup chopped onion
1/8 cup finely chopped, seeded jalapeños
1/2 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp fresh cilantro/coriander
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