Heaven in a jar

Growing, canning your own tomatoes gives you full control over the flavour

From the loving way I look at them, you’d think these jars were filled with a fine red wine. But no, they are filled with fine red tomatoes. How satisfied and rich they make me feel!

The royal red colour broadcasts richness through the sparkling clean glass. But it’s not just for show; I know from years past that these particular tomatoes will impart an especially rich, well-balanced and tomato-y flavour to sauces, stews and soups.

GOOD VARIETY MAKES GOOD SAUCE

It’s hard to reap such satisfaction from a jar or can that you “harvest” from a supermarket shelf, or even from tomatoes you purchase and then jar up yourself. One reason is variety.

A great deal of difference exists in cooked flavour from one variety of tomato to the next, even if both are billed as “paste tomatoes.” Most commercial paste tomato varieties are bred for such qualities as good yield and disease resistance, but too often fall flat when it comes to flavour.

Without delving into the nuances of flavours among the most savoury varieties, it’s safe to say the San Marzano is among the best, and makes up the bulk of that slushy red heaven that fills the jars on my kitchen counter. In Italy, commercially canned tomatoes that are San Marzano tout that fact on the label.

So a bit of advice: Make yourself a note to get some San Marzano tomato seeds for planting next spring. You can’t count on buying San Marzano transplants next year because the variety almost universally sold as transplants is Roma, a good-looking but sad-tasting paste tomato.

JAR UP YOUR OWN

Perhaps you can buy some

San Marzano fruits now, or fruits of some other good cooking tomato such as Howard’s German, Amish Paste, Anna Russian or Prudens Purple. If so, jar up your own for winter use.

I’m ready to begin once I’ve accumulated a quarter of a bushel or more of tomatoes. I rarely harvest that many at once, so

I’ll just toss thoroughly ripe ones into a plastic bag in the freezer without any further preparation ( beyond cutting off any bad spots), until I’ve accumulated enough for a batch.

Among the most satisfying aspects of canning tomatoes is looking at the finished jars cooling on the counter. Once they cool, press on each lid to confirm that it’s been sucked downward and a vacuum seal has formed.

Those tomatoes can now just sit on a shelf indefinitely. But they won’t — because I’ll eat them, the other satisfying part of canning tomatoes.