Adventures in Canning (or, the journey of a green tomato)

With the cooler, autumn weather approaching,  I decided to clean out & winterize my vegetable garden this weekend.  The tomato plants, especially, had grown very bushy and were overflowing out of the raised bed, over the fence and into our neighbors yard.  And the past few tomatoes had sat--firm, green and unripe--taunting me for weeks. It was time for them to go.

But as I started yanking up plants and vines, I started noticing more than just a few unripened green tomatoes.  I rescued almost 40.  Initially, I was a little bitter; I missed out on 40 delicious vine-ripened tomatoes?? What a waste. But after a little research I discovered Green Tomato Relish, which is evidently how many gardeners choose to use end-of-the-season tomatoes.  Dice up a bunch of green tomatoes, onions, peppers, season, simmer in vinegar, store in cans and you're good to go.  Sounded like the perfect Sunday afternoon activity to me.

Some rescued veggies. 

Well, let me tell you: the original vision for a leisurely, 2-hour relish-creating afternoon quickly turned into a 5 hour-long saga. Canning, as it turns out, is no simple task.

 

First, of course, you have to chop up a BUNCH of veggies.  I washed and cored about 35 small-medium sized green tomatoes and then diced them, alongside three red bell peppers, three green bell peppers and six large yellow onions.  That's about 45 minutes worth of chopping.  

I had so many veggies that I actually had to separate the recipe into two 6 quart stock pots.  

To each pot, I added 1.5 TB of celery seed, 1.5 TB of mustard seed, .5 TB salt, 1 cup of cider vinegar and 2 cups of sugar. Yeah, I know; the amount of sugar surprised me too.  And I even reduced the amount of sugar in the recipe by a couple cups. I brought the pots to a boil and then reduced to a simmer for about an hour and a half.  During which time I started researching canning; and started to see my relaxing evening dissolve away. 

Canning is evidently all about being sterile.  First you have to boil all your mason jars and lids. "Even brand new, never been used jars?" You ask.  Yes. Even brand new jars.  So instead of plopping them all into boiling pots of water for 30 minutes, I opted for a slightly simpler method: the dishwasher.   Plus, my only two big stock pots were already in use.  According to some website, the water gets hot enough in the dishwasher to sufficiently sterilize the jars and lids.   So, one hour later, I have clean jars.

But then you have to fill the jars with the relish and pack down the relish to remove air, and you have to do it quickly, so as not to contaminate the contents. Then you screw on the lids and submerge the filled jars in boiling water for another 15-20 minutes. This combination of heat and pressure is what creates a vacuum seal on the jars, to preserve the contents without refrigeration.  Then, as the jars cool down, you hear the "pop" of the seal snapping down, which for me, was the much anticipated indication that my canning adventure had ended. So, you ask, how's it taste?

Better than expected, honestly.  We had some with our BBQ pulled pork sandwiches for dinner and it added a nice tangy dimension.  It's probably best on meats (hot dogs, bratwurst, burgers, fish), but I bet it'd be tasty with goat cheese and crackers, too.  Verdict: if you have an afternoon and 40 green tomatoes to kill, give it a go.  If not, stick to fresh salsas with ripened tomatoes.  Or bug me for a jar; my plan is to give most of the jars away as gifts. 

{PS: here's the original recipe from AllRecipes. I made a few minor changes noted above.}