Italian Seasoned Bottled Tomatoes

These are fabulous tasting tomatoes that add great flavor to practically any dish!  I particularly like this recipe because it has limited juice/liquid, which results in a more concentrated and enriched tomato flavor.  Petite dicing the tomatoes does result in using more tomatoes per jar, but the outcome is well worth it!

Italian Seasoned Bottled Tomatoes

Menu Managed Original

Tomatoes

vinegar

kosher or canning salt

minced garlic

seasoned tomato spice blend (below)

Spice Blend

6 Tbsp. dried basil

3 Tbsp. dried thyme

3 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. dried oregano

2 Tbsp. dried rosemary

2 Tbsp. dried sage

Blanch tomatoes and remove stems and skins.

Petite dice tomatoes and place in a large colander over a bowl to catch all of the juice.

In sterilized jars, using a slotted spoon, add tomatoes half way up the jar.

To each quart sized jar add:

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

1 Tbsp. spice belnd

1 tsp. kosher or canning salt

1 Tbsp. vinegar

Spoon in additional tomatoes.

Gently shake the jar to compact tomatoes, and spoon in more to within 1" headspace.

Ladle in tomato juice (from the bowl under the colander), to within 1" headspace.

Remove air bubbles.

Wipe bottle rim clean.

Screw on lids and bands to fingertip tight.

Continue filling other jars.

Due to the size of the tomato chunks, and to the limited amount of juice (and the fact that you are using tomato juice instead of water), processing time must be increased to ensure that heat fully penetrates to the center.   

Process in a pressure canner at 13 lbs. (Utah elevation) for 25 minutes.

Tomatoes and liquid will seperate during processing - this is normal.

Once cooled, simply shake the jar to stir contents together.

Because this is a cold pack method (no cooking before putting tomatoes in jars), the tomatoes will shrink slightly, resulting in the larger headspace.