Mid Summer Harvest

We spent almost two weeks in California visiting our two week old grandson and his family. Although a few folk looked after our animals and were encouraged to pick veggies from our gardens, we were overwhelmed by what we still had to pick. Summer squash outdid themselves this cool, moist summer and there were over 100 pounds waiting. Four of the Italian zucchini were hiding and grew so large that we're letting them fully ripen so we can harvest their seeds.

Summer Squash Row Harvest

Squash and Cuke Harvest from the Bean Tunnel

Italian Zucchini Growing Through the Fence

Early Tomatoes 

Greenhouse Harvest Included Guinea Fowl and Hen Eggs

Purple Pole Beans and Sweet Hungarian Peppers with Cupcake

Of course we can't eat or preserve all this food so we donate most of it to a homeless shelter, 127 pounds this week. When tomato production peaks in a week or two we'll process them into sauce, ketchup, soup stock and bags of sun dried slices. 

Pears Showing Surface Cracking

 Pears and early apples are disappointing. We missed peak ripeness period of our early apple tree and most of the fruit had fallen and was not suitable for cider. We will make a few pies with these but we have applesauce left over from earlier years so we don't need to make more. We will make pear cider in a few weeks when they mature and hope cracking doesn't hurt the taste.

Overripe Apples on the Ground

Processing Tomatoes

We grow almost 200 tomato plants in two separate gardens. This year we are trying six varieties and not saving tomato seeds so each section has more than one variety. When we save seeds, we grow only a few types and isolate each variety to keep the seed pure and less likely crossing with another. This time of year this many plants deliver a few bushels of ripe fruit each week that we share with family, friends and neighbors. We also deliver 40 to 100 pounds each week to a local shelter.

The "Squeezo" Separates Tomato Skins and Seeds from Pulp and Juice. We Put the Skins and Seeds Through Twice to Maximize Yield and Dry the Dregs for the Chickens.

Hand Cranked Food Processor with Interested Dog, Cupcake.

This week was our turn to process ripe tomatoes. We separate the juice and pulp from the seeds and skin using the same "Squeezo" food processor that we use for apples. We add lots of garlic, basil, oregano, and hot peppers (Serrano this time) and let boil for half an hour. 

Tomatillos, Serrano and Sweet Peppers We Added to Flavor the Tomatoes

On top of the bubbling puree we then float a metal colander with small holes so we can ladle out most of the clear liquid. We preserve this in quart jars for soup stock that we use to reconstitute dry beans during cold months. It takes three or four quarts to make a large pot of soup using a pound each of dry beans and frozen sweet corn. We usually add hot turkey sausage and any fresh vegetables available. The wood stove in the kitchen is hot or warm from October to April since it heats our home so it's no trouble to slowly cook soup for eight hours, or so, every week. 

Metal Colander Floating on Top of Cooking Tomato Sauce That Facilitates Ladling Out Tomato Plasma to Thicken It.

Tomatoes processed this way make twice as much soup stock (flavored tomato plasma) as it does thick sauce that we use for pasta or pizza.

Day One: Nine Quarts of Thick Tomato Sauce and 19 Quarts of Soup Stock, That Have Various Amounts of Tomato/Flavoring Solids. Fewer Bits and Pieces Go Through the Holes in the Colander As the Sauce Thickens. 

Day Two: Five Quarts and One Pint of Tomato Sauce, 11 Quarts of Soup Stock On Top of the Stove We'll Use for Cooking All Winter.

Tomato Harvest

Most years we’ve grown an assortment of tomatoes to establish which ones work out best, but this year we planted two kinds: 96 plants of “Bears”, a plum variety for making sauce and a half dozen “Grape” tomatoes, for all-around eating. Last year “Bears” out produced three other plumb tomato finalists and they did not disappoint us this year. Most fruits are perfect, with not one with blossom end rot or splits. Though not their fault, a few (1 – 2%) did get damaged by birds, rodents and tomato hornworms but this was hardly noticeable. We had more than ample rain throughout the summer but unusually cool weather slowed tomato growth so ripening really began in September, two weeks later than the last few years.

Figure 1: Plum Tomato Plants in September Woven Between Stakes

As described in an earlier posting, we grow our tomatoes among rows of aluminum stakes. It takes only a few minutes per row to weave strips of cloth torn from old sheets to interconnect these six foot long poles with the growing tomato plants. This year it took seven sessions of weaving (every week or so starting in June) to bind the ever taller plants so no vines touch the ground (Figure 1) or block paths between rows.

Figure 2: 240 Pounds of "Bears" Plum Tomatoes (and a Tomatillo)

We pick our plum tomatoes once a week and store them for a few days to insure they fully ripen before we give them away or grind them through our 40 year old Squeezo food processor. It took a good part of two days to transform last week’s 240 pounds (Figure 2) into 17 quarts of very thick tomato sauce and seven quarts of tomato soup stock. Turning the handle drives an auger against a screen that separates pulp and juice from peels and seeds (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Straining Tomatoes Through a "Squeezo" Food Processor

 The latter we feed the chickens (Figure 4) and the liquids become soup stock and tomato sauce that is as thick as canned tomato paste. Since we already have more than 120 quarts of soup stock in the pantry, we now only preserve flavorful variations that include spices and other produce. Earlier in the summer we canned spicy sweet corn salsa that also produced many jars of flavorful stock. This year canning clear yellow tomato plasma isn’t worth the work.

Figure 4: A Chicken Trying Tomato Skin/Seed Mixture

Although 240 pounds of tomatoes produces more than 20 gallons of liquids, this becomes only about four gallons of thick sauce. We’ve found that boiling the thin fluid mixture that flows through the Squeezo separation screen for 20 minutes makes the solids stick together and sink while what we call the “plasma” separates and rises. Floating a colander in the mixture (Figure 5) facilitates ladling out the supernatant yellow fluid so that less than half the initial volume remains in the five gallon pot. 

Figure 5: Tomato "Plasma" Collecting in a Colander Floating in Thickening Sauce

The holes in the colander clog with tomato paste and let in only clear liquid. We add two gallons of the thin fluid mixture a few times, boil and then remove more clear yellow liquid until the pot is over half full of very thick sauce. Turning 16 gallons of this liquid into steam to remove it would take much more time and energy.

In a food processor we chop hands-full of garlic, hot peppers, basil and oregano and add this to the now thickened sauce. To meld flavors, we cook this together for a half hour and then ladle the mixture into jars. Though any canning method would work, for this acidic tomato sauce we use a shallow pan that holds about a gallon of water and is topped by an aluminum disk with holes (Figure 6). 

Figure 6: Rear - Canning Operation with 7 Jars Above Water Ready to be Covered with Top
Front - Finished Jars of Tomato Sauce and Soup Stock

Seven quart jars or up to 10 pint jars can fit on top and are covered by a tall aluminum hat. We start timing 20 minutes and turn down the heat when steam shoots out of two small holes in the top. This energy efficient method is quick and simple. My wife scalded her legs using a pressure canner so we now use this method that has worked well for us for over two decades. 

So the boxes of tomatoes in Figure 1 resulted in 17 Jars of tomato sauce and 7 quarts of bright red soup stock shown in Figure 7. More than 20 gallons of clear tomato "plasma" was discarded.

Figure 7: Left - Tomato Stock, Right: Tomato Sauce from 240 Pounds of Plum Tomatoes

To summarize for our location in upstate New York:

1.      Late March: plant tomato seeds in a small flat;

2.      Late April: transplant 2” seedlings to single 8 oz. containers (we reuse old yoghurt cups);

3.      Late May: transplant 8 dozen 8-12” plants into rows between stakes, two feet apart;

4.      June, July and August: weave 1” wide strips of cloth up, then down each row every week to 10 days,       supporting the tomato vines between the stakes;

5.     September: harvest more than 800 pounds of plum tomatoes and process half, and share the rest with neighbors and a food pantry;

6.      Select 100, or so, perfect fruit, save the seeds (described in a future post); and

8.      October +: remove the stakes and roll up the cloth strips, then mulch the vines so they replenish the soil.