Tomatoes are a gardener's prized delight but you often end up with a surplus. Canning them at their peak is a great way to preserve taste year-round. However, some tomatoes are better for canning than others. Let's find out about the best canning tomatoes!
Qualities of good canning tomatoes are flavor, water content and limited juice, few seeds, and high yields at once. Things that don't matter as much are heirlooms vs. hybrids.
Water bath canning Pressure canning Atmospheric steam canning
They can be canned as the fruit itself (whole, halves, or even diced) or for use in recipes, like in salsa or sauces.
3 common canning methods:
Most work well but I have found that paste tomatoes (elongated, oval-shaped tomatoes) are the best.
Roma tomatoes - most versatile San Marzano - my favorite Amish Paste - great flavor
My top 3 picks are:
Dense paste-type tomatoes (or plum tomatoes) are still the best, but you can also use a good slicing tomato, by removing all excess juice when you chop them up and adding tomato powder so you can make sure the taste is not diluted!
I typically pick tomatoes based on flavor as their water content is less of an issue.
Better Boy - classic tomato flavor Bonny Best - lots of meat Brandywine - nice spicy tang
My top 3 picks are:
Unlike cooking, where you can adjust the recipe to your taste, canning recipes follow very strict protocols in order to ensure the safety of the food. So, follow them to a tee - do not make adjustments!