That time of year again

[willy]

Well boys the tomatoes are in, some canning to do, all my kids were gone for diffrent reasons but had my sister in laws and brother inlaws all here with there kids and my nephew. Owner of the Lab in the shots

The CEO in her full Italian mode



Some shots of the clan at work in my back yard, seven burners going
plus the stove inside, 160 jars total plus another thirty for fresh sauce

[willy]

[willy]

After clean up the wife put on some steaks that had been marinating all night, some fresh pasta and salad from my garden, new sauce for the pasta and about six bottles of wine.

A good day

[lumberslinger178]

thats makin me hungry

[chumbucket]

Pass the TUMS. I'm in!

[charlie_the_tuna]

hey willy, how do you keep em? jar it up hot and let it set?
man, thems some nice plump tomatoes. nice haul.

[willy]

First you wash um all up real good and then you have a big glass of wine in ice(its hot work) then you have pots with boiling water going and you put clean tomatoes in and you boil them until the outside skin cracks open and gets soft otherwise you clog up your grinder with too tough a skin, then you have another big glass of wine and ice.
Then you run them thru your ginder ( we used to do it all by hand, three years ago I bought the good electric kind) which seperates the skin and seeds from the juice pulp inside, then you run the skins thru the grinder agian to get all the last of the good stuff out. Then you have another big glass of wine and ice.
You get an assembly line kind of going to you get to the point when you are now putting all your tomato in giant pots on burners and you cook them for a pretty long time, nice and boiling type hot. While this is happening you have a glass or two of wine and ice. Towards the end of the cooking time you add salt and big handfulls of fresh basil to the cooking pots. This is when the Ceo walks around checking everything and you got time to sit for a few minutes at a time and have a big glass of wine and ice, I walk around like the great supervisor of the operation and check my wife repeatedly for ripeness while she tries to pretend like I am not here.
Inside the jars and lids have been boiled (sterilized) and are awaiting. You pour yourself a big glass of wine and ice and deliver the big pots one at a time to the CEO and the in-law equivalents who ladle the hot juice into the jars and place the lids on.
Then you pour yourself a big glass of wine and ice, light up a cigar with your bro's, and begin the clean up of all the pots and mess, talk about how ripe the wives are, fishing and whatever else you can think of.
Then the jars are set aside to cool, takes hours for that to happen. The cooling causes a huge vacum which seal the lids.
While the wives finish up their inside clean up you pour yourself a big glass of wine and ice and the CEO prepares a big meal for everyone while you admire the CEO's prowess in the culinary field and count down the time when everyone leaves so you can talk about your admiration of her skills.
You then divy up the jars everyone goes home.
Then you pour yourself a glass of Bushmills Single Malt 10 year old, relax and then you go upstairs and talk about the days events.

[willy]

That about sums up the process of canning tomatoes at the Schultz homestead.

[lumberslinger178]

sounds like you better take up makin wine instead.....

[RWilson2526]

I count 7 glasses of wine and a glass of scotch......too bad its only once a year!