So, you might think that at the end of August things in the garden would be slowing down a bit, if you thought that, you'd be wrong! I'm very busy taking care of the garden, harvesting just about everything, and planting crops for the fall. The tomatoes are coming in big time, so it's time to preserve some of them. I like to can tomatoes because i don't have the freezer space for them. Plus once you can them, they can stay on a shelf and still be good 2 years later. Today I'm doing fresh pack tomatoes. Canning isn't rocket science, but it does take time and care. First i blanch and peel my tomatoes, i usually cut them into quarters or chunks. Next i sterilize my canning jars. I use my pressure canner to do this because it comes with a rack that sits on the bottom of the pot and protects the jars from breaking. Sterilizing your jars and lids is easy. Boil enough water so the jars (i lay mine down) are covered by the water. Once the water is boiling, put your jars and/or lids and rings in for 5 minutes. Take them out and they're ready to be filled and put in the canner. I added fresh basil to the jars before i put in the tomatoes. Pack the tomatoes into the jar, and smush them down with your fist. Drain off excess liquid as you go. Leave 1/2 an inch of head space in the jar and for quarts, add 2 tablespoons of concentrated lemon juice to each quart. This will help with keeping the tomatoes nice and red, and for acidity. Most tomatoes we grow today are fairly low in acidity. Which is why you need to pressure can them, not do them in a boiling water bath, the water just doesn't get hot enough so it's not as safe a method. The only things you really can using a hot boiling water bath are fruits, and jam, but only jam you don't use pectin in. I put on the lids and screw the rings down finger tight. Then it's into the pressure canner. When the water gets hot enough in the canner, it will start to vent steam. You adjust the heat so there's a steady stream for 10 minutes. Then you crank the heat up again and put on the pressure gauge (if you're using a weighted gauge canner) if not, you wouldn't have to do that step. Always follow the directions that come with whatever type of pressure canner you buy. Once the pressure gauge starts to rock, that's when you're canning time starts. Fresh pack tomatoes take 25 minutes, but add 10 to vent, 15 to get it up to temperature and 20 to cool down and you're over an hour. Keep that in mind when you start. While it is time consuming, the benefits of keeping these 4 quarts on a shelf for whenever i want to use them, is worth it.