So many tomatoes!

Tomatoes Everywhere

 I’m sure anyone who put out a couple of tomato plants this year is over run with the things. Tomatoes like hot and dry and we’ve had that in spades.  Despite a six day schedule at work, I managed to get about half a bushel of tomatoes turned into various good things for the coming year.  I “put up” four pints of Aunt Ruby’s Chile Sauce and four pints of my own version of Aunt Ruby’s which I call Brown Sugar Chile Sauce.  I also managed over the course of a couple of evening to make two pints and three little jelly jars of my grandmother’s recipe for tomato butter. 



Ruby red tomato butter on cutting board, then Brown Sugar Chile Sauce and finally Aunt Ruby's Chile Sauce. Kettle, funnel, ladle, and large mixing bowl complete the scenario of dealing with an August tomato harvest.

 I was afraid I had over cooked the tomato butter. By 10:00 pm last night it was completely translucent and a beautiful dark jewel red.  I ladled the butter into the jars and covered them while still  hot with a sheet of waxed paper so they could cool overnight.  This morning, before work, I melted some paraffin and poured a layer over each jar to seal the butter. 

Thursday is farmer’s market day and after work I beat it down to the market to get some of Cathy Crisenbery’s bread.  She has so many great varieties to choose from but today I bought her white country French, brought it home, sliced off a piece and slathered it with a little butter and a lot of tomato butter.  It was wonderful, a little bit of heaven.  The tomato butter was perfect with just a hint of ginger and a big piece of lemon.  I could have eaten an entire jar – but controlled myself. I have more to look forward to tomorrow!

Oh and here's the tomato butter recipe if you missed it last summer:

Irene's Tomato Butter

 

Six cups of peeled, seeded, chopped red ripe tomatoes

Six cups of white granulated sugar

A lemon sliced very thin and the seed removed

A one inch piece of fresh ginger minced

 

Put the tomatoes in a large bowl and cover them with the sugar. Cover the bowl and sit it in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.  My last batch was in the frig 24 hours and was fine. 

Drain the juice off the tomato mixture including any sugar that has settled to the bottom of the bowl. Boil the sugar and tomato juice syrup in a large stainless steel kettle until it starts to form a thread when you let it drip from a large spoon, about 30 to 40 minutes.  Add the tomato mixture and cook on  medium low heat until it thickens and the tomatoes become translucent and ruby red.  Ladle into hot clean jars and allow to cool completely. Seal with melted paraffin wax, the kind you buy at the grocery for this purpose. Find it in the canning supplies isle.