Canned Crushed Tomatoes

Vintage WWII canning books I bought from eBay

I found these beautiful vintage canning books from eBay.  All three came together and date from 1939 to1941. It's so neat to see that the big book only cost $.10. Most often the mini pamphlets came free with a purchased item. Maybe with a box of Kerr jars.  Surprisingly these books are in great condition considering their age.  While looking through this piece of history I decided to can something and the only thing that came to mind were the many heirloom tomatoes coming out of my garden.

Heirloom tomatoes from my little garden

Canning is pretty easy.  There are two different ways to "can" food depending on what you want to preserve.  There is the "Hot Water Bath" and the "Pressure Cooker Method".  Jams, jellies, pickles and some types of fruits and vegetables can be canned in a hot water bath which I think is the easiest. These may be Kerr canning books but I grew up with everyone in my family using the Ball canning book and jars.  Both companies follow the same national canning guidelines but they have their own jam and pickle recipes I'm sure. Ball has a great website with canning how-to videos and recipes. 

I followed the directions for canning crushed tomatoes. Very simple. I blanched the tomatoes in boiling water and then dropped them into ice water.  This allows the skin to peel off easily. I then put the peeled tomatoes into a bowl to crush them up.

Using a pastry blender made crushing the tomatoes very easy

Fi1lled my clean jars with the crushed tomatoes and topped them with sea salt

Canning in a hot water bath for the specified amount of time

And the finished product, Canned Crushed Tomatoes

Home canning is so normal to me.  It was a way of life growing up.  We either canned or froze our garden's harvest each year.  Some things are definitely better canned and some are better frozen.  Green beans hold their shape best when canned and butter beans are better frozen. Check out the other things I have canned.