Tomatoes - Italian Style Stewed for Canning

By rainmaker

Ingredients

• 5 quarts (20 cups) tomatoes, peeled, cored ( the stem at the top) and quartered
• 4 cup chopped onions
• 4 cups chopped bell peppers (green and red)
• 1/4 cup minced garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3/4 cup white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt per quart jar

Preparation

Step 1

Blanch, peel, core and quarter tomatoes. To blanch a tomato, you drop tomato into boiling water for 15 seconds then drop tomato into ice water or just peel. The skin will peel off easily. Remember, core is just taking the stem part out of the top of the tomato and the bottom part.

Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven or stainless steel pan.

Add garlic and oregano, cook till garlic is tender and oregano is fragrant (about 2 minutes).

Add chopped onion and peppers and cook until tender (about 5 minutes).

Add tomatoes, vinegar and sugar, simmer uncovered about 45 minutes or until desired consistency (you will need to cook longer if tomatoes are watery).

Place in hot sterilized quart jars, add 1 teaspoon of salt to the top of each quart jar, leave 1/2 inch space at the top, place lids on and place in hot water bath, bring water back to boil and start timing for 40 minutes, remove and let cool. For jars that do not seal, remove lids and clean top of jar, replace with new lid and re-bath jars.