What I love about summer besides the quality of the natural light flooding my condo, is the bounty of heirloom tomatoes from our plot at the Beresford Community Garden. August is when my galley kitchen goes into the mode of preserving heirloom tomatoes that I haven't already eaten in a Caprese salad or Mexican salsa.
This year I decided instead of just making Italian marinara to can, I would also preserve quart and pint jars of tomatoes in their own juices for use in other tomato dishes such as paella, cioppino, or other dishes without the oregano, thyme, marjoram, onion, garlic and olive oil though I did also can on this day pint jars of marinara. Below a jar of tomatoes prior to processing.
I don't have a pressure canner, and so I used the water bath process which at sea level means boiling for an hour and half.
Below waiting to hear the popping sound of the vacuum effect from the water bath which creates a pressure within the jars and means the seals on the lids have closed tightly over the jars.
Later in the afternoon, I pureed tomatoes in a Vitamix blender and then added aromatics and herbs to boil down into a marinara. I added fresh sprigs of basil at the top of the sauce before processing.
Heirloom tomatoes for cooking throughout the season until they run out just before summer or to give as holiday presents.
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