Every year, I take advantage of the end of summer to prepare a good amount of canned food with which I survive the rest of the year. The end of August and the beginning of September is the time to make canned tomatoes, taking advantage of the fact that this product is in full season, and enjoying it when it tastes better and has a better price.

Instead of using winter varieties of the greenhouse – not be my choice for salads- when I make sauces and stews involved in this ingredient, I take the opportunity to use my canning jars that get my dishes to have a taste More powerful, more authentic.

Summer is tomato time

Although we have become accustomed to having tomatoes all year round, the tomato is a seasonal fruit that has its best moment between the months of July and September, being August the moment when it is more at its point and at a better price, even lowering the 75 cents per kilo.

Now is the time to buy a good amount of tomatoes and prepare preserves with them. I am going to explain my three types of canned tomatoes, which I could complete with a fourth since I also like to make tomato jam.

1. Canned crushed tomato.

The seasonal tomato has much more flavor and if we crush it, we will have its essence ready to use when it suits us to make sauces, stews, or to drink as juice or prepare cocktails like the Bloody Mary when the gazpacho season passes. To do this, we crush the tomatoes with the blender or the kitchen robot, add two teaspoons of lemon juice for every kilo of tomatoes and proceed to put it in canned jars that tightly close

2. Canned whole peeled tomatoes

Simply scald the tomatoes to peel them and put them inside the sterilized jars. Then we add a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice and close, putting in a water bath so that the jars are tightly sealed. You can also fill in the gaps with more crushed tomato, which will come in handy when you want to make tomato sauces.

3. Canned tomato sauces

The fried tomato of my house is a direct consequence of what my mother does, who taught me how to do it slowly and mash it with the mashed raisin so that it is perfect in texture and flavor. Be that recipe or any of the tomato sauces – with onion, leek, etc. – that you like, once the sauce is prepared we can put it in jars and do as I indicated before.

In addition, we can also make canned tomatoes mixed with other products. For example, my tomato sauce with chocolate and vermouth is a classic at home. I also like to take advantage of this month to prepare a good ratatouille and store it in jars as we have indicated before.

4. Tomato jam

Making a jam with tomato is possible, as with other fruits. This jam can be used in appetizer recipes, as a side dish for croquettes and other fried foods and you can enjoy it throughout the year.

What do I need to make canned tomatoes?

What I do at home is to keep the glass jars of jams, mayonnaises, asparagus, etc that come in handy all year long to store leftovers, homemade broths, etc. Then fill them as indicated before and ready to enjoy quality tomatoes throughout the year. I also use the classic hermetic boats with rubber or silicone gaskets that are found at a very good price in Ikea, stores around one euro and the like.

To leave the preserves tightly closed, hermetic and sterilized, I bake them tightly closed for about 30 minutes in the water bath, which I extend to 45 minutes if they are kilo cans. With all this and just need to go to the garden or go down to the market, stock up on good tomatoes and start making canned tomatoes for the whole year.