Barbara Kingsolver is an expert on eating local, really local. Anyone who joined us during the first Re-nest Book Club (reading Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle) knows what we're talking about. She's also an expert on canning tomatoes, a topic we became interested in this summer after witnessing our mother's bumper tomato crop.
In a San Francisco Chronicle interview, Kingsolver talks about the benefits and the joys of canning homegrown tomatoes. Nutrients, value, tradition, fun ... Kingsolver makes a convincing argument.
Our favorite quote from the interview:
Barbara Kingsolver on commercially canned tomatoes: "Tomatoes bred for industrial production are lower in lycopenes and every other nutrient except fiber, which has been increased by more than 1,000 percent - so they can be dropkicked during shipping, I suppose"
Now, if only the Chronicle had included Kingsolver's favorite canning recipe, then we'd have been truly thrilled.
Do you can your own tomatoes?
image via SFGate.com; Katy Raddatz
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I don't know how she cans tomatoes, but the Kingsolver family's favorite tomato sauce recipe is online here:
http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/Tomato%20Sauce.pdf
view AmyE's profile
I canned tomato sauce last week and although I mostly followed the recipe in my Ball Canning book (because it allows for fresh herbs) I did put in some cinnamon according to Kingsolvers' recipe. The excess that I served with dinner was delicious.
view Green Me's profile