Putting Food By - Janet Greene [90]
5 quarts peeled, cored, and quartered unblemished ripe tomatoes
2 quarts corn kernels OR 2 quarts shelled fresh Lima beans
2 quarts prepared okra
(Optional 2 tablespoons salt)
Save all the tomato juice possible while preparing the tomatoes. Blanch ears of corn to set the milk, then cut from the cob at ⅔ the depth of the kernel (this, to avoid the points of the hulls); shell fresh Lima beans. Wash and trim tender pods of okra, boil for 1 minute; cut pods in 1-inch pieces. Combine the vegetables (and salt, if wanted) and cook to the consistency of thick soup.
Pressure Canning only. Use Hot pack only. Use pint jars. Ladle bubbling-hot soup into clean, hot jars, leaving 1 inch of headroom; remove any trapped air and adjust lids. Process at 10 pounds (240 F/116 C) for 55 minutes. Remove jars; complete seals if using bailed jars.
• Adjustment for my altitude_________________.
Chili Salsa
About twelve ½-pints
Flautas, tacos, burritos, enchiladas—just the beginnings for this versatile Mexican accent. Be careful with the chiles until the sauce is developed to your liking. The friendly Anaheim peppers are the 6-inch pointed ones that turn red; jalapeños are about 1½ inches long and jolting, turning mahogany at the tips—use sparingly; most savage of the lot are the serranos, smaller, slender versions of the jalapeños.
1 pound onions
2 pounds Anaheim (rather hot) peppers
5 pounds tomatoes
1 tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
¾ to 1 cup distilled white or cider vinegar
Finely chop or coarsely grind or process onions and peppers.
Peel, if desired, and chop fresh tomatoes or canned, whole, peeled tomatoes into small pieces.
Add onions, peppers, and other ingredients to chopped tomatoes. Heat to simmering; simmer 10 minutes.
Pressure canning only. Use Hot pack only. Use pint jars. Ladle bubbling-hot salsa into clean, hot jars, leaving 1 inch of headroom; remove any trapped air and adjust seals. Process at 10 pounds (240 F/116 C) for 20 minutes. Remove jars; complete seals if using bailed jars.
• Adjustment for my altitude_________________.
Country Tomato Soup
About 4½ quarts
This plain and good soup is not diluted for serving.
Pressure Canning only (onions and peppers are low-acid). Use Hot pack only. Use jars only; for a very small household pints are more useful.
Wash 1 peck (8 quarts) of ripe red tomatoes; remove blossom and stem ends and cores; cut in pieces. In a large kettle, cook and stir the tomatoes until soft—about 15 minutes. Push the pulp and juice through a wire strainer or food mill to remove skins and seeds; return the purée to the kettle.
Cook together until soft (in enough water just to cover) 3 large onions and 2 green peppers—all finely chopped. Sieve, and add to the puréed tomatoes in the kettle. Mix together ¾ cup of sugar and 8 tablespoons cornstarch or, preferably, ClearJel; blend in 3 tablespoons white vinegar and just enough more water or cool tomato juice to make a smooth paste. (Optional: add 2 tablespoons salt to the paste.) Pour slowly into the tomato mixture, stirring all the while. Heat to boiling and stir until the liquid clears.
Pack Hot only, in jars. Pour boiling-hot soup into clean, hot jars, leaving ¾ inch of headroom for pints, 1¼ inches for quarts. Adjust the lids. Pressure-process at 10 pounds (240 F/116 C)—pints for 20 minutes, quarts for 30 minutes. Remove jars; complete seals if using bailed jars.
• Adjustment for my altitude_________________.
Stewed Tomatoes with Added Vegetables
The addition of lower-acid vegetables to tomatoes