I finally dusted off the canner I bought last year (!) and gave it a go with the amazing crop of tomatoes we are getting from the CSA this year. $10 of sauce tomatoes and some quart jars and an afternoon was all I needed to get ready for the long, dreary winter of tinned tomatoes. Overall the process was relatively labor intensive and I quickly ran out of counter space but I was excited to see the jars of tomatoes cool on the counter. When I finally removed them from the water bath:
I was pretty disappointed to see all that water at the bottom of the jar. I followed the hot-pack method (I'm a nervous canner and would prefer not to kill myself or my boyfriend this coming winter) wherein you skin and core the tomatoes, cook them in boiling water for 7 minutes, then pack the sterilized jars with added lemon juice, salt, and a little sugar before sealing and processing in a hot water bath canner. I'm certain that they will be stellar for sauce or chili but I wanted a whole jar of tomatoes, not 70% tomatoes and 30% water. My question is: how do I avoid all that water in the future?
