Why it works: Tomato and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,667 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
How to Can Tomatoes in Glass
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Select fresh, ripe, firm tomatoes and grade for ripeness, size, and quality.
Blanch tomatoes by placing them in a wire basket or cheesecloth bag and dipping them into boiling water for 1 minute or until the skin breaks.
Immediately plunge the tomatoes into cold water to make them easier to handle and to separate the skin from the pulp.
Cut out the core before removing the skin to avoid breaking it.
Sterilize jars, lids, and rubber seals.
Pack and seal
Pack whole tomatoes into quart jars, adding 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt.
Strain soft tomatoes and add 1 cup of tomato juice.
Seal jars with rubber seals, ensuring they fit tightly.
If using Mason jars, place the screw top on lightly to allow air to escape during heating.
Process and store
Process jars in a canner with a false bottom, ensuring water does not cover the necks of the jars.
Bring water to a boil and boil hard for 30 minutes.
Carefully lift jars from boiling water using a towel and screw the tops on tightly.
Store jars in a cool, dark place, ensuring they are not placed close together.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,667 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Provide the bulk of the product, with their pulp and juice filling the jars.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the natural acidity of the tomatoes.
- Tomato juice
- Adds liquid to fill the jars around the tomatoes.
The step that matters
Boil hard for the full 30 minutes in a canner with water below the jar necks. Sustained boiling heat is what makes the sealed jars safe for storage. Tomatoes are borderline acidic, so the heat must reach the contents fully, and the water must stay above the jars for even heating.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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