A Bushel And A Half Of Roma Tomatoes !

My son came to see me from Ottawa this weekend and brought me a bushel and a half of roma tomatoes, they were beautiful, its the last thing he bought for me from a farmers market near my daughters house.
They were gorgeous heavy things , smelling of sunshine and earth
I decided to can them for use over the winter .
This is how I did it.

First I got a huge pot of boiling water going and I dropped some tomatoes in until the skin blisters a bit, I score the blossom end first as well.
You do this in batches.
Then I put on latex gloves for the next part.
You peel the skin off the tomato then squish them one by one between my fingers until they are mushed up well.I don't leave any large bits.
You could use your processor but that makes it too mushy for my taste.
I didn't add anything not even pepper because I don't know what I will use those tomatoes for , could be in any number of things from soup to chili to pasta sauce or what ever....
*You will notice my use of proper culinary words !

Then in the oven it goes for hours on end until your happy with it ,I waited until it was reduced to half in consistency.
When your sauce is nearly ready prepare your jars by washing them in the hottest water you have and I pour in each jar boiling water to sterilize them , also do the lids the same way.
Then in each jar I added a few tablespoons of real lemon juice and half a teaspoon of salt.


Then the jars go into a hot water bath for 15 minutes.Dont forget to put a towel on the bottom so the jars dont bump into each other and shatter.


This is the result of half the tomatoes I had , today I will do a repeat performance with the other half.
The house smelled wonderful when I was done.
Felt like a real accomplishment.
I think its tomato soup for supper with a slice of toasted crusty bread.