Best method/process for managing harvest for canning

[kath]

Originally Posted by TomNJ

I wish I had a solution for you both, but I have never had any problems with my Victorio 250. The only advice I can offer is:

1. Remove the stems from the tomatoes.

2. Cut the tomatoes into pieces that can be squished through the hopper hole (about the size of half a paste tomato).

3. Be sure the large red plastic screw is fully seated on the shaft under the spring (rotate the screw). If not, assembly and cranking will be difficult.

4. Avoid pushing the small end of the tamper too deeply into the hopper hole while cranking, as it can hit the screw and cranking stops.

I fill my hopper to the brim and continuously squish the tomato pieces through the hole with the small end of the tamper while cranking. I have never had a screen clog to the point of hard cranking or juice flow stops. The large-holed salsa screen will "clog" in the sense that pieces of tomato skin will catch on the holes, and if not cleaned after about 10-15 lbs may allow some skin to get into the juice, but juice flow is not interupted. I have run over 40 lbs of tomatoes through the small-holed tomato screen without cleaning or problems.

All I can suggest is recheck the assembly carefully, especially #3 above.

TomNJ

Tom,

Thanks for taking the time to make all these suggestions.

1. I removed stems and cores from all tomatoes.

2. I cut the tomatoes in pieces small enough to fall through the hole after originally cutting about the size you mention.

3. I understand that the screw has a metal piece inside that fits around the shaft- I even watched the video on their website which gives much more detailed instructions than the manual.

4. Since the directions stressed NOT to push the tomatoes with the tamper but merely to use it to guide them to the hole, I was really careful about this, pushing only when needed to keep tomatoes going through to the screw.

5. The directions and the customer relations rep I spoke with both said to fill the hopper no more than 1/2 full, so I complied with this.

6. I only have the screen that came with the mill- the one designed for tomatoes and apples.

After reading how this works for you, I'm even more confused as to what causes the juice and pulp to just stop coming out and the cranking be as difficult as when it's empty. I couldn't face it again today, two days in a row, so I loaded up the dehydrator instead with the ripest fruits.

To add insult to injury, I bought an electric roasting pan and filled that and my crockpot with the puree and left them to slow cook all night, only to find this am that the sides of the roasting pan are so burnt that I'll have to attack it with baking soda or something to try to clean it. The puree tastes fine, as the burning happened after the level of puree lowered.

Kath

[kath]

Originally Posted by z_willus_d

Good luck with your canning, and let us know how the result tastes and how many jars of what size you end up with.
--naysen

So the canning went ok this am after the puree slow cooked overnight and it was a decent consistency- not quite as thick as a finished tomato sauce, but reduced by a LOT.

The first pic shows the 7 quarts of finished puree (there was a small bit left that I froze). The second pic shows the two large jars of fresh puree from yesterday that didn't fit into the slow cooker or roasting pan that still has to be cooked down...mostly because the electric roasting pan has burnt tomato juice caking the sides and I've yet to figure out a way to remove it successfully.

Overall, it was WAY more work than makes sense for me because DH is the only one who really likes tomato sauce and he likes the kind you can get in the store on sale for less than $1. And of course my stuff still has to be made into tomato sauce.

Kath

[z_willus_d]

Well, it was a first try and like I said my 2nd went smoother if only slightly. I will say the Lurley method of rapid evacuation to explode the tomatoes helped a great deal with total time, in that I no longer had to deal with all that tomato reduction on the range top. I think there's a trade-off there of less time cooking providing a fresher tasting output vs. loss of the essential tomato water that has it's own amount of flavors and presumably vitamins, etc. (note my tomatoes lost 2/3 mass in water alone in this first evacuation/dripping-off step). Anyway, you might try that Lurley method if you have a pressure cooker.

BTW, your eight quarts look perfect. I think what you're missing in all this effort is an reward. You need to make something special with that pure tomato puree there. Afterwords, you might start to view those hours of cranking on that Victorio in not so terrible or onerous a light.

Thanks for sharing--
-naysen

[kath]

Originally Posted by z_willus_d

Well, it was a first try and like I said my 2nd went smoother if only slightly. I will say the Lurley method of rapid evacuation to explode the tomatoes helped a great deal with total time, in that I no longer had to deal with all that tomato reduction on the range top. I think there's a trade-off there of less time cooking providing a fresher tasting output vs. loss of the essential tomato water that has it's own amount of flavors and presumably vitamins, etc. (note my tomatoes lost 2/3 mass in water alone in this first evacuation/dripping-off step). Anyway, you might try that Lurley method if you have a pressure cooker.

BTW, your eight quarts look perfect. I think what you're missing in all this effort is an reward. You need to make something special with that pure tomato puree there. Afterwords, you might start to view those hours of cranking on that Victorio in not so terrible or onerous a light.

Thanks for sharing--
-naysen

Naysen~

Don't have a pressure cooker, but I might try cooking the tomatoes over high heat in a pot for a short time and draining before running through the mill. I also have many gallons of frozen pieces that I'll defrost and drain, mill and reduce. Then I can compare the taste of the final products.

Last night I bookmarked a couple pages with ideas for using baking soda, salt, vinegar, denture cleaner, etc. for cleaning burnt gunk from enamelware. Once I get that taken care of I'll reduce the fresh puree from the fridge and begin round 2 of canning. Things are seeming not so bad today...I just had to get away from it for a day.

Kath

[lurley]

Kath,
My strainer has never gotten to the point where output completely stopped, but it has slowed. When this happens, I drag the flat side of a table knife across the holes of the strainer to remove the built up pulp hanging on the outside, and start cranking again, and things seem to speed up again after that.

[kath]

Originally Posted by lurley

Kath,
My strainer has never gotten to the point where output completely stopped, but it has slowed. When this happens, I drag the flat side of a table knife across the holes of the strainer to remove the built up pulp hanging on the outside, and start cranking again, and things seem to speed up again after that.

Hi, Lurley~

Thanks- tried that. When output stops completely it's always when the handle is next to impossible to turn.

One of these days, soon, I'll set it up and try again with another batch.

Kath

[lurley]

Kath,
My Vittorio is an older model, but I also have a strainer that looks almost exactly like it made by nor pro. If you can find one, maybe it will work better, and you could then refund the Vittorio?
And burned enamelware? Are you reducing your sauce in your enamelware? It is very thin and burns easily (as you may know). You may want to reduce your sauce overnight in a crock pot set on low with the lid off. I did it that way for many years before changing to the method I use now. I had four crock pots lined up on the counter along with my turkey roaster oven, all with lids off and set on low. It was the easiest way for me to get sauce reduced without burning it.
Good Luck!

[fortyonenorth]

I don't have a pressure canner or one of those very cool Victorios (have that on the list for next year) but we've been using a simple method for preserving sauce that's served us well over the last three years. It's extraordinarily easy and the results are heavenly. I've never found any reason to look for another recipe.

3-4 pounds tomatoes (cored)
1 medium onion
2-3 cloves garlic
large pinch of dried herb (your choice, we generally omit this ingredient for our "base" sauce and add later, depending on what we're using it for)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
3-4 hot peppers (optional - we use jalapenos or other med-hot peppers, whatever we have available)

Slice tomatoes into plum sized pieces and place them face down on baking pan or dish. Arrange onions and garlic over the top, drizzle with EVOO and season with salt and pepper. Place in 375 degree oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The longer the cooking time, the more reduced the final product.

Remove from oven, allow to cool and then run through food mill to remove skins. You can discard the skins or mill them in a blender or food processor, if you prefer a chunkier sauce. Depending on the tomatoes that I've used - whether they are juicy or meaty - I will sometimes reduce the finished sauce on the stovetop for a few hours - or more if you want pizza sauce or paste. Generally, when I use a generic mix of heirlooms, I find that the 2-hour baking produces a nice finished sauce that doesn't require this additional step.

Measure finished sauce into freezer bags (we double bag) and freeze. I don't know how long it keeps frozen - we've generally use it up by February or March, so it keeps at least six months.

Obviously, you can scale this to whatever amount of tomatoes you have on hand. I've been doing 20-25 pounds at a time and this seems to work well in terms of being "worth the effort."

[kath]

Originally Posted by lurley

Kath,
My Vittorio is an older model, but I also have a strainer that looks almost exactly like it made by nor pro. If you can find one, maybe it will work better, and you could then refund the Vittorio?
And burned enamelware? Are you reducing your sauce in your enamelware? It is very thin and burns easily (as you may know). You may want to reduce your sauce overnight in a crock pot set on low with the lid off. I did it that way for many years before changing to the method I use now. I had four crock pots lined up on the counter along with my turkey roaster oven, all with lids off and set on low. It was the easiest way for me to get sauce reduced without burning it.
Good Luck!

Lurley,

Thanks for your help- I was wondering if maybe the older models might have been made better, but I got over my fear and dread and tackled batch #2 of ripe-enough maters today and didn't have any problems. I'd been thinking about a couple of Tom's comments and suggestions and it seemed to me that he was using a lot more force to move the tomato pieces down into the body of the machine, so that was my plan of action today.

So, it appears that the problem was as simple as not keeping the flow of tomatoes going through to the screw consistently. The hard turning was the same as you experience when just beginning to use the mill and at the end when you're pushing through the last bits and it is essentially empty. My problem was too literal an interpretation of "DO NOT FORCE, simply GUIDE fruits..." and listening to the customer service rep who was convinced I needed to cut into smaller pieces, only fill the hopper with a little bit at a time, and not force the tomatoes at all.

So thanks to Tom and to all who have tried to help me figure out how to make this work! I feel a bit foolish.

I only have one small slow cooker, so it's nowhere large enough to hold the amount of sauce I'm dealing with, so I was using it along with my turkey roaster oven...is that black lining called enamelware? Maybe I had it set too high or something- I did have to let it go all night. What's your upper limit for a temp setting?

To clean it, first I tried soaking with hot water and dish detergent for a couple hours and scrubbing with a plastic net thing; then I coated it with vinegar and salt, let it sit 30 min. and scrubbed some more; then I coated with a baking soda paste, let it sit and scrubbed again; then I coated with liquid Tide, let it sit and scrubbed again; then I blew off the warnings and used Brillo to get it clean so I could get on with another batch of sauce. So if anyone has any suggestions for how to clean these roasting pans without scrubbing off the finish, I'm all ears.

Kath

[kath]

fortyonenorth,

Your sauce recipe sounds great and well worth the effort- thanks so much for posting it. What keeps it from being a solution for me is lack of freezer space for the final product. I also was hoping for an option that would not require the oven on for long periods of time as it heats up our tiny home a significant amount. I'd like to get the tomatoes into jars as quickly as possible for storage and don't have a pressure canner to can sauce that is made with oil and other low-acid ingredients.

Kath

[TomNJ]

Hi Kath,

I am so happy your Victorio is working properly. The cranking will be hard if the screw is dry as it is lubricated by the tomato juice. I squish the tomatoes hard into the hole even before cranking to get the juice flowing, and then continue to push them vigorously until done. I've never been one for reading instructions.

I milled a small batch of just 8 lbs of raw tomatoes the other day and timed it. Assembly of the mill took just over one minute, the milling took three minutes, and cleaning the mill with hot water four minutes. When disassembling the mill, the screen will have a lot of pulp and skin stuck to it. I gentle rub my finger over the screen to remove only the pulp into the juice bowl - if you rub too hard, some skin will come off. Then remove the screen (gripping it with a paper towel helps) and scrape the skins off with the back edge of a knife, then brush it clean under running water.

I think once you get some practice with the machine, you'll agree it's the easiest way to skin tomatoes.

TomNJ

[kath]

Originally Posted by TomNJ

Hi Kath,

I am so happy your Victorio is working properly. The cranking will be hard if the screw is dry as it is lubricated by the tomato juice. I squish the tomatoes hard into the hole even before cranking to get the juice flowing, and then continue to push them vigorously until done. I've never been one for reading instructions.

I milled a small batch of just 8 lbs of raw tomatoes the other day and timed it. Assembly of the mill took just over one minute, the milling took three minutes, and cleaning the mill with hot water four minutes. When disassembling the mill, the screen will have a lot of pulp and skin stuck to it. I gentle rub my finger over the screen to remove only the pulp into the juice bowl - if you rub too hard, some skin will come off. Then remove the screen (gripping it with a paper towel helps) and scrape the skins off with the back edge of a knife, then brush it clean under running water.

I think once you get some practice with the machine, you'll agree it's the easiest way to skin tomatoes.

TomNJ

Hi, again!

I really appreciate your tips and support, Tom- they were the key to my successful approach yesterday and the session went very smoothly and quickly, with 5 more quarts of finished product as a result. Unfortunately, I'm a stickler for directions because I'm always a bit concerned about breaking things.

It's certainly the fastest way to skin tomatoes especially when you factor in the time needed to remove the seeds as well...I will aspire to the times you noted! I used to can tomato pieces to add to soups and stews, but it really is quite time consuming, so since I invested in a dehydrator this year, I'm drying tomato pieces (with skin & some seeds) to see if that will work acceptably and cut down on the number of jars needed and extra canning time.

Thanks again,

Kath

[TomNJ]

Glad I could be helpful Kath.

BTW, here is my tomato sauce recipe:

15 lbs tomatoes
2 med onions (3")
12 cloves garlic
2 Serrano peppers
2 tsp salt
4 TBS sugar
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup EV olive oil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 TBS dried oregano
4 TBS fresh basil (chopped)

- Mill tomatoes with pumpkin screen
- Chop vegetables fine
- Combine all ingredients except basil and olive oil and boil down until thick
- Puree half in a blender (helps texture)
- Add basil & olive oil
- Makes 2 quarts

This is not safe for canning because of the cheese and oil, and should be used or frozen.

Tom

[kath]

Originally Posted by TomNJ

Glad I could be helpful Kath.

BTW, here is my tomato sauce recipe:

15 lbs tomatoes
2 med onions (3")
12 cloves garlic
2 Serrano peppers
2 tsp salt
4 TBS sugar
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup EV olive oil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 TBS dried oregano
4 TBS fresh basil (chopped)

- Mill tomatoes with pumpkin screen
- Chop vegetables fine
- Combine all ingredients except basil and olive oil and boil down until thick
- Puree half in a blender (helps texture)
- Add basil & olive oil
- Makes 2 quarts

This is not safe for canning because of the cheese and oil, and should be used or frozen.

Tom

Thanks for posting the recipe, Tom- this sounds like one DH would enjoy- he likes things with a little zip!

Kath

[lurley]

Yay Kath! Glad things are going well now. The only thing I have had success using to clean stuff like that are those little squares of hard plastic they sell in the kitchen department of some mass retailer stores. They used to be almost exclusive to home sales of pampered chef, used to clean their stoneware, but they are now available in lots of home departments. They are hard, but they are plastic, so they don't scratch, but can really scrape off burned on things that scrubbers just won't budge. I think I used to set my oven just above warm for sauce reduction, it came with an insert that removes for cleaning which helps, trying to clean the whole thing without ruining the electric portion is a nightmare.