Can-do spirit

I had never before considered canning, but this week I signed up for a tomato canning workshop offered by the social justice committee at Hart House, here at the University of Toronto. For $10, we got three hours of instruction on preparing tomatoes for canning and 9 jars of purée to take home.

Canning is probably not something I would have taken up on my own-it's just so foreign and intimidating. My aunt makes preserves, but the whole process seemed eerily magical, almost like alchemy. It's a little late to think about getting into jams and such this year (especially without a kitchen), but putting up tomatoes was so simple, if a little time consuming.
Canning is downright trendy right now. Check out this week's The Spendid Table podcast, this great article from the Globe and Mail on canning, or Food In Jars (with links to many other canning blogs). I think it's partly the recession, partly people being more interested in what's going into their food, and the rise of foodie-ism in general.

Anyways, I will walk you through my afternoon in the Hart House kitchen.

We started off with vast quanities of Ontario Roma tomatoes, which we then halved and removed the stems and any rotten bits (slight imperfections are not to worried about-the beauty of a purée).

Next they were cooked briefly to soften them up (this afternoon only furthered my love of restaurant kitchens, everything so big and shiny). Once they are nice and soft, we ran them through a machine which removed the seeds and skins (separating the tomatoes from the excess water first). The tomato water can be strained and then sent through the same machine as well. I'm sure there's a super crafty way to do this sans-machine but if you have one at your disposal, why not.

Next we poured the purée into sterilized Mason jars with a few leaves of basil.

After securing screw-band lids, the jars are submerged in water and boiled for 25-30 minutes. Through this ~magical~ process, a seal forms (the lids should be concave) and you've just canned tomatoes. An excellent base for sauces and a reminder of summer as the cold descends.

I had a lot of fun (mostly because it was just so nice to be in a good kitchen handling food), and next summer definitely want to test out jam-making and putting up other fruits and vegetables.