Tomato Day

Although it's technically autumn already, I like to think of Tomato Day as the concluding point of my summer cooking.  I bought a couple of crates of ripe tomatoes and set aside an afternoon for sauciness.

The process of sauce is more or less as follows:

- Core and score tomatoes (to make peeling easier).
- Blanch tomatoes in boiling water.
- Peel and de-seed blanched tomatoes.
- Crush the pulp.
- Put sauce in sterilised bottles or jars.
- Add a basil leaf to each jar.
- Put the lids on, and put the jars in a large stockpot and cover with water.
- Heat and boil for around an hour.
- Let jars cool before storing in the cupboard.

Here's how my day went:

This is about 1/5 of the tomatoes that went into my sauce.  I used a small, sharp knife to remove the tough stalk and fibrous core of the tomatoes.  On the other end, I scored an 'X' to make peeling easier.

I blanched the tomatoes in boiling water in batches for about 3 minutes at a time.

Then I peeled the tomatoes and put the pulp into a large bowl.

I used my hands to crush the pulp.

After sterilising the jars, I filled them with the sauce and put a basil leaf in each one.

The filled jars need to be submerged in boiling water for about an hour to seal them.  Once cool, they're ready to store.