Putting Food Up
- Sarelle McCoard
- Sep 2, 2024
- 3 min read


Earlier this summer I wrote about summer memories and those nostalgic times that always return to me this time of year. For the past 10 years or so I have been canning tomatoes with my mom. We take a weekend each July or August to make tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, salsa, tomato soup, and this year we dehydrated 40 pounds.
Last year mom went home from the produce auction with 550 pounds of tomatoes. This was a huge amount but we got through most of them. Given that there were still leftovers from last season, she bid more reasonably at the produce auction in Bainbridge, Ohio. Only 300 pounds were brought home to put up. This year we started with the sauce. The first step is to briefly boil the tomatoes so that the skin is easily removed. Then we grind them through a food strainer that separates the skin from the pulp and juice. This year we used 100 pounds for the sauce, cooking it down for hours before adding onion, garlic, bell pepper, basil, jalapeños, and a bit of honey to neutralize the acidity. Once the flavor meets our satisfaction we ladle it into sterilized jars. From there it goes into the water bath canner for 40 minutes once it boils. This sauce can be used for pasta, pizza, a base for soup or chili.

While waiting for the sauce jars to finish sealing, we put more tomatoes on to boil. Sloughing off the skin is hot work which is why ice to poured over the tomatoes and onto our burning fingers. The skinned tomatoes are then stuffed into more clean hot jars with a teaspoon of lemon on top. With lids on they wait their turn in the canner.
We take a break for lunch, no I do not want a tomato sandwich.
Back to work! We remove the pint jars from the canning pot….carefully. It is very hot. We line them up on the finishing table and wait from the lids to give off the satisfying POP of a properly sealed jar.
More tomatoes boiled, skin removed, into jars.

This year we tried something new. Tomato soup. This recipe starts out like the sauce, tomatoes fed through the strainer. At the same time celery, onions, parsley, and just a couple of jalapeños are boiled then they too are fed through the strainer. Once it is poured into one of the big pots, it is cooked down for a hour or so. Then we added brown sugar, allspice, and cinnamon. A cup of flour is mixed into a rue and added to the tomato soup as well. This has a nice light red almost pink color. Again we wait patiently as it cooks down before pouring into clean jars, putting the lids on and then into the canner they go for 35 minutes. We repeated this tomato soup process for a couple of more batches, used 75 pounds of tomatoes.
This year I got by with just a steam burn. But mom got hot soup on her fingers while pouring and a nasty blister developed.
All in a weekends work. We stand most of the day. We lift heavy pots with boiling tomatoes. We navigate a large lounging dog or 2 (or 4) on the floor. Our back and feet hurt as I am sure my grandmother and her grandmother and her grandmother’s did. How long ago were these women canning over wood-stoves or outside over an open fire? All to provide food to feed to hungry families through the long harsh winters of years gone by. I feel connected to the grandmothers who are watching and saying “sweeties you don’t know how easy you have it”. I don’t take for granted the tools and indoor gas stoves we have now. I am grateful for the lessons and traditions passed down to me and hopefully to my daughter, my niece, and my nephews.


Beautiful shared experience thst crosses generations. Thank you!
The connection to previous generations is beautiful.
Makes me hungry for grilled cheese and tomato soup.