Trendy Tomatoes!

There are some recipes that are so old that they deserve an opportunity to become 'trendy' once again!  I found these in my collection and they clearly come under the 'heirloom' category - and not because they are tomato recipes.  These probably have not been made for at least 100 years.  I was thinking today that women provided a truly life preserving service by preserving food when it was plentiful for use throughout the year.  I have a book in my food reference collection that reads more like a novel.  Try and grab a copy of this book if you can.  It's called 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle' and subtitled 'A Year of Food Life' by Barbara Kingsolver.  You may have read some of her novels.  She and her family have a farm in Virginia and this is her detailed account of how she and her family managed to live off the land with only locally grown and sustainable food for one year.  It's a fascinating read and a real eye opener.  You will start to look at your food with a local eye!  She writes this about having to deal with a bounty of 'red',

 "At what point did we realize we were headed for a family tomato harvest of 20 percent of a ton?  We had a clue when they began to occupy every horizontal surface in our kitchen.  By mid-August tomatoes covered the counter tops end to end, from the front edge to the back splash.  No place to set down a dirty dish, forget it, and no place to wash it, either.  The sink stayed full of red orbs bobbing in their wash water.  The stove top stayed covered with baking sheets of halved tomatoes waiting for their turn in the oven.  The cutting board stayed full, the knives kept slicing."

She goes on to talk about the canning process and her annual purchase of canning supplies as part of the activities of a secret society with an exclusive membership!  This was most certainly not the case in our not so distant past and I'm happy to say that canning is enjoying a resurgence!  Visit Canning Across America's excellent site to learn more. 

Here are the two 'heirloom' tomato recipes that I located (ha. ha.  Get it?)  I hope if you have discovered yourself soon to be inundated with a bounty of beautiful red orbs that you'll feel inspired to preserve them for the dark days of Winter.  It will be here soon.

Canned Tomatoes

Peel tomatoes and fill cans.  1 teaspoon salt to quart can.  Put cans in cold water, bring to a boil and boil seven minutes.  Then stir down and fill can with hot water or tomatoes cooked on stove and hot.

Just a note:  I think the recipe above actually used tin cans for the canning and not jars.  Also, I believe there's much to this recipe that relies on the cook having a working knowledge of the canning process.  This 'recipe' would bring me to my knees! 

Tomato Marmalade

4 quarts tomatoes skinned and boiled down to 2 quarts
4 oranges using pulp and juice
4 lemons - juice of all and rind of one
4 pounds sugar
Boil 3 hours.

Okay.  Sooo...you know what to do, right?  Of course you would have all the time in the world to complete this task while you were preparing all the meals for your family.  Your very large family.  I found out something I didn't know today!  Marmalade always (and I mean always) has orange in it!  Did you know that was what made marmalade?  Well, now you do.  And think, it was very important to have orange and citrus available to your family's diet in the wintertime to keep everyone healthy.  To read more about all things marmalade click on the foodtimeline link!  It's important, you need to know these things!