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These 6 Heirloom Tomatoes Will Make Your Homemade Sauce Unforgettable!
TomatoesGreat sauce starts with exquisite tomatoes! Here are our all-time favorite tomatoes to grow for canning. Their low acidity and meaty flesh make superb sauces and salsas!
Tomatoes are a favorite vegetable to grow because they have such outstanding flavor and nothing in the grocery store comes even close to them.
Chefs know that to create supreme results in the kitchen, you have to start with the best ingredients. Homegrown, full-flavor heirloom tomatoes result in unparalleled homemade sauces. Our favorite recipe for tomato sauce starts with 20 lbs of garden-fresh heirloom tomatoes.
When you grow heirloom tomatoes from seed, you can choose the perfect variety for preserving your favorite salsa, spaghetti sauce, and more.
Why Some Tomato Varieties Are Better for Canning
There are several qualities to look for when choosing the best tomatoes for canning or making sauce.
Ideally, you want a tomato that has a thick, meaty texture and a hearty tomato flavor. Tomatoes with few seeds and low water content are preferred for sauces. They take less time to cook into a rich, thick sauce, and they hold their shape for diced and whole canning.
You also want a tomato with a high flesh-to-skin ratio. That’s why cherry tomatoes aren’t used for canning.
Here are our six best tomatoes to grow for canning and making the ultimate tomato sauce:
Our Best Tomatoes for Canning and Homemade Sauce
Striped Paste Tomato
As the name suggests, the heirloom Striped Paste tomato is perfect for sauces. As an indeterminate tomato, it will keep growing for as long as the season allows. Keep your plants well fertilized, and you can make small or large batches of tomato sauce as your harvest continues until the first frost.
San Marzano
The famous San Marzano sauce tomato from Italy has been cultivated for centuries. Its thick, meaty, and dense flesh is precisely what you want for making those rich Italian sauces. It will cook up quickly and give you that unmistakable homegrown flavor you’re looking for. San Marzano tomatoes taste a little sweeter than Romas. They are also indeterminate and will continue producing until temperatures get too cold.
Roma
Roma tomatoes are well known for their sauce-making qualities. You’ll find them listed by name in many recipes. They have a small seed cavity, and their size makes them a suitable choice when you want to can whole tomatoes. Romas can also be sliced in rounds and added to pizza without making it watery. A determinate variety, Roma tomatoes will set all their fruit within a short time frame, making them a good choice for canning big batches.
Rutgers
Introduced at Rutgers University in 1934, this heirloom tomato is a favorite for canning. It has a good balance of acidity and sweetness. The meaty texture has a minimum of seeds and a lower water content, resulting in a thick, flavorful sauce. Rutgers is also an excellent slicing tomato for eating fresh. So consider this variety if you’re looking for something that will do double duty.
Homestead Tomato
Besides being an excellent tomato for canning and preserving, the Homestead tomato is a reliable producer even in hot weather. When other varieties stop producing, this heirloom will still be setting fruit. It has an even round shape that can also be used for a slicing tomato.
Oxheart
Oxheart tomatoes are known for being a vigorous producer. They are also sturdy tomatoes with fruits weighing in at one to two pounds in size. This gives them a more significant flesh-to-skin ratio, making peeling seem less of a chore. Their intense tomato flavor makes them an excellent choice for preserving. You can dice Oxheart tomatoes for canning or cook them into a thick sauce.
All of these heirloom sauce tomatoes can be used for quick recipes like marinara as well as long and slow dishes like bolognese. Tomatoes can be canned whole or diced to be ready to add to any dish all year round.
To safely can and preserve your tomato harvest, follow the USDA guidelines for preserving tomatoes. https://nchfp.uga.edu/resources/category/usda-guide
FAQs
How do you peel tomatoes for canning?
Blanching is a quick and easy way to peel tomatoes before making sauce or canning. Cut a small x in the bottom of the tomato. Then, place tomatoes in boiling water for just a few seconds. 30 to 60 seconds should be enough, depending on the tomato size. Carefully lift the tomatoes with a slotted spoon and place them in a bowl of ice water. This will stop the cooking process and cool the tomatoes. Once they are cool enough to handle, the skin should peel right off at the x.
What tomatoes should not be canned?
Overly ripe tomatoes and those that have any spoilage should not be canned. These can increase the risk of spoilage in your final product and result in unsafe food.
Are beefsteak tomatoes good for canning?
You can use all kinds of tomatoes, including beefsteak tomatoes, for canning. They have a higher seed and water content, so they take longer to cook down into a thick sauce. However, if you make tomato juice, you will want to choose your tomato variety based on your flavor preference.
What variety is best for canning whole tomatoes?
Roma and San Marzano tomatoes are excellent for canning whole. These tomatoes have meaty flesh with few seeds.
From salsa to homemade spaghetti sauce, there's a perfect tomato variety for you to grow. When you grow any or all of these outstanding heirloom tomatoes for canning, you'll be able to preserve that garden-fresh flavor to enjoy all year.
Start growing these tomatoes from seed and taste the difference!
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