This article describes a recipe for salting tomatoes for the winter - delicious sliced tomatoes with butter, with a step-by-step description of the cooking technology. Also presented are methods of selecting suitable varieties of tomatoes for preservation, as well as described affordable technological methods of sterilizing cans at home. After reading this article, you will certainly want to use this recipe and brag about your culinary abilities to your loved ones.
How to cook delicious canned tomatoes
The success of quality preservation, first of all, depends on the quality of the selected tomatoes. Therefore, it is most advisable to start thinking about the upcoming harvesting for the winter since spring, when it comes time to pick seeds, plant seedlings, and look after the growing nightshade.
How to choose the right varieties of tomato for salting?
Naturally, not all housewives have a private household and the ability to grow tomatoes on their own. In this case, I can give some tips on choosing tomatoes that are ideal for conservation. So, you should not buy them in the store, because there they are covered with a good layer of food wax for long-term storage. And even in the season itself there is a risk of running into tomatoes ripened in winter. Thus, fresh and fragrant tomatoes should go to the market.
First of all, it is worth inspecting all the laid out samples and choosing the ones you like. It should be noted that genetics does not stand still, so sellers offer a huge number of different varieties, colors and shapes. However, it is worthwhile to understand that in conservation they can behave extremely unpredictably, swell, explode, and all your efforts will be in vain. Therefore, it is best to choose classic red tomatoes with a round or slightly oblong shape. It is very important that the fruit exudes a natural aroma, in other words, it smelled like tomatoes, not chemicals and rot. So, the sample is selected, and now it’s worth asking the seller to cut or break the vegetable, because not only the external examination of the tomato, but also its internal content is important.
In the case when there is obviously too much juice secreted and large seed chambers are clearly visible, the tomato is poorly suitable for preservation in its entirety. These will go very well for the preparation of various ketchups, lecho and other preparations where the presence of natural tomato juice is required. But if the flesh is thick, fleshy, without chambers and with a small amount of juice - you can safely take the required number of such tomatoes and rather go home, preserve them according to recipes, the description of which will be given below.
The subtleties of sterilizing cans
Before proceeding directly to the description of the recipes themselves, I would like to dwell on one more, no less significant point in the procurement process - sterilization. The fact is that most of the hostesses are used to sterilizing them in the “grandmother's” way - they put a special lid on the pan with a slot for the neck of the can, they boil there one at a time for 10, or even more, minutes.
This process is very energy-consuming, given that we usually sterilize not one, but 7-10 pieces, because what to breed is all because of a jar of tomato. And also because the blanks are provided with summer months, and twisting, boiling in a heat a bunch of cans is fraught with consequences, for example, overheating, heat stroke. Therefore, now that there are many helpers in the kitchen, you can use them, thereby reducing the time for the whole process.
2 methods of modern sterilization
So, method 1. Microwave. In jars thoroughly washed and low-fat with soda, a little boiled water is poured (about 3-4 cm), and then they spin there at full power for 5 minutes. Done. We take out the cans, pour out the water, let it dry. The option is good when you do not need a lot of cans of small volume - 0.5 liters or 0.65 liters.
Clear business, liter, and even more so three-liter can not be pushed there, so you can safely choose option 2 - the oven.
We put fat-free and thoroughly rinsed containers of the desired caliber directly in the cold, turn it on 120 degrees and boldly go about our business for 20-25 minutes. Then we carefully get the tacks or mittens, so what comes to hand, and the banks are ready.
The best way to pickle tomato
Actually, to prepare a delicious workpiece, we need: ripe fresh fragrant tomatoes, onions. For brine: for 1 liter of water, take 3 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of salt, 2 bay leaves, 8 peas of black pepper. Our preservatives will be 9% vinegar and unrefined vegetable oil.
Tomato slicing
Wash the tomatoes thoroughly and allow them to dry at natural room temperature. Do not wipe them with a towel, because you can leave an unfavorable flora on the skin, which in the future can lead to bloating of the entire can, and also deform them. Next, cut the tomatoes into slices. If the fruit is large, then about 8 parts, the average is enough for 4-6. Here, see for yourself, the main thing is that the lobule fits comfortably in your mouth and does not cause uncomfortable sensations. Do an experiment, why not? Onions, in turn, should be cut into rings, approximately 0.5-0.7 cm in thickness.
Put in jars
Before proceeding to the actual method of salting tomatoes, they should be laid out in jars. In well-sterilized jars in one of three ways, compactly lay prepared, pre-chopped vegetables. Attention: in no case should they be tamped! So they secrete juice and lose their shape. Remember your favorite Tetris game and simply compactly put a slice to a slice, filling the jar so that there is room for onions, which are placed on top of tomatoes in rings in the amount of 3-4 rings. It should be noted that onions canned in this way are no less tasty than the tomatoes themselves. And everyone will want to grab a large part, crunch and enjoy its delicate taste.
So, the jars are full. We cover them with sterilized lids so that microbes flying in the air do not penetrate, and set them aside. It's time to cook the brine.
Cooking pickle
Brine must be done with the expectation of all banks. Typically, 300-350 ml of brine is prepared per liter capacity. Given that one batch consists of approximately 6 such cans, it will be enough to boil 2 liters. Pour water into the pan, bring to a boil and put all the ingredients described above there, not forgetting that the number of products taken is per liter, so it’s worth increasing their number if you cook by two or three liters. The brine should be boiled for 5-7 minutes so that the pepper and lavrushka give their aromas to it.
Carefully pour the finished brine into cans, filling them so that the onions disappear under water, but there is room for vinegar and oil, that is, about a little higher than the shoulders. Black pepper with brine peas can be spread out one or two little things in each jar for spiciness, but you should not put a lavrushka, because it interrupts the aroma of tomatoes. After the brine is poured, add 1 tablespoon of 9% vinegar, and from above create a kind of cork from the oil. Vegetable oil should be poured so that the oil stain covers the entire surface of the jar, but do not overdo it. Everything should be in moderation.
Last steps
The final stage of preparation is the sterilization of cans with the finished product. This will take a little more time, since it is unlikely that you will be able to find a saucepan in which all the cans fit, so they should be sterilized in parts of three to four pieces.
So, we put containers with tomatoes and onions in a large pan, and then gently, until the shoulders, pour warm, almost hot, water. Why hot? Because we remember that just inside the jar we poured exactly hot liquid, and if you pour cold outside, the jars can simply burst and goodbye diligence. This is physics as it is. So, pouring water into the pan, turn on the stove, bring the water to a boil and boil for 5-6 minutes.
It is worth remembering that when boiling from the cans, droplets of oil may splash out. There is nothing terrible in this if you have not filled it to the brim. But you should not leave too much space, because in the air voids the fermentation process can begin, and the bank will swell and explode over time.
After sterilization of the cans is completed, roll them up. Some people prefer screw caps. Opening them is much simpler, and in terms of tightness they are in no way inferior to ordinary tin. We will clean the jars from the outside with clean napkins, because they can be a little greasy after the oil has boiled in the pan, and then we will wrap them in a warm blanket. So they will infuse and become even tastier.
Enjoy yummy
So, as we found out, pickling tomatoes is a simple matter, and as soon as the jars have cooled, they should be removed in a dark cool place. Since the preservation process is still going on for some time after cooking, do not rush to open them to feast on. Here exposure is important, about 2-3 months. But then you can proudly treat your relatives and friends with such incredible yummy, serving tomatoes, for example, with potatoes. Guests will certainly want to come to you again and ask: are there such delicious tomatoes left ?!