June 25, 2025 • 25 mins
In this episode of the Perfectly Preserved Podcast, Master Food Preservers Anna and Jenny discuss all the tools that make preserving the uber versatile tomato easier. We also discuss peeling tomatoes as well as peaches, and share some encouragement for a younger canner.
Hand food mill - Oxo brand
Help support the show here: buymeacoffee.com/perfectlypreservedpodcast
Buy The Pressure Canning Cookbook here: https://amzn.to/3Cn3qJn
Get the Pineapple Habanero jam recipe from Anna here: https://smarthomecanning.com/products/recipe-for-pineapple-habanero-pepper-jelly
Anna’s Video courses- learn with Anna!
These notes have affiliate links which don’t change the price of the products we recommend, but help us keep creating the podcast. Please shop through our links!
Canning Supplies We Recommend
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Welcome to the PerfectlyPreserved Podcast.
I'm your host Jenny Gomes.
And I'm Anna Cash.
Here we come together to bringyou a podcast all about
preserving food safely, easily,and dare I say, perfectly.
At home.
We are master food preserversmoms wives, and we love talking
about canning.
ready to can like a masterpreserver.
(00:21):
Let's get into today's episode.
anna_1_06-08-2025_12585 (00:26):
Welcome back to another episode of The
Perfectly Preserved Podcast.
I'm Anna here with my co-host,Jenny.
we are going to be talking toyou today about the best tools
for tomato processing.
Tomatoes are the most cannedproduct in the United States,
and so it's important that wecover some of the tools that you
might use for that.
It's going to be a really greatepisode, so stay tuned.
(00:48):
For those of you that are new tothe podcast, welcome, we always
want.
A rating and review.
So if you have not done that,please do for the first time
ever, we are also on YouTube, socheck us out there.
Perfectly preserved, and let'sget started.
Jenny, what do we have in thisepisode today?
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_ (01:07):
Okay, so you said so.
Correctly that tomatoes are themost commonly canned food in
America, which is amazing.
And it's very interestingbecause they're not the easiest,
that's not to discourage you orto say that they're hard, but
they do have a few ins and outs.
If you're brand new to canningand new to.
Tomatoes.
we do have a couple episodes atthe beginning of our season one
(01:29):
that you should check out.
That's all things, canningtomatoes, all about proper
acidification.
Good recipes to try and just areally great primer at the
beginning of our season one, Ithink, all about tomatoes, so
you can definitely check thatout if you're brand new.
But in this episode we wannatalk about the tools that make
tomatoes easier.
(01:50):
I think too, there's severalthings that we're gonna cover
that will just give you optionsfor both peeling coring and then
however you want to work upthose tomatoes so that they are
useful to you when you areopening the jar.
the whole progression is reallyimportant that you think about
what do I want at the end resultthat will be the most useful to
(02:12):
me.
I always think it's interestingto talk to people that have been
canning a while and hear so whatis the thing you can with your
tomatoes?
Do you do tomato sauce?
Some people drill down and makeenchilada sauce and tomato pasta
sauce and make many different,very similar but differently
seasoned tomato products.
(02:32):
I think that's very interesting.
So Anna, tell us what do youcan.
In your tomatoes, and then we'lldive into the tools.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (02:39):
Oh, okay.
I love this question.
In the beginning, I also did alot of different tomato
products.
I did enchilada sauce, I didmarinara, I did tomato sauce,
tomato paste.
And what I've learned over theyears is that.
I like having really two, maybethree major tomato products in
(03:00):
my pantry, and then I work offof that.
So number one is salsa numbertwo is diced tomatoes, and
number three is a tomato sauce.
So with those three, I canpretty much make any type of
cooked tomato product that Iwant.
I usually do.
(03:20):
Oh, I would say probably 50pints of diced tomatoes, just
because we use them all the Iuse them, strain them and I use
that as actually my pizza sauceJust a straight canned diced
tomato.
And then obviously salsa foreating and tomato sauce for,
pasta dishes.
So what about you, Jenny?
(03:41):
What do you, what tomatoproducts do you can.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_115 (03:43):
So I do, I can zero tomato salsa.
My husband really likes a freshtomato salsa.
I have canned a very good salsaverde, which is made with eos,
so that's does not apply forthis episode at all.
But I make, I call it easytomato sauce.
So it's a pretty basic, notsuper thick.
(04:04):
A lot of people spend a lot oftime cooking their down, so it's
super thick and I leave minefairly thin.
Tomato sauce.
And I would say that is the vastmajority I do can some marinara
sauce.
And that is a recipe that I havein my cookbook, the Pressure
Canning Cookbook, but it's basedvery closely off of two
different tested recipes.
(04:25):
So that's a sauce that hasground meat in it as well as
tomato.
But those are, I find like justas simple tomato sauce is the
most useful for me.
Then I can always open the jarup and then make it be the thing
I need it to be.
And because you've done all thework of peeling and cooking and
chopping and all that, it's veryeasy to turn it into tomato,
(04:48):
pasta sauce or very easy to turnit into your pizza sauce.
Very simple.
So that's how I do it.
But, and I think it's cool.
People out there do, like wesaid, like enchilada sauce or
like hot sauce, they make allthe different.
Little specific niche tomatosauces, and that's cool too.
Just as long as you're using atested recipe, knock yourself
(05:09):
out, and that's how you findthings your family will love.
So knock yourself out.
Anna, let's start with thebeginning of our tool list for
preserving tomatoes.
So first part is sometimes thehardest.
Peeling.
What is your method or whattools do we have for peeling
those tomatoes?
You have the best tip of all.
Everybody get a pencil.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (05:28):
It's out of laziness and exhaustion.
At the end of the summer, I havethis, you pick farm, really
close by me, and at thebeginning of October, they shut
off the water to the tomatofields and they let you come and
glean tomatoes.
And so I gather a group offriends.
We go and pick tomatoes that areeither red or green.
(05:50):
And we donate half to the foodbank, and then we bring the
other half home.
And by October I am usuallyburned out.
I am exhausted, so I end upwashing whatever Red tomatoes we
have.
And then just putting them inZiploc bags and throwing them in
my freezer, kicking that candown the road.
And then when I want to usetomatoes or make something with
(06:13):
tomatoes, I pull the bag out andlet it thaw in the sink.
And magically when those unthaw,the skins just slip right off
and there's no boiling, there'sno cutting xs in the bottom of
the tomatoes.
You just slip those skins rightoff.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-20 (06:28):
Amazing.
So to be super clear, Anna justfreezes the whole tomato, the
whole thing without doinganything to it other than
watching it off.
You freeze them and then they'reround little globes and then.
When you're ready to work themup, either cook them fresh or
can them, or whatever you wannado with them.
Then you let'em defrost a littlebit, the skin slide right off.
(06:51):
Just pull'em off like a beanie,a little hat, blo, and then
they're ready to go.
That's incredible.
After Anna told me this Iapplied the same tactic to whole
peaches.
So this is not a peach episode,but here's a peach tip.
You can do the same two peachesand I did this last summer or
(07:12):
excuse me, the summer before andthis last, this, what I did the
summer before lasted me a wholeyear.
My dad has one peach tree,literally 100 years old, and it
had so many peaches.
It was breaking branches and hecalled and he was like, I got
some peaches for you.
So I just go over there thinkingI'm gonna get a box of peaches.
No, I had a car full of peaches.
And like Anna said,
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (07:33):
no.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2 (07:33):
sometimes that's all you've got is just,
you know, just a little bit of,any wits left.
And so I just put them all inthe chest freezer, just a whole.
And then I'm such a creature ofhabit.
I had a three peach smoothieevery day for lunch.
Almost every single day of theyear.
I had three peach smoothie.
So it was three peaches I'd getout and then 15 minutes later
they'd be soft enough to justslide the skins off.
(07:55):
And I would just slice them offthe pit, kinda like the way you
would cut an apple.
'cause it was still prettyfrozen.
Right.
And I put the peach chunks in myblender, a scoop of vanilla
protein powder and milk.
And then I'd put it in a jar andhead to town.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (08:08):
Yum.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_ (08:08):
Well, yum.
But also very handy.
So that is Anna and I, I wouldsuggest that is a very good way
to get over the problem of howto peel.
Anna, what do you do if youaren't, let's say you can't
freeze them or don't freeze themHow is like the normal way of
peeling a tomato?
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (08:29):
Yeah, the standard way that people
peel tomatoes is to use a sharpknife and cut an X in the
bottom, and then toss thosefresh tomatoes in boiling water.
Blanch them and then take themout and put them in an ice bath
and then you can slip the skinsthat way.
The problem is, is that methodwhen it's a hundred degrees
outside is probably as close tohell as I would imagine hell is,
(08:55):
is having to like grab hottomatoes and try and get the
skin off
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_ (08:59):
Yeah.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (08:59):
you're also boiling other tomatoes.
Like it's just, it's too much.
But that's traditionally whatthey recommend in the Ball Blue
Book Guide to Preserving and theUSDA's website.
There's still plenty of recipesout there doing that, but I
think people are getting wise tothe fact that method kind of
sucks.
You can do it, but it just kindof sucks.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_1 (09:19):
Yeah and by sucks we mean it sucks
for you.
The end result is great, butit's just like it takes, I hate
it because it takes.
Kind of a long time.
It's very hard for me personallyto keep all that moisture in the
pot.
I feel like I'm splashing.
You get tomato water all overyour universe,
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (09:45):
Yes.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_1 (09:46):
it's very hard and it's kind of like
horribly slow.
So if you were to drop into aboiling water bath, one tomato,
well then that'll be blanched inabout 30 seconds.
Then you have to go one by one.
And if you are like me, youwanna put 25 in there because
it's let's get this partystarted, let's go.
But then it takes so long, thenyou don't know which ones are
(10:08):
done.
You're pulling up with a slottedspoon.
There's just no way to make itfaster or less awful.
And I tried really hard to findone, and I feel confident in
saying that it's just a verytedious and messy step.
and then waiting till they'recool enough to slide the skins
off.
Of course you're gonna try anddo it too soon and you'll burn
(10:28):
your fingers and feel annoyed.
And then what do you do withthese scalding hot skins?
They're also leaking tomatowater.
I mean, it's fine to do.
And maybe you don't hate it.
Maybe you're like, great, I'mhappy to do this.
Great.
Do it.
But.
For me personally, as Anna aptlysaid, it is a hellish procedure
and it makes the whole thing,oh, there's another thing when
you process tomatoes, okay,let's say this is your very
(10:52):
first time canning tomatoes.
For the processing time or thetime that the tomato sauce has
to be in the jar is longer than,let's say raspberry jam.
it's like fairly long.
Okay?
25 minutes as opposed to 10minutes, or probably longer.
Really it's longer, so it justmakes your whole day, your whole
thing is just going to belonger.
So that's what we recommend forpeeling Anna, tell us about the
(11:14):
tool that you love for coring.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (11:16):
Yeah, so there's a little hand tool
called a core, and you can usethis for apples, but I like
using'em for tomatoes as well.
Sometimes the tomatoes I getfrom the farm Really big.
Tops on them where the stem hascome out, and it's really great
to use.
You just twist a little bit andyou can pull that core out
pretty well.
(11:36):
Even if you push it all the waythrough, you're not really
losing a lot of tomatoes.
Usually it's the seeds and thetomato juice on the inside.
When I throw'em in the freezer,I just throw'em in hole.
But if I'm throwing them in theblender for a salsa or
something.
That's when I use my core.
But you can use that for allkinds of fruit or vegetable.
But you've never used one ofthose, is that right, Jenny?
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_ (11:58):
Yeah, I've never had one.
I don't think I tried one forstrawberries and I didn't find
it to be so useful that Icouldn't do without it.
So that's the only core style Ithink I've ever used.
I've used a melon baller to corepears, but that's not the same
thing.
So I just use a sharp knife.
And actually that's a tool weshould definitely have added
maybe was for working withtomatoes, you need your sharpest
(12:21):
knife because it will beannoying otherwise.
will you tell us about theimmersion blender that you use
and that you love?
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (12:27):
Oh sure.
I think any immersion blender isfantastic It has like a
stainless steel blade.
I used one for years that had aplastic your product gets hot in
the pot, I don't really likeusing plastic in a boiling
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025 (12:40):
Right.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (12:41):
just 'cause I'm like, oh great.
More plastic in my body.
so I recommend getting onethat's either a stainless steel
or, or something that's not Theimmersion blender for something.
Is it for tomato sauce?
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_115 (12:53):
So I do love an immersion blender
for all things in the kitchen.
Love, love it.
I'm just sort of waiting till Ican find one or the yard, I'm
just living without it and Imiss it.
They're really, really great.
for ketchup and or barbecuesauce?
There's several good testedrecipes for those tomato
products out there, and I've hadvery good results in cooking
(13:13):
them in a crockpot and then justcoming in every hour or two
hours or whatever, and just withthe.
Immersion blender and that makesa very thick and smooth sauce.
It's excellent for making, applebutter.
I do the apple butter exactlythe same way in the crockpot,
and it just makes for a verysmooth product that's very
(13:34):
comparable to store bought interms of texture and
consistency.
it's a very good way to do it,and less hands on time for you
just standing at the stove.
So I do love that.
And an immersion blender isreally great for making a good,
smooth, basic tomato sauce.
I use a blender and I skip thepeeling entirely so you can can
(13:57):
in jars, bits of tomato skin, orI guess it would be the whole
skin in my case.
As long as you don't have anItalian grandmother who will,
you know, disown you for doingso, I find that.
I don't find any tastedifference or textured,
objection with blending mytomatoes.
I just core them in like half orquarter them and toss them into
(14:18):
a blender so I have a biggervolume, right?
And just blend and then pourthat into my cooking pot and
then start cooking everythingdown.
So that's what has worked for meand it's safe to do that.
And I don't have an Italiangrandmother to tell me not to do
that.
I think it's easier and I feellike it's probably just a little
bit more fiber for my kids andme, and it's no problem in my
(14:39):
mind.
So I do my basic tomato sauceswith a blender.
So you could do that too.
what other ways can we suggestpeople use?
Anna, tell us about your foodprocessor.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (14:49):
Yeah, so last, I wanna say Black
Friday I got a Ninja blender.
Food processor combo.
It was on sale and I had beentrying to use a small food
processor, a two cup foodprocessor for salsa making, and
it was just annoying.
It was not the size I wanted,but this nine cup, I think it's
nine cups, food processor isfantastic because not only does
(15:13):
it come with discs that you cando.
diced or shredded from the top.
I use it when I'm doing onions,peppers, and hot peppers for my
salsa.
I will throw in, two quartered.
and get like the perfect dicedonion.
Then I can throw those in thepot with my tomatoes for salsa.
(15:35):
It's just so much easier and Ilove it because I don't have to
chop everything by hand.
much as I wanna be a sous chef,I don't enjoy that part of salsa
making shortcuts I can do tomake it quicker.
wanna pass along to you so thatyou can also.
Have a fun time canning andpreserving and not be hot and
(15:58):
sweaty in the kitchen andstressed out.
some of the joy that Jenny and Ihave from processing food comes
from finding shortcuts that workfor you and your family.
So the food processor was agreat tool for me and I hope it
will be for you as well.
why don't you talk about theelectric food mill?
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_ (16:18):
Okay, so I had an electric food mill
that was sent to me, this isquite a while ago by ball and it
was really cool.
Cool.
As in cool.
It did exactly what it wassupposed to do.
It was great.
I don't love cleaning applianceslike that.
you are always gonna have to dosome dishes, but at the time my
kitchen was teeny tiny.
I had no dishwasher and it waslike an appliance it was great,
(16:41):
but I just did not have room tokeep.
And I think I gave it to mysister because it just, I didn't
have the room to storesomething.
I didn't use that often.
But they're out there.
They're available.
You could thrift one.
And I would say that especiallyif you get a good deal on it,
you should definitely try it.
It looks like the analog foodmills that our grandmothers
would've clamped to a countertopor table, and it has a cone
(17:04):
coming out of the side and thena, a slide for the sauce to come
out of into a bowl on thecountertop, which people use
those to do apple sauce.
I mean, the analog versions ofthose with the conical shape,
lying sideways, or morehorizontal rather than vertical,
were very popular.
(17:24):
And it's an electric version ofthat.
I know my mom used the handcrank version for several things
when I was growing up and it wasjust like a lot of cranking,
just if you'd use it all thetime, it gets tiresome, but also
you may not mind that, I justlove something that's never
gonna break.
You're not gonna find somethingthat works better for the job it
(17:45):
was intended.
Those work really great.
So after I got rid of theelectric food mill, which I just
didn't have room to storereally, I used exclusively a
food mill called the Oxo FoodMill.
And it's a little bit differentshape.
It's a bowl.
The disc is at the base of thebowl.
(18:05):
It has little feet, like a spaceshuttle that come out and you
set it on top of a bowl, so it'smore of a vertical setup rather
than a left to right orhorizontal setup.
And into the hopper, which ispretty big.
You can just in your cookedtomatoes or I use it for
applesauce.
I use it a lot in other things.
So to me, it was more versatileand a little bit easier to use,
(18:26):
and definitely easier to clean.
The electric food mill.
So I love the Oxo brand foodmill for processing tomatoes.
And pretty much any cooked fruitor veg, that sucker works so
fantastic and it's very easy towash in the dishwasher or by
hand.
It all comes apart.
There's no nooks and crannies.
Other than the disc, but that'sunavoidable.
(18:48):
It's much easier to clean.
I think I would go so far to sayit is much easier to clean.
Have you used one of those or doyou not have one of the bowl
shaped food mills?
Anna.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (18:57):
When the kids were really little, I
had one to make, fruit pureesfor the kids, like when they
were babies, and it was verysmall.
So I know exactly what you'retalking about, but I've never
seen a big one or used a bigone.
But I know that you love yours.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_1 (19:12):
When you see women getting the teeny
tiny.
Everything to process food forbabies.
Don't you wish for them thatthey would just be gifted a
full-size thing so they can useit for longer than six months?
I feel like that's such a crimeand I feel so sorry.
Every time I'm like, they justdon't like, especially if you're
a new mom, you don't know whatthe heck you're gonna need or
(19:32):
for how long you just, you'rejust signing up for everyone
else is signing up for.
But if you were gifting orshopping for yourself for early
mom hood.
I got mine at my baby showerbecause I have a very practical
friend, also named Anna.
She's my other Anna.
She gave me that Oxo food milland my, that was literally 14
years ago, and I use it often.
(19:53):
It's so good and it's just morelike family size, not baby size.
You don't need to make, there'ssuch a short amount of time that
you need to make a tiny amountof puree, like you will use a
full-size one forever.
what else do we have on ourlist, Anna, for tools that we
love?
Anything else?
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (20:11):
I had one, an electric food mill.
This was something that issimilar to the hand crank one
that you were I found one.
On Amazon, I spent almost ahundred bucks on Like, oh, this
will be so great for tomatoes,right?
Because it separates out theseeds, the skins, the whatever,
and just gives you this lovelytomato sauce.
(20:32):
I tried putting that thingtogether and it took a long
time.
had a million pieces and in theend it just got clogged and I
was so disappointed.
And it was past the point when Icould return it.
And so now it just stares at mein the garage every time I go
out to the garage.
(20:53):
So either I need to get rid ofit, number one.
Or face my fears and try itagain and see if I can get it to
work.
But if you have one that youlove, let us know.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_ (21:04):
Yeah.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (21:05):
it's usually a plugin type of
situation with a little motor,and you just drop it in the
hopper on the top, and then itgoes through this auger and then
comes out the front.
But I don't know I have seen,some like heavy duty.
Varieties, maybe homemade onYouTube or Instagram, people
doing like big tomato processingparties.
(21:26):
Maybe they're like have likeItalian grandmothers standing
there, this is how you do it.
But I did, it wasn't everythingI hoped it would be, which is
always frustrating when you wantsomething to work really badly
and you spend money on it.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_1158 (21:41):
I actually think that the most
important part of it is, likeyou said, it gets clogged.
that tells you it's gonna be apain to clean, and that's what's
so annoying about spending moneyon these things, and that's what
makes it really.
Not fun to use.
The other type of tool that youcould explore for processing
(22:02):
tomatoes is a KitchenAid mixerattachment, and I know there's
other brands of mixers that alsosell attachments,
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (22:09):
Oh yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_11 (22:09):
You may have to explore those for
whatever brand you may have.
But I do have a KitchenAid mixerand if you start looking like I
would go to the KitchenAidwebsite and just look at all
their accessories that theysell.
They sell a lot of accessoriesand they clip onto the front or
screw on, I guess to the veryfront.
And we have used the meatgrinder.
(22:30):
I think I got that before wewere married.
I think I've had that meatgrinder for 15 years, a long
time, it is, Just very strong.
Like the motor in yourKitchenAid is a strong motor.
And then the attachments it'snice because it's not as big as
a whole new appliance and itmakes use of that one invested
purchase that you have, that onebig KitchenAid.
(22:51):
They have like a sifter and ascale like for making, I really
wanna get it for my daughter formaking macarons the little
cookies, that you sift thealmond flour.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (23:00):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_1 (23:00):
They have just more attachments than
you might realize, and they haveone that is specifically for
pro, it's like a food processingattachment.
And yeah, the hopper isn'treally big, but it might be a
really great option, especiallyif you live in a smaller space
or a smaller apartment orsomething.
I think that would be the hotticket.
(23:21):
That would be something to checkout and I've seen a bazillion
KitchenAid attachments listed onPoshmark or eBay, so that might
also be a great place to look ifyou're shopping for something
like that to help you processall your preserves, but tomatoes
for sure.
what else do we have on our Ian?
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (23:35):
I was just gonna mention also like
Jenny talked about her pressurecanning cookbook.
They are available in tractorsupply stores, which is amazing.
There's a lot of tractor supplystores out there, so it is
available at Tractor Supplystores and Amazon.
But also in any of yourbookstores, you can ask for it
there.
So we love our good independentbook sellers, of course.
(23:55):
And then I also have eBooks andvideo courses on all things
tomatoes.
You can findthat@smarthomecanning.com.
It's really easy.
It's$10 for a mini course and$40for a whole course.
So Jenny and I both offeroptions for.
Tomatoes or other foodpreserving.
(24:17):
And as always, we love pointingpeople toward extension office
The internet is a great place tofind the USDA website, the
National Center for Home FoodPreservation.
We always want to give you thebest up to date scientifically
proven and tested recipes sothat you are as safe as possible
when you do your home canning.
And, so you will also find thatin Jenny's book or my courses as
(24:41):
well.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_1 (24:41):
yes.
Thank you for mentioning that,Anna.
I think this is a great episodeand I feel like for the most
popular Preserve tomatoes, it'sreally great to have tools that
make it easier to get to the funpart, and you're not spending
all kinds of time just cleaningup tomato water all over your
kitchen.
Hopefully these tools werereally helpful to you and we
(25:01):
look forward to seeing you nexttime.
That's our show.
We don't want you to miss anepisode, so please be sure to
subscribe.
If you found this episodehelpful and informative, please
give our show a rating andreview.
It only takes a few seconds andit really helps our show grow.
Follow us on social media atSmart Home Canning and at the
(25:22):
domestic wildflower.
Email your preserving questionsto Perfectly Preserved
podcast@gmail.com and we will doour best to answer your
questions on the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
Stay tuned for our next episodereleased every week.
Welcome to the PerfectlyPreserved Podcast.
I'm your host Jenny Gomes.
And I'm Anna Cash.
Here we come together to bringyou a podcast all about
preserving food safely, easily,and dare I say, perfectly.
At home.
We are master food preserversmoms wives, and we love talking
about canning.
ready to can like a masterpreserver.
(00:21):
Let's get into today's episode.
anna_1_06-08-2025_12585 (00:26):
Welcome back to another episode of The
Perfectly Preserved Podcast.
I'm Anna here with my co-host,Jenny.
we are going to be talking toyou today about the best tools
for tomato processing.
Tomatoes are the most cannedproduct in the United States,
and so it's important that wecover some of the tools that you
might use for that.
It's going to be a really greatepisode, so stay tuned.
(00:48):
For those of you that are new tothe podcast, welcome, we always
want.
A rating and review.
So if you have not done that,please do for the first time
ever, we are also on YouTube, socheck us out there.
Perfectly preserved, and let'sget started.
Jenny, what do we have in thisepisode today?
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_ (01:07):
Okay, so you said so.
Correctly that tomatoes are themost commonly canned food in
America, which is amazing.
And it's very interestingbecause they're not the easiest,
that's not to discourage you orto say that they're hard, but
they do have a few ins and outs.
If you're brand new to canningand new to.
Tomatoes.
we do have a couple episodes atthe beginning of our season one
(01:29):
that you should check out.
That's all things, canningtomatoes, all about proper
acidification.
Good recipes to try and just areally great primer at the
beginning of our season one, Ithink, all about tomatoes, so
you can definitely check thatout if you're brand new.
But in this episode we wannatalk about the tools that make
tomatoes easier.
(01:50):
I think too, there's severalthings that we're gonna cover
that will just give you optionsfor both peeling coring and then
however you want to work upthose tomatoes so that they are
useful to you when you areopening the jar.
the whole progression is reallyimportant that you think about
what do I want at the end resultthat will be the most useful to
(02:12):
me.
I always think it's interestingto talk to people that have been
canning a while and hear so whatis the thing you can with your
tomatoes?
Do you do tomato sauce?
Some people drill down and makeenchilada sauce and tomato pasta
sauce and make many different,very similar but differently
seasoned tomato products.
(02:32):
I think that's very interesting.
So Anna, tell us what do youcan.
In your tomatoes, and then we'lldive into the tools.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (02:39):
Oh, okay.
I love this question.
In the beginning, I also did alot of different tomato
products.
I did enchilada sauce, I didmarinara, I did tomato sauce,
tomato paste.
And what I've learned over theyears is that.
I like having really two, maybethree major tomato products in
(03:00):
my pantry, and then I work offof that.
So number one is salsa numbertwo is diced tomatoes, and
number three is a tomato sauce.
So with those three, I canpretty much make any type of
cooked tomato product that Iwant.
I usually do.
(03:20):
Oh, I would say probably 50pints of diced tomatoes, just
because we use them all the Iuse them, strain them and I use
that as actually my pizza sauceJust a straight canned diced
tomato.
And then obviously salsa foreating and tomato sauce for,
pasta dishes.
So what about you, Jenny?
(03:41):
What do you, what tomatoproducts do you can.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_115 (03:43):
So I do, I can zero tomato salsa.
My husband really likes a freshtomato salsa.
I have canned a very good salsaverde, which is made with eos,
so that's does not apply forthis episode at all.
But I make, I call it easytomato sauce.
So it's a pretty basic, notsuper thick.
(04:04):
A lot of people spend a lot oftime cooking their down, so it's
super thick and I leave minefairly thin.
Tomato sauce.
And I would say that is the vastmajority I do can some marinara
sauce.
And that is a recipe that I havein my cookbook, the Pressure
Canning Cookbook, but it's basedvery closely off of two
different tested recipes.
(04:25):
So that's a sauce that hasground meat in it as well as
tomato.
But those are, I find like justas simple tomato sauce is the
most useful for me.
Then I can always open the jarup and then make it be the thing
I need it to be.
And because you've done all thework of peeling and cooking and
chopping and all that, it's veryeasy to turn it into tomato,
(04:48):
pasta sauce or very easy to turnit into your pizza sauce.
Very simple.
So that's how I do it.
But, and I think it's cool.
People out there do, like wesaid, like enchilada sauce or
like hot sauce, they make allthe different.
Little specific niche tomatosauces, and that's cool too.
Just as long as you're using atested recipe, knock yourself
(05:09):
out, and that's how you findthings your family will love.
So knock yourself out.
Anna, let's start with thebeginning of our tool list for
preserving tomatoes.
So first part is sometimes thehardest.
Peeling.
What is your method or whattools do we have for peeling
those tomatoes?
You have the best tip of all.
Everybody get a pencil.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (05:28):
It's out of laziness and exhaustion.
At the end of the summer, I havethis, you pick farm, really
close by me, and at thebeginning of October, they shut
off the water to the tomatofields and they let you come and
glean tomatoes.
And so I gather a group offriends.
We go and pick tomatoes that areeither red or green.
(05:50):
And we donate half to the foodbank, and then we bring the
other half home.
And by October I am usuallyburned out.
I am exhausted, so I end upwashing whatever Red tomatoes we
have.
And then just putting them inZiploc bags and throwing them in
my freezer, kicking that candown the road.
And then when I want to usetomatoes or make something with
(06:13):
tomatoes, I pull the bag out andlet it thaw in the sink.
And magically when those unthaw,the skins just slip right off
and there's no boiling, there'sno cutting xs in the bottom of
the tomatoes.
You just slip those skins rightoff.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-20 (06:28):
Amazing.
So to be super clear, Anna justfreezes the whole tomato, the
whole thing without doinganything to it other than
watching it off.
You freeze them and then they'reround little globes and then.
When you're ready to work themup, either cook them fresh or
can them, or whatever you wannado with them.
Then you let'em defrost a littlebit, the skin slide right off.
(06:51):
Just pull'em off like a beanie,a little hat, blo, and then
they're ready to go.
That's incredible.
After Anna told me this Iapplied the same tactic to whole
peaches.
So this is not a peach episode,but here's a peach tip.
You can do the same two peachesand I did this last summer or
(07:12):
excuse me, the summer before andthis last, this, what I did the
summer before lasted me a wholeyear.
My dad has one peach tree,literally 100 years old, and it
had so many peaches.
It was breaking branches and hecalled and he was like, I got
some peaches for you.
So I just go over there thinkingI'm gonna get a box of peaches.
No, I had a car full of peaches.
And like Anna said,
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (07:33):
no.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2 (07:33):
sometimes that's all you've got is just,
you know, just a little bit of,any wits left.
And so I just put them all inthe chest freezer, just a whole.
And then I'm such a creature ofhabit.
I had a three peach smoothieevery day for lunch.
Almost every single day of theyear.
I had three peach smoothie.
So it was three peaches I'd getout and then 15 minutes later
they'd be soft enough to justslide the skins off.
(07:55):
And I would just slice them offthe pit, kinda like the way you
would cut an apple.
'cause it was still prettyfrozen.
Right.
And I put the peach chunks in myblender, a scoop of vanilla
protein powder and milk.
And then I'd put it in a jar andhead to town.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (08:08):
Yum.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_ (08:08):
Well, yum.
But also very handy.
So that is Anna and I, I wouldsuggest that is a very good way
to get over the problem of howto peel.
Anna, what do you do if youaren't, let's say you can't
freeze them or don't freeze themHow is like the normal way of
peeling a tomato?
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (08:29):
Yeah, the standard way that people
peel tomatoes is to use a sharpknife and cut an X in the
bottom, and then toss thosefresh tomatoes in boiling water.
Blanch them and then take themout and put them in an ice bath
and then you can slip the skinsthat way.
The problem is, is that methodwhen it's a hundred degrees
outside is probably as close tohell as I would imagine hell is,
(08:55):
is having to like grab hottomatoes and try and get the
skin off
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_ (08:59):
Yeah.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (08:59):
you're also boiling other tomatoes.
Like it's just, it's too much.
But that's traditionally whatthey recommend in the Ball Blue
Book Guide to Preserving and theUSDA's website.
There's still plenty of recipesout there doing that, but I
think people are getting wise tothe fact that method kind of
sucks.
You can do it, but it just kindof sucks.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_1 (09:19):
Yeah and by sucks we mean it sucks
for you.
The end result is great, butit's just like it takes, I hate
it because it takes.
Kind of a long time.
It's very hard for me personallyto keep all that moisture in the
pot.
I feel like I'm splashing.
You get tomato water all overyour universe,
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (09:45):
Yes.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_1 (09:46):
it's very hard and it's kind of like
horribly slow.
So if you were to drop into aboiling water bath, one tomato,
well then that'll be blanched inabout 30 seconds.
Then you have to go one by one.
And if you are like me, youwanna put 25 in there because
it's let's get this partystarted, let's go.
But then it takes so long, thenyou don't know which ones are
(10:08):
done.
You're pulling up with a slottedspoon.
There's just no way to make itfaster or less awful.
And I tried really hard to findone, and I feel confident in
saying that it's just a verytedious and messy step.
and then waiting till they'recool enough to slide the skins
off.
Of course you're gonna try anddo it too soon and you'll burn
(10:28):
your fingers and feel annoyed.
And then what do you do withthese scalding hot skins?
They're also leaking tomatowater.
I mean, it's fine to do.
And maybe you don't hate it.
Maybe you're like, great, I'mhappy to do this.
Great.
Do it.
But.
For me personally, as Anna aptlysaid, it is a hellish procedure
and it makes the whole thing,oh, there's another thing when
you process tomatoes, okay,let's say this is your very
(10:52):
first time canning tomatoes.
For the processing time or thetime that the tomato sauce has
to be in the jar is longer than,let's say raspberry jam.
it's like fairly long.
Okay?
25 minutes as opposed to 10minutes, or probably longer.
Really it's longer, so it justmakes your whole day, your whole
thing is just going to belonger.
So that's what we recommend forpeeling Anna, tell us about the
(11:14):
tool that you love for coring.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (11:16):
Yeah, so there's a little hand tool
called a core, and you can usethis for apples, but I like
using'em for tomatoes as well.
Sometimes the tomatoes I getfrom the farm Really big.
Tops on them where the stem hascome out, and it's really great
to use.
You just twist a little bit andyou can pull that core out
pretty well.
(11:36):
Even if you push it all the waythrough, you're not really
losing a lot of tomatoes.
Usually it's the seeds and thetomato juice on the inside.
When I throw'em in the freezer,I just throw'em in hole.
But if I'm throwing them in theblender for a salsa or
something.
That's when I use my core.
But you can use that for allkinds of fruit or vegetable.
But you've never used one ofthose, is that right, Jenny?
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_ (11:58):
Yeah, I've never had one.
I don't think I tried one forstrawberries and I didn't find
it to be so useful that Icouldn't do without it.
So that's the only core style Ithink I've ever used.
I've used a melon baller to corepears, but that's not the same
thing.
So I just use a sharp knife.
And actually that's a tool weshould definitely have added
maybe was for working withtomatoes, you need your sharpest
(12:21):
knife because it will beannoying otherwise.
will you tell us about theimmersion blender that you use
and that you love?
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (12:27):
Oh sure.
I think any immersion blender isfantastic It has like a
stainless steel blade.
I used one for years that had aplastic your product gets hot in
the pot, I don't really likeusing plastic in a boiling
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025 (12:40):
Right.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (12:41):
just 'cause I'm like, oh great.
More plastic in my body.
so I recommend getting onethat's either a stainless steel
or, or something that's not Theimmersion blender for something.
Is it for tomato sauce?
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_115 (12:53):
So I do love an immersion blender
for all things in the kitchen.
Love, love it.
I'm just sort of waiting till Ican find one or the yard, I'm
just living without it and Imiss it.
They're really, really great.
for ketchup and or barbecuesauce?
There's several good testedrecipes for those tomato
products out there, and I've hadvery good results in cooking
(13:13):
them in a crockpot and then justcoming in every hour or two
hours or whatever, and just withthe.
Immersion blender and that makesa very thick and smooth sauce.
It's excellent for making, applebutter.
I do the apple butter exactlythe same way in the crockpot,
and it just makes for a verysmooth product that's very
(13:34):
comparable to store bought interms of texture and
consistency.
it's a very good way to do it,and less hands on time for you
just standing at the stove.
So I do love that.
And an immersion blender isreally great for making a good,
smooth, basic tomato sauce.
I use a blender and I skip thepeeling entirely so you can can
(13:57):
in jars, bits of tomato skin, orI guess it would be the whole
skin in my case.
As long as you don't have anItalian grandmother who will,
you know, disown you for doingso, I find that.
I don't find any tastedifference or textured,
objection with blending mytomatoes.
I just core them in like half orquarter them and toss them into
(14:18):
a blender so I have a biggervolume, right?
And just blend and then pourthat into my cooking pot and
then start cooking everythingdown.
So that's what has worked for meand it's safe to do that.
And I don't have an Italiangrandmother to tell me not to do
that.
I think it's easier and I feellike it's probably just a little
bit more fiber for my kids andme, and it's no problem in my
(14:39):
mind.
So I do my basic tomato sauceswith a blender.
So you could do that too.
what other ways can we suggestpeople use?
Anna, tell us about your foodprocessor.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (14:49):
Yeah, so last, I wanna say Black
Friday I got a Ninja blender.
Food processor combo.
It was on sale and I had beentrying to use a small food
processor, a two cup foodprocessor for salsa making, and
it was just annoying.
It was not the size I wanted,but this nine cup, I think it's
nine cups, food processor isfantastic because not only does
(15:13):
it come with discs that you cando.
diced or shredded from the top.
I use it when I'm doing onions,peppers, and hot peppers for my
salsa.
I will throw in, two quartered.
and get like the perfect dicedonion.
Then I can throw those in thepot with my tomatoes for salsa.
(15:35):
It's just so much easier and Ilove it because I don't have to
chop everything by hand.
much as I wanna be a sous chef,I don't enjoy that part of salsa
making shortcuts I can do tomake it quicker.
wanna pass along to you so thatyou can also.
Have a fun time canning andpreserving and not be hot and
(15:58):
sweaty in the kitchen andstressed out.
some of the joy that Jenny and Ihave from processing food comes
from finding shortcuts that workfor you and your family.
So the food processor was agreat tool for me and I hope it
will be for you as well.
why don't you talk about theelectric food mill?
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_ (16:18):
Okay, so I had an electric food mill
that was sent to me, this isquite a while ago by ball and it
was really cool.
Cool.
As in cool.
It did exactly what it wassupposed to do.
It was great.
I don't love cleaning applianceslike that.
you are always gonna have to dosome dishes, but at the time my
kitchen was teeny tiny.
I had no dishwasher and it waslike an appliance it was great,
(16:41):
but I just did not have room tokeep.
And I think I gave it to mysister because it just, I didn't
have the room to storesomething.
I didn't use that often.
But they're out there.
They're available.
You could thrift one.
And I would say that especiallyif you get a good deal on it,
you should definitely try it.
It looks like the analog foodmills that our grandmothers
would've clamped to a countertopor table, and it has a cone
(17:04):
coming out of the side and thena, a slide for the sauce to come
out of into a bowl on thecountertop, which people use
those to do apple sauce.
I mean, the analog versions ofthose with the conical shape,
lying sideways, or morehorizontal rather than vertical,
were very popular.
(17:24):
And it's an electric version ofthat.
I know my mom used the handcrank version for several things
when I was growing up and it wasjust like a lot of cranking,
just if you'd use it all thetime, it gets tiresome, but also
you may not mind that, I justlove something that's never
gonna break.
You're not gonna find somethingthat works better for the job it
(17:45):
was intended.
Those work really great.
So after I got rid of theelectric food mill, which I just
didn't have room to storereally, I used exclusively a
food mill called the Oxo FoodMill.
And it's a little bit differentshape.
It's a bowl.
The disc is at the base of thebowl.
(18:05):
It has little feet, like a spaceshuttle that come out and you
set it on top of a bowl, so it'smore of a vertical setup rather
than a left to right orhorizontal setup.
And into the hopper, which ispretty big.
You can just in your cookedtomatoes or I use it for
applesauce.
I use it a lot in other things.
So to me, it was more versatileand a little bit easier to use,
(18:26):
and definitely easier to clean.
The electric food mill.
So I love the Oxo brand foodmill for processing tomatoes.
And pretty much any cooked fruitor veg, that sucker works so
fantastic and it's very easy towash in the dishwasher or by
hand.
It all comes apart.
There's no nooks and crannies.
Other than the disc, but that'sunavoidable.
(18:48):
It's much easier to clean.
I think I would go so far to sayit is much easier to clean.
Have you used one of those or doyou not have one of the bowl
shaped food mills?
Anna.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (18:57):
When the kids were really little, I
had one to make, fruit pureesfor the kids, like when they
were babies, and it was verysmall.
So I know exactly what you'retalking about, but I've never
seen a big one or used a bigone.
But I know that you love yours.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_1 (19:12):
When you see women getting the teeny
tiny.
Everything to process food forbabies.
Don't you wish for them thatthey would just be gifted a
full-size thing so they can useit for longer than six months?
I feel like that's such a crimeand I feel so sorry.
Every time I'm like, they justdon't like, especially if you're
a new mom, you don't know whatthe heck you're gonna need or
(19:32):
for how long you just, you'rejust signing up for everyone
else is signing up for.
But if you were gifting orshopping for yourself for early
mom hood.
I got mine at my baby showerbecause I have a very practical
friend, also named Anna.
She's my other Anna.
She gave me that Oxo food milland my, that was literally 14
years ago, and I use it often.
(19:53):
It's so good and it's just morelike family size, not baby size.
You don't need to make, there'ssuch a short amount of time that
you need to make a tiny amountof puree, like you will use a
full-size one forever.
what else do we have on ourlist, Anna, for tools that we
love?
Anything else?
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (20:11):
I had one, an electric food mill.
This was something that issimilar to the hand crank one
that you were I found one.
On Amazon, I spent almost ahundred bucks on Like, oh, this
will be so great for tomatoes,right?
Because it separates out theseeds, the skins, the whatever,
and just gives you this lovelytomato sauce.
(20:32):
I tried putting that thingtogether and it took a long
time.
had a million pieces and in theend it just got clogged and I
was so disappointed.
And it was past the point when Icould return it.
And so now it just stares at mein the garage every time I go
out to the garage.
(20:53):
So either I need to get rid ofit, number one.
Or face my fears and try itagain and see if I can get it to
work.
But if you have one that youlove, let us know.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_ (21:04):
Yeah.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (21:05):
it's usually a plugin type of
situation with a little motor,and you just drop it in the
hopper on the top, and then itgoes through this auger and then
comes out the front.
But I don't know I have seen,some like heavy duty.
Varieties, maybe homemade onYouTube or Instagram, people
doing like big tomato processingparties.
(21:26):
Maybe they're like have likeItalian grandmothers standing
there, this is how you do it.
But I did, it wasn't everythingI hoped it would be, which is
always frustrating when you wantsomething to work really badly
and you spend money on it.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_1158 (21:41):
I actually think that the most
important part of it is, likeyou said, it gets clogged.
that tells you it's gonna be apain to clean, and that's what's
so annoying about spending moneyon these things, and that's what
makes it really.
Not fun to use.
The other type of tool that youcould explore for processing
(22:02):
tomatoes is a KitchenAid mixerattachment, and I know there's
other brands of mixers that alsosell attachments,
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (22:09):
Oh yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_11 (22:09):
You may have to explore those for
whatever brand you may have.
But I do have a KitchenAid mixerand if you start looking like I
would go to the KitchenAidwebsite and just look at all
their accessories that theysell.
They sell a lot of accessoriesand they clip onto the front or
screw on, I guess to the veryfront.
And we have used the meatgrinder.
(22:30):
I think I got that before wewere married.
I think I've had that meatgrinder for 15 years, a long
time, it is, Just very strong.
Like the motor in yourKitchenAid is a strong motor.
And then the attachments it'snice because it's not as big as
a whole new appliance and itmakes use of that one invested
purchase that you have, that onebig KitchenAid.
(22:51):
They have like a sifter and ascale like for making, I really
wanna get it for my daughter formaking macarons the little
cookies, that you sift thealmond flour.
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (23:00):
Yeah.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_1 (23:00):
They have just more attachments than
you might realize, and they haveone that is specifically for
pro, it's like a food processingattachment.
And yeah, the hopper isn'treally big, but it might be a
really great option, especiallyif you live in a smaller space
or a smaller apartment orsomething.
I think that would be the hotticket.
(23:21):
That would be something to checkout and I've seen a bazillion
KitchenAid attachments listed onPoshmark or eBay, so that might
also be a great place to look ifyou're shopping for something
like that to help you processall your preserves, but tomatoes
for sure.
what else do we have on our Ian?
anna_1_06-08-2025_125854 (23:35):
I was just gonna mention also like
Jenny talked about her pressurecanning cookbook.
They are available in tractorsupply stores, which is amazing.
There's a lot of tractor supplystores out there, so it is
available at Tractor Supplystores and Amazon.
But also in any of yourbookstores, you can ask for it
there.
So we love our good independentbook sellers, of course.
(23:55):
And then I also have eBooks andvideo courses on all things
tomatoes.
You can findthat@smarthomecanning.com.
It's really easy.
It's$10 for a mini course and$40for a whole course.
So Jenny and I both offeroptions for.
Tomatoes or other foodpreserving.
(24:17):
And as always, we love pointingpeople toward extension office
The internet is a great place tofind the USDA website, the
National Center for Home FoodPreservation.
We always want to give you thebest up to date scientifically
proven and tested recipes sothat you are as safe as possible
when you do your home canning.
And, so you will also find thatin Jenny's book or my courses as
(24:41):
well.
jenny-gomes_1_06-08-2025_1 (24:41):
yes.
Thank you for mentioning that,Anna.
I think this is a great episodeand I feel like for the most
popular Preserve tomatoes, it'sreally great to have tools that
make it easier to get to the funpart, and you're not spending
all kinds of time just cleaningup tomato water all over your
kitchen.
Hopefully these tools werereally helpful to you and we
(25:01):
look forward to seeing you nexttime.
That's our show.
We don't want you to miss anepisode, so please be sure to
subscribe.
If you found this episodehelpful and informative, please
give our show a rating andreview.
It only takes a few seconds andit really helps our show grow.
Follow us on social media atSmart Home Canning and at the
(25:22):
domestic wildflower.
Email your preserving questionsto Perfectly Preserved
podcast@gmail.com and we will doour best to answer your
questions on the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
Stay tuned for our next episodereleased every week.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.