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Extension > Food > Food Safety > Preserving and preparing > Tomatoes and salsa > Tomato mixture

Tomato mixture

By Carol Ann Burtness, University of Minnesota Extension educator
Reviewed 2011

Home canners frequently request recipes for canned mixtures of tomatoes, celery, peppers and onions. University of Minnesota Extension developed the following recipe for a tomato mixture and was reviewed by the National Center for Home Food Preservation. The recipe is great for stews, soups, and Minnesota "hotdishes".

If the ingredient proportions of the following recipe are followed very carefully, the tomato mixture may be safely canned using the following recommended boiling water bath process method.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT INCREASE the amount of pepper, onion or celery from what is stated in the recipe. DO NOT USE tomatoes that are soft, overripe, decayed, or tomatoes harvested from dead or frost-killed vines.

Minnesota Tomato Mixture

Yield: 6-7 pints

Ingredients

  • 12 cups tomatoes, peeled and quartered
  • ½ cup chopped pepper
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 3 teaspoons salt
  • ½ cup chopped onion
  • Bottled lemon juice or citric acid

Procedure

  1. Wash tomatoes, remove stems and cores. Peel and quarter tomatoes.
  2. Wash peppers, celery and onions. Chop.
  3. Combine tomatoes and vegetables together and simmer for 10 minutes.
    4. Do not use tomatoes that are soft, overripe, decayed, or tomatoes harvested from dead or frost-killed vines.
  4. To clean, hot canning jars, add ¼ teaspoon citric acid or 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice to each pint jar; add ½ teaspoon citric acid or 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice to each quart jar.
  5. Add tomato mixture to the jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Remove excess air from the jar by running a spatula or bubble-freer between the mixture and the side of the jar.
  6. Wipe jar rims, and cap with properly pretreated two-piece canning lids and process (see below). For 6-7 quarts, double the recipe and process.

Recommended Process

Boiling water bath
Pints, 40 minutes
Quarts, 50 minutes

Reviewed by Suzanne Driessen, University of Minnesota Extension educator, 2011.

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