Daring Cooks' Challenge September 2010: Food Preservation

The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.

This challenge seemed really interesting to me right off the bat; I've never actually preserved food at home, unless you consider freezing meats and left over canned sauces by using my handy dandy FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer, as food preservation! I became even more interested when I read that one of the recipes was Bruschetta in a Jar, I personally love bruschetta and was lucky enough to marry a man who's mother makes the best bruschetta I've ever had! I have to admit I was a little disappointed that I couldn't actually use olive oil in the recipe (for food safety reasons) but figured we could just drizzle some on later. I haven't had a chance to actually taste my challenge because I wanted to wait a few days to let it marinate, but it smelled really delicious while canning it.

Bruschetta in a Jar

• 9 cups chopped plum tomatoes, about 3 1/2 lb, 20 medium 
• 5 cloves garlic, minced 
• 1 cup dry white wine 
• 1 cup white wine vinegar 
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 
• 1/2 cup water 
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar 
• 2 tbsp dried basil 
• 2 tbsp dried oregano

Makes about 7 x 250 ml jars.

 

Place 7 clean 250 ml mason jars on a rack in a boiling water canner; cover jars with water and heat to a simmer (180°F/82°C). Set screw bands aside. Heat SNAP LID® sealing discs in hot water, not boiling (180°F/82°C). Keep jars and sealing discs hot until ready to use.

Wash, seed and chop tomatoes into 1/2 inch (1cm) pieces; measure 9 cups (2250 ml), set aside.

Combine garlic, white wine, wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, water, sugar, basil and oregano in a deep stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a full boil; reduce heat. Stirring occasionally, boil gently, covered, 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Pack tomatoes into a hot jar to within 3/4 inch (2 cm) of top rim. Add hot liquid to cover tomatoes to within 1/2 inch (1 cm) of top rim (headspace). Using nonmetallic utensil, remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if required, by adding more tomatoes and hot liquid. Wipe jar rim removing any food residue. Center hot sealing disc on clean jar rim. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight. Return filled jar to rack in canner. Repeat for remaining tomatoes and hot liquid.

When canner is filled, ensure that all jars are covered by at least one inch (2.5 cm) of water. Cover canner and bring water to full rolling boil before starting to count processing time. At altitudes up to 1000 ft (305 m), process –boil filled jars – 20 minutes.

When processing time is complete, remove canner lid, wait 5 minutes, then remove jars without tilting and place them upright on a protected work surface. Cool upright, undisturbed 24 hours; DO NOT RETIGHTEN screw bands.

After cooling check jar seals. Sealed discs curve downward and do not move when pressed. Remove screw bands; wipe and dry bands and jars. Store screw bands separately or replace loosely on jars, as desired. Label and store jars in a cool, dark place. For best quality, use home canned foods within one year.

Note: Although other tomato varieties may be used, firm plum tomatoes yield the best results. If using round garden-variety tomatoes, seed tomatoes and drain in colander for 30 minutes then chop.