One thing I love about life in general is there’s always something to learn, and the beauty of my profession is I’m paid to do so. A couple of years ago I interviewed a mother of 9 kids who canned a considerable amount to feed her family. Our original topic wasn’t about canning, – I think it was on how to raise an independent child – but that’s where we ended up in our discussion. She couldn’t believe I didn’t know about the Victorio strainer, and after finally buying one, I don’t know how I’ve been canning for 20 years without one!
This is a miraculous device. Feed the tomatoes in the hopper, turn the magic crank and watch the skins and seeds go in one direction while the good juice and pulp go another. Amazing! We picked around 14 pounds of tomatoes, and I wanted to give it a whirl. Even though poor Sam was not feeling up to par, he insisted on turning the crank. Went we through all of them in 20 minutes, and that was at a slow pace. I’m confident I can whip through twice that much in roughly a half an hour. 
I had to put the juice in 2 pans to cook it down, which took 3 hours to make a consistency I liked, and I ended up with 3 quarts. This is definitely a quality over quantity situation, but it’s gorgeous. Plus, it saves so many steps. I didn’t have to cook them down and run them through the food mill, or blanch them to remove the skins. I can’t wait to process the rest of them.
These quarts of juice consisted of Brandywine, Stupice and Chocolate Cherry tomatoes. Everything went into the hopper! I processed them in the pressure canner at 15 pounds of pressure at 15 minutes since it’s a faster way to go, and truthfully, safer than the water bath. Even so, I added 1/4 tsp. of citric acid and a teaspoon of salt. Citric acid or lemon juice is an absolute requirement to safely can tomatoes in a water bath method because modern tomatoes frequently have less acid than the older varieties. It’s also recommended for the pressure canner so that’s what I did. (Other friends don’t, but I’m not taking chances.) The result was 3 beautiful jars of sauce (and this is from someone who doesn’t even like tomatoes), and I’m looking forward to using them this winter.
Tags: canning, heirloom vegetables, pressure canner, tomatoes, Victoria strainer
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