Canning 101: Diced or Whole Tomatoes

We have been very blessed to have a bountiful harvest of tomatoes this year. It has been wonderful to eat so many fresh tomatoes. We have also been canning a lot of them for future use. Here is the method I use to can whole or diced tomatoes.

The first step is to dip your tomatoes in water that has come to a boil for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

You will know when the tomatoes are ready to pull out because you will see the skin on the tomatoes split.

When this happens the skin will come right off the tomato. I remove them from the hot water and place them into a bowl to cool for a few minutes. Then peel and core each tomato.

Once the skin is removed and your tomato is cored you can cut them into whatever size you like. I usually do some that are diced for sauce and some that are cut into larger chunks for chili.

The easiest way to get your tomatoes into the bottle without making a huge mess is to use a canning funnel like the one pictured. It just makes the process a lot easier.

Fill your clean canning jars up with your peeled, diced tomatoes. Leave about 1/2 inch head space. There is no need to add any liquid to the jars. The juice from the tomatoes is sufficient.

Because Tomatoes are lower in acid than other fruits you do need to add some acid to make sure there is a safe level of acid in each jar. So for each quart add 1 tsp. lemon juice and for each pint add 1/2 tsp. lemon juice.

I also add some salt to each jar. For each quart add 1/2 tsp. salt and for each pint add 1/4 tsp. salt.

Clean the rims on your jars and place lids on each jar. Process in a boiling water bath for 35 minutes for pints and 45 minutes for quarts.


That is all there is to it, now you have home canned tomatoes ready to use for spaghetti sauce, soups, and other dishes.