How to can tomatoes

My mom buys tomatoes at Mbare Musika in bulk because they are affordable. A box with about 40 tomatoes is currently between 80c and $1.50. She usually freezes the tomatoes but I do not like that they become watery when you want to use them.

I have been canning food for a while but in Bermuda fresh tomatoes are way too expensive for me to can them at home. This also gives me an opportunity to show my mom how can tomatoes so that my aunts can have tomatoes throughout the year. They grow most of their own food but during the rainy season, tomatoes are difficult to grow as they easily rot.

To start you need to remove the tops and blemishes.

Next you need to blanch tomatoes and remove the skin. Which is optional but what I prefer.

I diced them. You can leave them whole or puree the tomatoes.

I put the tomatoes in the prepared bottles. To each bottle, I added a 1/4 teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of lemon juice and closed each jar tight. Fill a large pot with enough hot water to almost cover the jars.  Turn on medium-high heat.  Once water starts to boil, reduce heat slightly and process for 40 minutes, making sure the water is boiling gently and steadily the whole time

Remove from the water and place on an old blanket or towel and allow to cool completely before storing.

As soon as you open a jar use all the tomatoes immediately or store in a refrigerator.