Use fresh canned tomatoes and okra in your favorite soup recipes.
Pressure canning your own tomatoes at home is an excellent way to use up excess tomatoes from your garden or from a local farm during tomato season. Home canned tomatoes have a delicious fresh flavor that can be paired with everything from basil to garlic to chili peppers. Create a wide variety of flavor combinations for different purposes (soups, stews, sauces etc.) or give your fresh canned tomatoes away as a gift once the season ends.
Instructions
Prepping the Jars and Lids
1. Heat 2 qt. of water to boiling in the small stock pot.
2. Wash your jars with hot, soapy water and allow to dry upside down on a clean dish towel.
3. Drop your canning lids in the boiling water and leave them in there until you are ready to top your jars.
Prepare the Tomatoes and Okra
4. Fill the large stock pot half-way with water and bring it to a boil on your stove top.
5. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.
6. Score the bottoms of your tomatoes and drop them in the boiling water for 30-45 seconds. Remove the tomatoes from the boiling water with a ladle and submerge them in the ice bath. This will loosen the skins and allow you to peel them with less difficulty.
7. Peel the skins from your tomatoes by rubbing the outside of the tomato with your fingers. Discard the skins and place the peeled tomatoes in a large non-reactive bowl. Cut the peeled tomatoes into quarters. Set ten tomatoes aside for use in your juice.
8. Wash the okra and trim the stems from the vegetables. Slice the okra into medallions and mix with the tomatoes in the large bowl. Set these aside.
Making Your Tomato Juice
9. Blend the tomatoes you set aside for your juice in a blender with four cups of water until smooth.
10. Chop two bell peppers and one medium sized onion into small pieces. Remove the stem and seeds from the bell pepper. Peel, crush and chop four garlic cloves.
11. Drop all of the vegetables into the blender and blend on high until smooth. You will need to add four additional cups of water to this mixture in order to get a juice like consistency. You can add less if you desire, but the juice should not be thick. Add enough sea salt to the juice to suit your tastes. Herbs can be added at this point, if you desire. Basil, cilantro, parsley and oregano are all suitable options and can be blended right into the juice. Add the juice of two lemons, minus the seeds. Blend this together.
12. Pour the juice into a pitcher, cover and set aside.
Filling the Jars
13. Fit a funnel to the top of one of your canning jars.
14. Ladle enough tomatoes and okra into the jar to fill it while leaving one inch of head-space.
15. Pour enough tomato juice into the jars to fill in the gaps (leaving the one inch of head-space). Slide a spoon along the side of the jar to release any trapped air bubbles. Repeat this process with all of the jars. Wipe the rims clean with a moist, clean towel to pick up any spillage.
16. Lift the lids out of the boiling water and fit a lid to each jar. Tighten the lids until they are fingertip tight, but do not over tighten them.
Processing the Jars
17.Place the pressure canner on the stove top, utilizing the largest burner.
18. Drop the rack into the pressure canner and place your filled, sealed jars (lid side up) in one layer in the pressure canner on top of the rack.
19. Pour enough hot water into the pressure canner to fill it a few inches.
20. Fasten the lid to the canner and remove the weight from the vent port. Turn the burner up high and heat the canner until steam pours freely from the vent port. Maintain the high heat setting and allow the pressure canner to vent for a full ten minutes.
21. Place the weight over the vent port and allow the canner to come up to eleven lbs of pressure. As soon as the canner comes up to the proper pressure begin your timer. Process the jars for twenty-five minutes and keep a watchful eye on the pressure gauge. Adjust the temperature as needed to maintain the proper pressure setting.
Finishing Up
22. Turn the burner off on the stove once the processing time has elapsed.
23. Allow the pressure canner to decompress and cool down. The pressure gauge will quickly begin to fall toward zero as the pressure decreases inside the canner.
24. Remove the weight from the vent port while wearing eye goggles and an oven mitt. Once all of the steam has released from the canner, remove the lid. Do not try and force the lid off if the pressure hasn't been fully released.
25. Remove the jars from the canner using a jar lifter and place the jars on a cooling rack or dry kitchen towel. Place the jars in a location where they will not be exposed to cool drafts as the jars can crack. It takes a full twenty-four hours for the jars to completely cool. Allow them to cool overnight and then store in a cool place.
Tags: pressure canner, boiling water, vent port, canned tomatoes, from vent