Let the Canning Begin....

I am venturing into yet another new territory - canning. With all the tomatoes I received from the CSA this week, I felt like I needed to do "something" with them, else I would surely lose a few of them. And well, since I usually use tomatoes when making homemade spaghetti sauce, I thought why not can them? I called my mother in law this morning and she told me exactly what I needed to do and it was so incredibly easy. Put the tomatoes in a pot of boiling water and let them boil for about 10 minutes or so. You want the skins to start cracking so you know they will be easy to peel off. In another pan, boil your jars and lids so that they are sterile. When the tomatoes are done, pull them out one at a time and peel the skin off. Then cut the ends off. Get your first jar out of the water and put about a tbsp of salt in the jar and start putting the tomatoes in the jar until it is almost full. Put the lids and rings on and wait for the familiar POP sound so you know they are sealed. Easy! Now I have two jars of tomatoes to use this winter for homemade spaghetti. I hope the CSA has a greenhouse so I don't have to wait until next July to start receiving tomatoes again. :-)