B4—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 10,1983
TIPS ON CANNING TOMATO
SAUCE OR PUREE AND
JUICE SEPARATION
Many home canners find it very
practical to can tomato sauce or
puree to use quickly in a variety of
ways in family meals throughout
the year. There are many different
recipes for tomato sauce or tomato
puree. Some have no seasoning
except salt. Others are seasoned
for spaghetti sauce or other special
use.
SAUCE OR PUREE. All tomato
sauce or puree that has no other
vegetables and no meat added
should be packed by the hot pack
method of packing and processed
in the boiling water canner. The
length of processing tune will
depend on the consistency or
thickness of the sauce. The thinner
the sauce, the longer the
processing tune. Thin sauce should
be processed as long as tomato
juice - 35 minutes for pints and
quarts. If you cook down the sauce
until you have about half as much
volume as you had when you
started to cook and fill hot into
jars, processing tune in the boiling
water canner need be only 20
minutes. When the sauce is this
thick, it will round up on a spoon,
rather than just remaining level
with the top edge of the spoon.
For some tomato sauces or juice,
you may want to add other
vegetables such as onions and
green pepper even though
tomatoes make up the major part
of the mixture. To do this, add
these other vegetables to the
tomatoes and cook them all
together. Then press through a
sieve to remove the seeds and
skins. Pack hot and process in the
pressure canner at 10 lbs. for 20
minutes for pints and 25 minutes
for quarts. If such products are
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Ladies
Have You
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By Doris Thomas
Lancaster Extension
Home Economist
cooked into sauces first, (reduced
to about half the original volume of
the pulp you began with) then pack
hot in pints or half-pints and
process 35 minutes in a boiling
water canner.
If you add meat to the tomato
sauce, it must be processed in the
pressure canner as should all
meat. To do this, pack the hot
sauce in the jars and process at 10
pounds for 60 minutes for pints and
1 hour and 15 minutes for quarts.
Catsup is normally even more
concentrated than tomato sauce or
tomato puree. In addition, it has a
larger amount of acid, as either
vinegar or lemon juice is added.
Sugar and spices are also added.
Therefore, a much shorter
processing time is needed - 15
minutes in the boiling water bath is
recommeded.
Remember, when you can
tomato sauce or tomato puree, it’s
important to consider the
thickness of the sauce as well as
what, if any, additional ingredients
have been added. It’s also im
portant to follow modem direc
tions and timetables for home
canning these products. And if you
have any doubt about the length of
processing needed, it’s better to
overprocess rather than to un
derprocess.
AVOID JUICE SEPARATION.
Separation in tomato juice does not
indicate spoilage, but does detract
from the appearance of the
product. When tomatoes are cut,
crushed or bruised, and exposed to
air, the enzymes contained in the
tomatoes are activated. These
activated enzymes break down the
natural pectins in the tomatoes and
cause the juice to separate. En
zymes are quickly destroyed by
heat, so the shorter the heating
time the more you can minimize
this action. It will also help to use
firm, npe tomatoes for making
juice and fill the juice hot into jars.
To avoid excessive separation
when making tomato juice, work
with the amount of tomatoes you
can process at one tune. Start
cooking after a few tomatoes have
been cut into the kettle. Add other
cut tomatoes to those cooking after
a few tomatoes have been cut into
the kettle. Add other cut tomatoes
to those cooking and stir frequently
until they are cooked - avoid over
cooking. After putting cooked
tomatoes through sieve, reheat the
juice just to boiling before filling
hot into jars.
Process tomato juice in boiling
water 35 minutes for both pints and
quarts.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD
PACKED LUNCH?
School has already started in
some areas, and most other
districts will begin this coming
week.
The cost of lunches jumped m
many school districts last fall, and
more families began packing
lunches for their children. But
what constitutes a well-balanced
lunch, and what can you pack that
your child will actually eat'.'
A good lunch should include
protein, bread, a fruit or
vegetable, and milk.
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A sandwich of some kind is the
school lunch classic, combining
protein and bread in one neat
package. Though many children
prefer enriched or whole wheat
sliced bread, you can try pita or
••pocket bread’’ which is easy to fill
and wrap, or vary the pace with a
hamburg or hot dog roll stuffed
with a favorite filling.
A change from the ever present
sandwich might be a cold chicken
drumstick or a, thermos full of
stew, soup or a mild chili. Be sure
your child can purchase milk at
school is the thermos is otherwise
occupied. Add a roll or some
crackers to go along with the
chicken leg or stew.
Celery sticks stuffed with cream
cheese or peanut butter; carrot
sticks or sliced raw pepper travel
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well, too. Some fruits such as
bananas or peaches tend to bruise
in transit, especially when the,-
transporter is an active elemen
tary schooler. If your child objects
to mushy fruit, try packing ap
plesauce or canned fruit packed in
light syrup in one of those small
plastic containers with a tight
cover.
Prepacked puddings, cakes and
other snacks are convenient, but
they offer little nutritional value
and are hard on the budget.
What should you pack the lunch
in? A lunch box, especially an
insulated one, is a good in
vestment. It will keep the food cold
better than a brown bag, and since
it’s not subject to easy crushing,
will keep the lunch in better con
dition.