Tomatoes

This is approximately twenty pounds of tomatoes (one from the CSA, one from the Farmer’s Market):

tomatoes

The following survived the initial wash and cutting off of bad spots:

tomatoes

The following did not:

tomato leavings

After much mashing and boiling:

tomatoes cooking

I managed to cover my counter with enough bowls and other equipment to run the results through a food mill.

In which the following did not survive:

tomato leavings

And the rest made it here:

tomato sauce

Where there was reducing, and then canning.    So, I have six quarts of tomato sauce – a four and a half hour odyssey.

Things that I can control that I will do differently if I do this again:

I need a bigger cooking pot.    It actually took three pots (two and a second round of one) for the initial step.     And having two pots going while I reduced the sauce was a pain – especially since they conducted heat differently, and I was consistently having to adjust burners to keep them at about the same level of boil.

Things I cannot control:

I really wish I had more than one big burner on my stove.     And more prep space.   But, I do live in an apartment, and really, for an apartment, I have it pretty good.    I’m just going to remind myself of that next time I do this…

I will say, I have a new-found respect for women like my grandmother that did this kind of thing on a regular basis, in bulk, because they did it to keep their families fed.    I was pretty much exhausted after just six quarts.    I can’t imagine doing this all day for several days until it’s all put up.