Tomato MADNESS
We went to the Lakeside Farmer’s Market yesterday evening. Right around the corner and I didn’t even know it existed. According to the husband it’s new. Oddly one of the things he covers at the paper is the local farmers market scene. There is quite the soap opera going on right now…apparently someone is trying to pass off produce as Virginia Grown when is isn’t. Controversial Cantaloupes and the like. Community journalists round up a lot of wackos in their jobs.
Anyhoo, we ran into our pal Mike. He and his wife retired to run a pepper farm and now sell at several of the local markets. Things were closing down when we got there and he kindly unloaded all his tomatoes. I got 53 pounds for a mere $20. Let that sink in a minute…that’s $0.40 a pound.
So, back on the home-front, what does one do with 53 pounds of tomatoes? Can, if you can. It really isn’t so hard…lots of boiling, but nothing impossible. My goal is to have at least 40 pints of crushed tomatoes put up by this fall. I am doing just part of the batch today. That’s around 23 pounds. We use a lot of tomatoes, so I am not sure this will be enough, but it can’t hurt.
I am following the guidelines here. They are the from the University of Georgia. The do I wish I had was a hand-held blender. The one from my baby food making days is long gone, but it would give a nice texture.
The only big modification I make is the cutting our the cores part. Frankly it takes to long. After I peel the skin I just crush them by hand into my pot, pull out the core and there you go. Messy, but a lot of fun.
For the record 23 pounds = 15 pints.
As a total side note I have been knitting like mad. We’re in a coll snap…highs only to the mid 80’s! I know, but for here that’s down right chilly. I also want to do a sweater for big sis sort of similar to the one Kit Kitrage wears at the beginning of the movie. I am thinking that Cascade Superwash might do the trick.