Canning diced vs whole tomatoes

[Deleted]

MIL said she never takes the time to dice tomatoes - she cans them all whole and then gives them a quick chop when they come out of the can. She feels it's faster that way.

I canned some salsa yesterday but tomorrow will be my first "pure tomato" session so I was curious if any of you have an opinion or preference about canning whole vs canning diced?

/Via

[Deleted]

Well, see? Your "advertisement" worked!

I like to dice them first because I get all the messy stuff done at once. Usually I use my canned tomatoes in this stew-like thing I like to make in the winter, so it's really easy to just pop open a can and dump them in, juice and all. It would be easier on canning day to can them whole, but it's harder when you have to use them, if you want them chopped. Just your own preference.

Plus, as you saw, it takes a bit less time to process the diced as opposed to whole. Which makes a big difference to me if it's a hot day when I'm canning - and it's supposed to get up to 98 tomorrow, so the less time the better, I say.

~Lannie

[Deleted]

That's a good point about the processing time - another thing I was thinking about is that it seems like more tomatoes would fit in a jar if they were already diced. (?)

Does that sound right? Or do you smush 'em down enough that it's about the same?
/Via, who feels like an advertising genius

[Deleted]

Well, I've never done whole ones, just because *I* thought it was a waste of space, just like you said. I smoosh the diced ones down a little, but just to push air pockets out and get the juice up over the top. I guess I'd be afraid to smoosh the whole ones too much for fear of damaging them.

My grandmother used to put whole tomatoes in quart jars and I remember she'd open one of those and there were only 3 medium sized tomatoes in the jar. You could get 6 or 8 in there if they were diced. I think.

Maybe someone who cans whole tomatoes can better answer that. I'm just "assuming" again!

~Lannie

[nan]

About 5 medium/large tomatoes can fit into a quart jar if you can them whole. (actually you have to half or quarter some of the really big ones to get them in the jar!) I don't think it much matters whether they are chopped or "whole"(with the big ones halved/quartered) according to how many maters will fit...I do mine whole in their own juice and there aren't any air bubbles...so they are all maters just like the chopped would be all maters. I always do mine whole because I use mine mainly in spaghetti sauce and stick them in the blender before adding them...sooooo...don't need to worry about dicing them first. If I want them chopped I take my kitchen scissors and stick them down into the jar and just do a few snips here and there and walla...chopped maters! LOL! Not as neatly chopped as Lannie's for sure ....but fine for what I use them for. She is right...it all depends on what you are using them for. If you are mainly using them diced....it would save you time to do that first...if you are using them for more than one thing...then stick them in there whole and chop or blend or squish etc.. as you use them.

[Deleted]

Oh, right, Nan, yeah, mine are diced into perfectly even and consistent pieces, and any that aren't exactly perfect are summarily executed.

~Lannie

[Kathy]

My gosh, now I feel like a slacker!! I just wash, blanch, peel & core then put them all in a large stainless steel roaster and using freshly washed hands squish them.


I take my tomato squishy's and cook them so they can be hot packed.

See I told you I was a slacker!!

[nan]

Kathy, You are NOT a slacker..you are a SQUISHER! LOL! But really...you do a lot more to yours than I do to mine...I blanch, peel, core, and squish them down through a funnel into a jar! Mine don't stay pristine perfect for sure! Mine are just all squished down into the jar and then I stick a butter knife around the edges to get the air bubbles out...add a couple of Tbs of lemon juice, a tsp of salt... wipe the rim, put the lids on and boil the little suckers! Oh...am I supposed to say suckers on here kathy? LOL! Forget I said suckers....we will call them goomers! Yep....goomer maters!

Lannie...Please don't tell me you are a veggie murderer! heeheeheehee! Off with their head...of lettuce! chuckle snort snicker!

[Deleted]

admin said:

tomato squishy's

I love your technical terms

Seriously, though, squishing might be a good compromise between a diced and a whole tomato...I hadn't thought of that.

I sort of pictured whole canned tomatoes packed like whole pickles - sort of space consuming. nan's idea of smashing them down the funnel appeals to me, too.

Thanks for the great ideas! I may try some of each to see what I like best, although I just canned salsa and I've had my fill of chopping for a little while...I think I'll start with some squished ones.

/Via

[nan]

Just squish the peeled maters down into the jar...until the juice squishes out enough so that you don't have to add water. If you squish you shouldn't have to add water. Kinda Kathy's idea...but you don't have to cook them first...

[Deleted]

nan, I'm going to do exactly that.

Thank you everyone for your advice and tips. I'm finding that canning is like laundry: everyone has different ways of doing it and for different reasons. Hmmm...that sounds like a new thread!

/Via

[kyosa]

Most of my tomato canning is done with an eye toward juice/sauce for soups and chili during the winter. For this purpose I use Romas almost exclusively. I blanch them and slip off the skins. I use a thin-bladed knife to core them just enough to get the green bit out, then drop them whole into the jars, mashing them down enough to produce the juice to cover them while leaving the proper headspace in the jar. 1 tsp. salt/qt. and they're ready to pressure-can. When I want juice, I stick the business end of the hand- blender (ours says Bamix on it) into the jar and hit the button. Voila, juice!

[Deleted]

I start out "quartering" them... some of the bigger maters I quarter then cut those in half... but after the first couple hundred quarts, I peel em and squish em in my hand as I plop them in the big pot.

Kaza