Many housewives harvest various pickles for the winter - eggplant, cucumbers and, among other things, tomatoes. Below we will just share how to prepare canned tomatoes with basil for the winter.
Basil Choice
The peculiarity of this recipe is the basil used in it. This wonderful herb can be either fresh or dried - there is no particular difference in which one to choose for conservation. In any case, the tomatoes canned with basil will turn out to be aromatic and savory in taste.
Ingredients
The amount of ingredients indicated here corresponds to approximately 4.5-5 liters of the finished product. So, in order to cook canned tomatoes with basil, you will need about five liters of tomatoes and about 3 teaspoons of basil (if it is dried, otherwise several branches). In addition, it will be nice to have:
- bay leaf (8-10 leaves),
- black pepper (pepper should not be ground, but peas; 15 pieces will be quite enough),
- allspice (also peas and in the same amount),
- garlic (10-12 cloves is enough),
- dill (if you use fresh, it will take about 6 umbrellas; if you prefer dried seeds, then half a teaspoon is enough for the recipe),
- vinegar (the volume is calculated based on the proportion: 1 teaspoon of vinegar per 1.5 liters of product).
Brine ingredients
To prepare the brine (and it will require approximately 600 ml for every 1.5 liters of product), you will need several liters of water, 6 tablespoons of salt and 17-19 tablespoons of granulated sugar.
Cooking process
First of all, you need to prepare a container in which your tomatoes will be stored, that is, glass jars. They must be washed and thoroughly sterilized in boiling water and steam. The same thing should be done with the covers with which you will roll your tomatoes. Now you need to prepare your tomatoes. To cook excellent tomatoes with basil, canned or any others, they must always be washed first, after which they need to give time to dry. If among them there are limp, spoiled, rotten vegetables, then they should be removed - they are not suitable for seaming.
When the jars are ready, on the bottom of each of them, in equal parts, you need to put all the spices you prepared, that is, pepper, dill, garlic, bay leaf and, of course, basil, since we cook canned tomatoes with basil. When all the spices have been stacked, you can lay tomatoes already dried by then.
Now we turn to the preparation of brine. It must be said right away: in order to make the canned tomatoes with basil really tasty, we will fill the brine into jars in two stages.
So, in the usual way, that is, on the stove, we prepare the marinade from everything that was listed above (except for vinegar). When your brine begins to boil, then it needs to be poured into jars of tomatoes and in this state left for a quarter of an hour or a little more. But it’s better not to stand the time for more than twenty minutes. When the specified period expires, the brine must be drained from the cans back into the pan and boiled again. While the marinade will boil again, pour vinegar in equal parts into cans. And after that, already boiled brine needs to be poured again into the banks and immediately roll them up. Ready cans should be cooled to room temperature. To do this correctly, they need to be put on a warm cloth, turned upside down. Top cans are also better wrapped in some kind of woolen blanket. In this form, they should stand until completely cooled, after which they can be stored. Tomatoes with basil, canned or pickled, should be stored in a place not permeable to light at room temperature or slightly lower. A cupboard works well in a city apartment, and a cellar is ideal in a private house.