After Friday’s temperature of 103 and Saturday’s record breaking temperature of 100 degrees, Monday brought us a pleasant temperature in the 60’s (way below normal). Along with a comfortable quilt of clouds in the sky and a refreshing drizzle to cool the air it is pleasant to hear the acorns hitting the deck once again as they now drop from the big oak in the back. The front tree is just showing it’s first tinge of yellow, a sure sign that autumn has arrived, though unofficial. As the squirrels busy themselves with gathering, the leaves begin falling and my garden leaves are thinning I realize that the seasons are changing again. Each season has its turn and many positive qualities only belonging to it but Fall is one of my favorite times of year.
I like so many things about Autumn but harvest is one of its highlights. Last year I had one next door neighbor bring me a huge bag of tomatoes that someone in her family had grown but couldn’t use and they were starting to go. Could I figure out what to do with them? Then my other neighbor had a crateful of tomatoes from her father’s garden that nobody wanted and so she handed them over to me to see if I could use them. I didn’t hesitate. I loved receiving these tomatoes and canned what there was of them. This year I decided to make a purchase and on Saturday I went to the market and asked to purchase tomatoes by the case at wholesale. A couple of minutes later they brought me out my requested two cases of tomatoes, I paid and was on my way. Each case is approximately 25 pounds… a little more based on my yield. And at $17.50 per case that’s .70 per pound. I kept a number of beautiful tomatoes out for salads this week. You can’t beat that price for a fresh tomato.
Monday morning on Labor Day at 6:15 a.m. we started round one of tomatoes before heading to our annual AFL/CIO Union picnic at Coney Island. After washing, blanching and peeling the tomatoes I quartered them and put them in a pot. I filled each pot with water to almost cover the tomatoes and then put them on the stovetop to boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. I had many many pots of tomatoes that I did this with. I juggled between these tasks pretty well and the VCR was my best friend, along with the couch cushions and pillows, to keep the kids somewhat entertained as I performed round two of tomatoes today. It’s not often I let the kids watch as much TV as they want! I still had to lock the screen doors when I discovered that one child had made an escape and let cats outside to play with him in the rain as well.
I had lots of help! Nathan loves to gather the rings and wear them as bracelets up the whole length of his arm so when I need rings I know where to look. What I didn’t realize was that I needed to look in the couch cushions for my measuring spoons! I add two Tablespoons of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of salt to each quart jar. I had fun making a royal mess of my kitchen as the smell of tomatoes wafted through my house and out of my wide open windows. Kaitlyn insists that she does not like tomatoes or onions. She is surprised to hear that she eats onions almost every day and finally agrees that tomatoes are good “mixed in” with other things to make some of her favorite foods. She asked me what I use them for… tomatoes make pizza sauce, chili, a variety of soups, spaghetti sauce and the list goes on.
Happily my Mom’s old canner still has its integrity despite the fall it took a couple of months ago as it was drying when my kitten attacked it from the inside! But purchased back in 1976 along with my parents first house it is showing other signs of age. Here in the canner are quarts of packed tomatoes ready to be processed… you have to be a little careful with tomatoes and they have a very long processing time of 45 minutes in the hot water bath.
When all was said and done I was left with some beautiful fresh tomatoes for eating this week in salads, sandwiches and tacos along with 18 1/2 quarts of beautiful quartered tomatoes to serve this winter in some of our favorite, warming dishes.
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