Canning Whole Tomatoes {Pressure – Water Bath}

What tomato varieties are best for canning?

It is said that the best tomatoes to can are meaty tomatoes, like Roma tomatoes or plum tomatoes. I honestly can any tomato variety that I grow that particular year.

I have canned a lot of the medium and small tomato varieties. Celebrity, Czech’s bush, Fourth of July, early girl, celebration, among others.

Cherry tomatoes take longer to peel but make amazing bolognese and pasta sauces with a slight, naturally sweet note.

The only varieties I would not can are the big slicing tomatoes such as beefsteak, Big Boy, and the like. This is only because I feel they lack the flavor compared to smaller varieties. But, if that’s all you have, they will work as well.

How many tomatoes will you need?

You will need about 21 pounds of tomatoes to make 7 quarts of canned tomatoes, about 3 pounds per jar.

For pints, you will need about 10 pounds for 7 pints. That works out to about 1 and 3/4 pounds per jar.

What you need

• tomatoes
• bottled lemon juice or citric acid
• water or tomato juice
• Optional, canning salt

Do you really need bottled lemon juice?

Lemon juice adds enough acidity to can tomatoes in water-bath or pressure canning pots. To be canned safely in a water bath, the acidity must measure 4.6 pH or below. Bottled lemon juice has a pH of 2-3. So that makes the tomatoes below 4.6 pH.

Freshly squeezed lemon juice can vary in acidity levels, so use bottled lemon juice to be safe. Citric acid can also be used to lower the pH.

Do you need to add salt?

It is not necessary to add salt when canning whole tomatoes. We do not add salt because we add the salt when I make the final product from the tomatoes. You can add salt if you choose.

If using, add 1/2 tsp salt to pint jars and 1 tsp of salt to quarts.

Pros and cons of cold pack and hot pack methods

You can either choose to cold pack your tomatoes or use a hot pack method. Both are perfectly safe, but each has pros and cons.

The major pros and cons of cold packing are;

• They are incredibly fast and easy
• They taste the most like fresh tomatoes.
• The fruit will tend to float because there is more air in the fruit itself.

Major pros and cons of the hot pack method;

• You will inevitably fit more fruit into the jar.
• Hot packing will minimize the fruit float because the air spaces in the fruit have been replaced with water.
• It takes a little longer than cold packing, and you have one more dirty pot to clean up.

Water bath method to can whole tomatoes

Prepare the Equipment

Clean and heat jars. It is no longer necessary to sterilize jars, but we always heat the jars in the canning pot since we have to heat it to boiling anyway. Prepare the water bath canning pot with enough water to cover the jars. Wash the lids in hot soapy water. Rinse well and keep warm in a pot or bowl with hot water. Do not boil.

Pro tip: Once the jars are filled, less water will be needed in the pot when jars are empty, so be careful not to let the pot spill over when adding the filled jars.

How to blanch tomatoes

Step One

Wash tomatoes well. Using a paring knife, remove the stem end and core.

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Step Two

Place the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds or so to blanch.

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Step Three

The skin will split which will make them easier to peel.

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Step Four

Remove from hot water with a slotted spoon and place them in an ice water bath to cool.

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Step Five

Once cool, remove from ice water and slip off the skins. Use a paring knife to help grab the edges of the skin, if needed.

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Step Six

Heat juice or water in a separate pan.

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Step Seven

Peel all tomatoes.

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Step Eight

Add two tablespoons of lemon juice or ½ teaspoon of citric acid. If using, add salt now.

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Cold pack directions

Step One

Once peeled, fill the jars with tomatoes to within ½” of the top of the jar (headspace). Tomatoes can be whole, halved, quartered, or diced. Smash tomatoes down with any tool you can find to fit more in the jar. Like a spatula, spoon, or whatever will fit in the jar.

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Step Two

Fill jars with hot water or tomato juice, leaving the one half-inch headspace. (the space between the top of the product and the rim of the jar.

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Step Three

Wipe the rims of the jars with a damp towel to remove any debris.

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Step Four

Add lids. Apply bands. Tighten fingertip tight.

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Hot pack directions

• Place the tomatoes in a large pot. Barely cover them with water.
• Bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes.
• Add lemon juice to jars. Add salt now if using.
• Fill the jars with hot tomatoes using a canning funnel. Smash tomatoes down with any tool you can find to fit more in the jar. Like a spatula, spoon, or whatever will fit in the jar.
• Using a ladle, fill the jars with hot cooking liquid to within 1″ of the top of the jar. Remove air bubbles with a knife or chopstick.
• Wipe the rims of the jars with a damp towel to remove any debris.
• Center the lids on the jars.
• Screw bands on. Tighten fingertip tight.

Water bath Canning

After preparing the jars, add them carefully on top of the rack in your water bath canning pot with your canning tongs. It will take less water to cover the filled jars, so remove some of the water if it gets too full and may spill over. Bring to a low boil. Process quarts for 45 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Process pints for 40 minutes.

Check the water level to ensure too much water doesn’t evaporate. Jars should be completely covered at all times. Add more water if necessary.

After processing, remove the canning pot from the heat. Allow jars to stay in hot water for at least 5 minutes before removing them. This will prevent siphoning, which is leaking liquid from the jars.

After this rest period, remove the jars from the pot with a jar lifter. Allow them to sit on a kitchen towel on the counter for at least 12 hours.

Check the seal; if lids flex up or down when pressed in the center, the jar is not sealed. It can be reprocessed, frozen (only freeze wide-mouth jars), or store them in the refrigerator and use within a week or so.

Pressure Canning Whole Tomatoes

The major pro in the debate of whether to water bath can or pressure can tomatoes is that it takes less time to process the fruit in the pressure canner.

There really are no cons to pressure canning. The procedure for preparing is exactly the same in both methods.

• Prepare tomatoes as per the above instructions, either raw or hot.
• Prepare the pressure canner according to the manufacturer’s recommendations, using the bottom canning rack and heat water—load jars into the canner.
• Place the lid on the canner securely according to manufacturer’s recommendations. Allow the pot to vent for ten full minutes. Add the regulator. Allow the canning pot to come up to proper pressure for your altitude. Process the jars for the allotted amount of time at the specified pounds pressure per square inch for your altitude. See the details in the recipe notes below.
• Once your processing time has passed, remove the pot from the heat. Allow it to cool naturally and release pressure.
• After the pressure is released, open the canner carefully. Let jars sit in the canning pot for at least 5 minutes to cool slowly.
• Remove jars with your jar lifter and place them on a kitchen towel on the counter for 24 hours.
• Check the seals. Press down in the center of the lid. If it flexes, that jar did not seal and must be refrigerated or reprocessed with a new lid, if desired.