Having a stash of homemade tomato soup concentrate in your pantry is like doing a favor for your future self. Portioning it out in 26 ounce jars from Fillmore Container makes it look extra snazzy!
My tomato preservation approach is one that is forever evolving. I make a point of trying at least one new-to-me tomato recipe to each season, always hoping that I’ll discover something particularly delicious and worthy of my time, resources, and shelf space.
This year, there were two experimental recipes. The first was this barbecue sauce (which is quite delicious, but probably won’t be something I make every single year). The second is the tomato soup concentrate that I’m sharing today. I’m already hoping that when I get home from the trip I’m currently on (I’ve been away for a week, which accounts for the blog silence), I’ll be able to get enough tomatoes to make another batch.
Recipes for tomato soup concentrates that are safe for the boiling water bath canner aren’t always easy to find. I did a lot of reading and worked out more math problems than is typically required for a basic canning recipe in order to bring this to you today. I built my recipe upon the framework laid out in the National Center for Home Food Preservation’s water bath safe Tomato and Vegetable Juice recipe.
The thing in that recipe that made everyone here possible is the fact that it specifies that, “Not more than 3 cups of other vegetables may be added for each 22 pounds of tomatoes.” Taking my cue from there, I used 15 pounds of tomatoes, and a scant two cups of diced onions. I felt comfortable doing that, because I was keeping to their approach while reducing the batch size by one-third.
From there, it was a matter of chopping the tomatoes and cooking them down with the onion. Once they were soft, I pushed them through a food mill fitted with its finest screen. At that point, I had approximately 24 cups of flavorful tomato juice.
I added Italian seasoning and granulated garlic, and cooked it down until I had a thick, tasty 16 cups. Once I was finished cooking, I added salt to taste (it’s always best to wait until you’ve finished cooking something down before salting it. Otherwise, you can end up with something inedible).
Then I portioned 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid into five square sided 26 ounce jars from Fillmore Container and filled them up with my soup concentrate. I added five minutes to the processing time required by the NCHFP for the tomato and vegetable juice, to compensate for the increased thickness.
I love canning tomato products in these square sided jars because they give it a more professional look, and I find that the squared off sides make them easier to grab when I’m moving quickly. The 26 ounce size is also great from a portioning perspective. Reheated with a bit of milk, there’s just the right amount for two people to enjoy bigs bowls with a side of cheesy toast or garlic bread.
Oh, and if you find yourself liking the looks of the square shape, know that they’re also available in 8 ounce and 16 ounce sizes.
Disclosure: Fillmore Container is a Food in Jars sponsor. Their sponsorship helps keep the site afloat. They provided the jars you see here at no cost to me. All opinions expressed are entirely mine.
Ingredients
- 15 pounds of tomatoes
- 2 cups diced onion
- 2 tablespoons granulated garlic
- 1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon salt, plus more to taste
- 2 1/2 teaspoons citric acid
Instructions
- Wash the tomatoes and cut them into quarters. Heap the chopped tomatoes into a large pot and add the diced onion.
- Add about a cup of water to the bottom of the pot to prevent scorching. Place the pot on the stove and bring it to a boil.
- Cook, stirring occasionally for about an hour, until the tomatoes have lost their structural integrity and the pot contains nothing but super saucy tomatoes.
- Remove the pot from the stove. Fit a food mill with its finest screen and position it over a large heatproof bowl.
- Working in batches, start pushing the cooked tomatoes and onions through the food mill. You will probably need to stop three or four times to empty out the bowl into a clean pot.
- Once all the tomatoes are milled, add the granulated garlic and Italian seasoning. Set the pot on the stove and bring to a low boil.
- Cook for one to three hours, until the soup concentrate has reduced by at 1/3 and hopefully a bit more.
- When you're pleased with the consistency, stir in the salt. Start with a tablespoon. Taste and add more as needed.
- Divide the citric acid between five jars 26 ounce jars (the Ball brand 24 ounce Pint & Half jars are also a great choice for this one).
- Funnel the finished soup concentrate into the jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
- Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 45 minutes (if you live above 1,000 feet in elevation, please adjust your processing times accordingly).
- When the time is up, remove the jars and set them on a folded kitchen towel to cool. When the jars have cooled enough that you can comfortable handle them, check the seals. Sealed jars can be stored at room temperature for up to a year. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and used promptly.
Banana jam ! Delish
I don’t care for tomato soup, but my husband does. Doing this in pint jars would make him SO happy!
I must have tomatoes on my shelf come January and bread and butter pickles.
I’ve got my own soup recipe but can always use another.
I think I’m more likely to do tomato paste in small jars. But these big ones look fantastic. Bet I could find something else to do with them.
Variety of jam’s and jellies to give as holiday gifts along with jars of Candied jalapeno’s
Thanks for sharing tomato soup recipe.Thank you also for this giveaway opportunity. I can Always use jars of all sizes and shapes.
This looks great! Do you do a 1:1 ration of milk or water when reheating?
I love having my version of crushed tomatoes preserved, especially in January. I use them in everything from soups, chili, sauce, etc.
Come January I have to have peach jam and blood orange marmalade!
That tomato soup looks delicious! I’m trying to picture what it would be like to carry 15 lbs. of tomatoes! I’d love to be able to save some salsa for January…although I would be thrilled to actually have ANYthing left on my shelf in January. I’m guessing what I will actually have left are pickles and relish because my cucumber crop was huge this year. I didn’t try freezing cucumbers until too late, or I wouldn’t have given so many away fresh!
I love having my hot sauces and your tomato jam recipe, oh and my grams pickles, and kraut…. I love just staring at the pantry sometimes… ?
The tomato soup concentrate looks great and it does look professional in those beautiful jars!
I love having my chocolate cherry flavored fig preserves on the shelf in January -and any time of the year.
I most enjoy having my canned tomato sauce.
I definitely need to try this sauce.
This looks delicious! I’m brand new to canning, but I love my mom’s hot pepper jelly!
I love tomato soup for lunch on a snowy, wintry day! I happen to have the tomatoes to can right now! This is today’s project! Also, I’m so happy to discover Fillmore Containers through your blog. I ordered the 12 ounce sauce bottles and made your Peach Habanero Hot Sauce (a little hotter than yours…a few seeds) and the bottles look so cool and professional. I posted a pic on Facebook and all my friends want some! I have to make another batch! I live relatively close to Fillmore’s location in Lancaster, but my bottles arrived FAST! So happy!
When it comes time to turn the concentrate into soup, how much cream do you add?
Looks relish!!! Always good to get another tomato recipe while they are coming in like crazy from the garden…
Peach preserves in January….a little taste of summer.
There are so many uses for fresh tomatoes. I made a savory tomato jam that was delicious over fish.
If only my tomatoes would produce enough….
Jams and jellies – great for a simple hostess gift.
Either pizza sauce or salsa!
some pickled fruit and blueberry butter!
Always have to have pickled beets and canned peaches. This tomato soup concentrate sounds wonderful. Maybe another box of tomatoes from the farmer’s market this weekend?!
Just picked up 50# of tomatoes yesterday! Thanks for the great recipe!
Raspberry jam!
most happy to find a sunny jar of nectarine jam, or raspberry jam. tomatoes also make me happy, but not in the same way. 🙂
No doubt – Sweet Cherry Butter
Looks like a great recipe. I’m going to give it a try. Thank you.
I like to have tomato juice on my shelves. I make cream of tomato soup with it. I may have to give this recipe a try instead.
Strawberry Jam… and this year’s batch came out AWESOME! I may have to try making this soup.
I’m going to stick with canning regular tomatoes for soup because I like Giada’s recipe where you add a can of cannelli beans that get mashed in. Other veggies go in too so it would violate your veggie to tomato ratio. Oh, well. I have stuck a bunch of tomato pieces in the freezer so I can attempt making sauce to can later when the weather cools a bit. My home grown tomatoes have not had a very long shelf life this year hence the freezer bags.
Perfect! 75 lbs of tomatoes wasn’t quite enough for me to preserve this year hahaha
I’m always so, so glad to have tomatoes as well as some summery jam like blueberry in the panrty come January!
Oh yummy! With Fall fast approaching, this would be a fave in this household!
I am excited to make this Tomato soup concentrate. We have tons of organic tomatoes! In January they are a taste of summer!
All of the jams and jellies are great in January but my favorites are peach chutney, tomatillo sauce and peach salsa!
Hoping to pick up #40lbs of tomatoes next week. I make pizza sauce with mine, and I’ll try this recipe also!
tomato sauce
I think raspberry jam is my favorite – it always tastes like they just came straight off the plant!
I love tomato soup. I am going to have to try this.
Raspberry or peach preserves would be my favorite to have in January. And I want to try making marmalade.
I love having some form of peach jam in January. The tomato soup concentrate intrigues me. Too bad our tomatoes didn’t do that well this year – maybe I can give it a try next year.
Thank you for figuring this out! I have 40 pounds of tomatoes coming Saturday and hadn’t thought too much about what I was going to do with them. We love tomato soup and will give this a try. It will be nice to have a supply of soup on the shelf rather than taking up precious freezer space
In the winter I love to pull out strawberry jam to mix with yogurt for breakfast. It’s like a little bit of summer.
Apple butter!
Wild Raspberry jam is my love language come the harsh winter months. 🙂
I’d love some Tomato soup come January! Really any jam is also welcome.
Bread and butter pickles and dilly beans!
Strawberry Vanilla jam and Cherry butter. I crave these flavors when it’s cold and rainy out.
The tomato soup sounds tasty. I like to have some jam ready and am collecting wild blackberries for jelly.
Any size of jar is always useful. Thanks
I love tomato soup. This is something I’d keep in my desk at work for lunches.
I love to have my ground cherry vanilla compote in the middle of January. God…this is soooooooooo good!!!!
Applesauce and salsa, so fresh and everyone loves it.
tomato confit
home canned tomatoes are the best tasting ones. the products in the stores just can’t compare. i will always can my own.
Pizza sauce and peach salsa (but not together!) are some of the things I’m happy to still have in January.
I just process tomatoes plain. Making a tomato soup base, or bloody mary base, or whatever strikes my fancy.
I am so excited about this recipe! We grew up eating Campbell’s tomato soup and bagels with cream cheese and I miss it because I had a bad experience with Campbell’s as an adult and won’t go back. I made it fresh and it’s super yummy when tomatoes are good but winter and fall… This will solve all the things!
I tend to go with basic crushed tomatoes so when I make tomato soup it’s a more rustic version rather than smooth Campbell’s tomato soup. I do love those jars tho.
Home canned chopped tomatoes for me. They can be tomato soup, the start of sauce, pretty much anything.
I particularly love having plain peach jam on hand in the dead of winter, but I’m growing to appreciate crushed tomatoes more and more!
Canned peaches. Just that little taste of summer gets me through the horrible winter.
stewed tomatoes! eat those all winter long in chili and soup
We love peach jam in January!
Tomato soup with grilled cheese is wonderful on a cold winter day!
Sliced peaches are my favorite thing to have on the shelf. Taste of summer in the cold Colorado winter always brightens my spirits.
Love having Colorado Olathe corn at the ready, Palisade peaches for pie and cherries for smoothies
Mango chutney!
Can’t wait to try this. I have a bumper crop of Rutgers 250 tomatoes (the original tomatoes for Campbell Tomatoe Soup), all ripe and just perfect for soup. Although I would prefer to can them in 8 0z jars. How long should I process them in the water bath?
Five minutes less for pint or smaller jars.
Honestly, tomato s poo up is my favorite. I make tons and use it as a start to other soups, chili, sloppy Joes, or spaghetti sauce.
Anything tomato based for soups and stews. Peaches and apple pie fillings for desserts. We need tons of jams and jellies for the nieces and nephews!
oh gosh! i just got into canning last year and as of now i would say applesauce… as boring as it is! i love that i can pack it in my kids lunch and it’s made from organic apples. last year’s was made from our own apples, but our tree didn’t produce with the weird cold spell we had in the spring. i am new to your blog after i got your book (my sis in law had it and i was in awe!). excited to learn and make more.
Tomato jam is my FAVORITE thing to can, and I never make enough! It is so incredible on grilled cheese sandwiches in winter.
Just bought 150# of tomatoes last night for a canning weekend
Seems perfect for a quick Sunday lunch with grilled cheese. Thanks! I hope I get to make it. And I’ll definitely be glad come January. Though, my fav thing to have on the shelf in Jan is strawberry jam!
The homemade preserve that I most want on my shelf in January is strawberry jam!
Can the tomatoes be juuced rather than put through the food mill to get the same result?
I haven’t done it that way, so I don’t know.
I’ve made sauce in the past and found I get more use out of regular crushed tomatoes, but having tomato soup ready to go sounds like a good idea and worth trying!
I ALWAYS have canned tomatoes in the pantry!! They’re the base for a lot of soups & the start of a lot of sauces in my household.
Definitely peach butter!
Tomato sauce! We use it every week for chili and pasta.
I love strawberry jam in the middle of January. And I was just looking for a tomato soup canning recipe today. Great timing!!
What perfect timing, I’ve been looking for a tomato soup recipe to use up some of my abundant tomatoes. And I keep using all my jars making other tomato products.
I typically use bottled lemon juice to acidify tomato canning recipes. Can I use lemon juice instead of citric acid, which I don’t have, in this recipe? Would you consider there to be a downside with using lemon juice? (In flavor, that is…)
In this case, it just adds liquid. With a concentrate like this, my goal is always to reduce the amount of liquid, which is why I opted for citric acid. However, they are interchangeable. If you want to use lemon juice, the exchange is 1/2 teaspoon citric acid = 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice.
All the tomato products I can stuff into jars! Salsa, diced, chutney, soup, marinara…love them all 🙂
This is a really intriguing project I may just have to try. I love having the taste of summer tomato sauce and now maybe soup available in January – makes those long New England winters more bearable.
This sounds good. I’ll have to try it. I love my sauce year round & jelly. Lots of jelly 🙂
I love to have huckleberry jam on the shelf…the berries are soooo good!
Strawberry jam and apple pie filling! Helps me to remember the summer and brings the lovely smells of the fall as it is snowing outside 🙂
I feel like half of my answers are “rhubarb vanilla jam” — but it’s SO GOOD….
Spicy watermelon rind pickles are welcomed in the dead of winter, as well as dilly beans and whole Michigan peaches.
I love seeing my strawberry preserves in the middle of winter. Reinforces the reason I put up all thru the summer months. Takes me out of the snow and into the sounds and smells of summer.
Strawberry vanilla Jam or spiced peaches. Yum!
Peaches or tomatoes!
Square jars!
I love having strawberry jam or vanilla rhubarb jam. Both remind me of summer.
Anything that I have made that contains tomatoes canned at the peak of their season – salsa, preserves or grated tomato sauce.
Square jars! And tomato soup after a long work day! This is a must try recipe.
I just picked 100 Lb of organic tomatoes today so I will be doing lots of canning this weekend. Have been looking for a soup recipe.
Canned tomatoes because they are so versatile!
So hard to narrow it down but there’s nothing better than opening a jar of jam in the dead of winter and being transported back to strawberry season in early summer!
Tomatoes! I love having a canned tomato soup on the shelf. I use it as a base for chili and other soups sometimes, as well as eat it straight.
I just made a batch of tomato confit.
I just finished canning tomatoes and what a taste in January.
Gosh…to pick one is hard. I’d have to say my pickled items. I have no desire to eat a sandwich, burrito, or taco anymore without them.
I love having slow roasted tomatoes and various kinds of pesto.
I’ve been making and freezing tomato soup bases and sauces since we started getting overwhelmed with tomatoes here. Maybe I’ll overcome my tomato canning fears and try your recipe!
Marisa: Hooray for this, and thank you! I have many, many canning/preserving books in my library (including all of yours) but the one recipe area that is woefully lacking is soup (I hate spending money on that chemical/corn syrup laden mess that crams grocery store shelves this time of year). If you were looking for a subject for your next cookbook, perhaps home preserved soups might be considered?
There are too many favorites 🙂
I just started canning last year, and had found way too many recipes (on other sites) that were just not good recipes. They left out vital information that would have, otherwise, made a great finished product. Instead of jams, I ended up with syrups, while tasty, were not what I wanted.
I was so happy to find this site. The first jam I made, that came out properly, was the Pear and Chocolate jam, from your recipe index. If I have to choose a favorite, that one is in the top 3.
A standard jar of tomato sauce is our go to for so many recipes in the winter. Also jardinere for some fresh from the garden crispness.
Definitely strawberry jam!
Roasted corn salsa or corn relish. And cherry jam.
And marinara, because by January I’m tired of cooking.
This looks fantastic. I’ll have to save it for a red tomato year, this year looks mostly green. In my garden anyway.
Apricot jam – so bright and cheery in the middle of winter! But also, basic canned tomatoes as they are the base of so many things I make in winter – and homegrown have so much more flavor than anything from the store. My favorite from last winter being Marisa’s Ground Beef Soup. I made it over and over again, sometimes with ground lamb or sausage and all were equally good!
Looks great! Have to use smaller jars since only one of us likes tomato soup
The best use for tomatoes is this recipe from Australian Women’s Weekly — they call it chili coriander jam. Here’s the recipe with some modifications, from my blog: https://alliumstozinnias.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/when-the-glut-strikes/
Hoping to learn to make Indian tomato pickle from my neighbor’s mom!
Tomato sauce since I use it soo many different ways!
tomato soup – there is nothing better on a cold day in the winter w/ a grilled cheese sandwich!!
I love Peach Butter, it has just the right amount of summer in it to make January’s lack of fresh fruit tolerable.
Oh my, my favorite preserve come January??? Let me count the items… I love them all but I am going to say apricot jam. So versatile! I use it on toast, in sauces, over roasts and chicken, etc. YUM!!
Definitely a berry jam of some sort – you need a taste of spring in the dead of winter!
Definitely tomatoes. We use so many of them, so I’m always excited when we haven’t run out yet!
Oh I have to try this one…and the jars would be great!
Thanks for the recipe ideas, I always need something new to do with my produce!
Canned whole tomatoes – so handy to have around!
tomato stuff, and jams whatever brings back the yum of summer
Wish I saw this recipe two days ago! Just made sauce (ended up freezing since I didnt follow a recipe!) and plan on making NCFHP’s Chile sauce next! Love garden tomatoes!
In January, I’ll be so happy to have my peach jam on the shelf!
In January my favorite thing to have is pear sauce or peach butter, which I spoon into granola for breakfast (or I add icecream and granola and call it dessert!) I love homemade preserves! I am eating tomato soup I made today, and already canned a few quarts. I want to jar a few quarts of whole tomatoes and these large jars would be perfect for winter meals!
I want to try apple butter
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I try to make enough fig preserves to last the year
Hard to choose…I love having tomato sauce canned for so many dishes, green beans for a quick veggie, and we like our dilly beans but the one thing I probably enjoy the most is peach syrup (originally was a recipe for peach butter that I made as a huge batch so it didn’t thicken-now, each year, I do it again, on purpose). It’s like a taste of summer on blueberry pancakes every Sunday morning.
I’m excited for apricot nectar!
Looks delicious. I might have enough tomatoes on hand to attempt it.
In january, I think I’m happiest for pumpkin puree. It goes in oatmeal, sweet bread, lentil soup, ravioli, all sorts of things. It’s also one of the last things I harvest from the garden for the calendar year, plus we’ve used up a good share of everything from the garden by January, so starting the new year with it is kind of neat.
I canned up a batch of yellow raspberry jam this summer and I’ll be canning a ton more of it next year. It’s SO good and I don’t want to share my small batch with anyone! haha.
Yay, square jars!
I am hoping to make spiced peaches in the next few weeks with a co-worker. She described a recipe from her grandmother and I am fascinated by the idea- sounded delicious!
Strawberry jam, gives me a hint of summer on those cold days. Can almost taste the sunshine.
Canned tomatoes and pressure canned chicken stock. Once you get used to having stock on hand all the time you just can’t get used to going without
Apricot jam…simple.
Canned tomatoes… Usually roasted and crushed
Hmm, probably fresh peach jam or sweet cherry jam – tastes like summer!
Thank you so much for the soup recipe! I was just contemplating what to do with all my tomatoes this year with a friend. She suggested tomato soup, but I thought it wasn’t safe to water bath can. So glad to find that it can be done, It’s one of my work lunch staples – tomato soup with tuna on toasted whole grain, yum!
Oh yum yum yum.. Can’t wait to try this. Tomato soup is my favorite cold day warm me up food.
Thanks for the recipe. I love to can tomatoes and have their fresh flavor during winter.
I love canning salsa… we use it for everything!
Marissa, do you have a favorite brand when it comes to food mills? I’ve never owned one and the prices fluctuate so much from manufacture’s I’m confused on what would be the best value.
I don’t can in January, just spring, summer and autumn!
I’ve been using the OXO one for the last few years and really love it.
[…] I hope I get enough tomatoes from my smaller garden to try this canned soup concentrate! […]
Strawberry jam! Or peach jam! Pear jam! Fig jam! Basically, jam. Anything that tastes like fresh seasonal fruit is welcome in the PNW winter.
I’m excited to try the orange smoke paprika tomato jam recipe. I make the original version from the first cookbook all the time and it is a big hit, but variety is a wonderful thing!
Tomato jam & salsa are my favorite things to have in the pantry! Thanks for the giveaway & the recipe!
I want some heat and eat soups on my shelf! Actually, looking for some good soup recipes to can led me to this blog!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I am Using a bunch of tomatoes from my garden that I had thrown in the freezer as they ripened this summer. I just threw them in the pot whole and didn’t even dethaw, core or slice them. They cooked up nicely and the food mill did the rest. Such a refreshing change from sauce and other tomatoe canning recipes! Cooking the milked sauce down now and will check the ph with a strip because they are mainly yellow and orange tomatoes and may be lower acid. I’ll add a little more citric acid if needed. Thank you food in jars!
Canned vegetables in pints to add in to a pot of soup.
Since I have your new cookbook, I will have to find out! Never canned anything yet.
Been looking for a good tomato soup recipe to can. Thanks!
I love having anything tomato on hand!
I can’t wait to try this recipe…and would love these jars to put it in!
Anything peach! Jam, chutney, ice cream sauce, or plain old whole peaches……can’t get enough of them.
I know what I’m canning next
Apple butter is the only thing I have successfully canned. Some January I would love to have canned peaches and pears and bread & butter pickles like my mom used to make.
I love having apple butter and peach jam on my shelves in January–but they don’t usually last that long!
Strawberry jam is our favorite here! This tomato soup looks wonderful! Thanks for sharing the recipe. I can’t wait to try it! Thanks for the chance to win!
Sandi
We use your whole tomato canning technique and love it
Love having my own tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, and tomato soup in the pantry throughout the winter!
the preserve I love most in January is jam!!! there is nothing better than a nice ginger peach jam on a cold morning. Of course fresh tomato sauce is also a great resource, making a hardy spaghetti or stew with homemade tomato sauce is always a luxury in the middle of winter.
Boozy canned peaches!
My favorite thing to find in the pantry on dreary days is a jar or peaches!
Blackberry preserves – they taste so good on a winter morning!
Love so many of my preserves. No guess my favorite is canned tomatoes. There is so much I can use them in.
Canned tomatoes!
I need a food mill or I’ll never successfully deal with tomatoes– they taste bitter to me w/skins left on. Not the end of world, I just adjust with a bit of sugar, but annoying. Guess I’ll just have to get one 😉
My grandmother made pickles that the whole family loved- we used to “shop” the shelves in her cold cellar and that’s always what we’d pick. I’d really like to try her recipe some day.
I love to have strawberry jam on hand. It’s almost strawberry season again come January, but not quiiiite yet.
I love strawberry jam made from local berries.
Raspberry jam is my absolute favorite!
Your Brown Sugar Salted Peach Jam is my current fave but now I’m kicking myself for not stocking up on the $2/lb heirloom tomatoes at the Organic Farm Store this weekend (I did get peaches and pickling cukes I need to deal with this afternoon).
FYI, the link to the National Center for Home Food Preservation in the paragraph below the picture of the tomatoes in the pot in the sink with water running, directs you to a Fillmore Container.
Thank you for letting me know. I will fix that.
Apple sauce from our hyperactive apple tree is a family favorite and pear jelly is a personal favorite.
Every Christmas we give away something in jars, Ohelo berry jam, chili pepper jam, fudge sauce. Ohelo berry is my favorite, as it is a family tradition to pick together.
I am always grateful for the pasta sauce made with our homegrown tomatoes. I’ve been looking for a water bath canned tomato soup recipe and will be trying this. Thanks!
My favorite is what we call “Mailman Salsa” (our mail carrier gave us his recipe). It’s one of the few forms of tomato that my kid will eat without complaint!
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Peach Ketchup for sandwiches
Pickled beets. I love them. Hope to make grape juice soon too.
strawberry freezer jam, or apricot jam! so bright and summery.
My favorite are tomatoes and pickled beets.
Pickled beets and tomato jam!
Green Beans!
Getting ready to make strawberry French vanilla jam. I use flavored tea bags to give it a hint of vanilla !
My fave preserve to have on hand in January is just plain old canned tomatoes. I love opening the jar and breathing in the scent of summer. Thrills me every single time.
I’m pretty happy about having my pluot, strawberry and peach jams ready for January this year!
Last year we had some apple pie filling left so making a pie was a lovely treat in winter!
All kinds of jam and jellies, this year lots of blackberries, but not much plum. A freeze nailed the plums in western Pennsylvania. Thanks
The conventional answer I am sure, but there certainly is something magical about having summer strawberries in a jar that never gets old. I made a lot of jam this year fortunately.
Any kind of jam is a welcome sight on a hot biscuit in the winter!
I’m looking forward to doing my first try at canning this week – I’m looking forward to saving any cheap produce I can get my hands on, some berry preserves, and I’ll be canning some tomato sauce/soup base with my parents (with homegrown tomatoes)!
Peach preserves!
I really, really love having canned plum tomatoes come January. Nothing like the taste of fresh-from-the-garden tomato sauce when it’s snowing.
Raspberry jam! Yummmmmm!
Could you slip the skins off the tomatoes 1st? I like to dehydrate the pretty skins and grind to make tomato powder for seasoning….
Thanks!
Marilyn in MS
Sure.
We are not really jam people. But love making apple butter.
This recipe couldn’t come at a better time. My daughter who has never been a veggie fan is now obsessed with tomato soup and there are plenty of tomatoes to pick!
I never get tired of having jam in the pantry.
Plum jam! Or peach, they both remind me of the lovely late summer days 🙂
Pickled green tomatoes!
I’m confused – when you say this is “tomato soup concentrate”, does that mean you add water to this when you heat it to serve it?
You add some milk when you reheat it. If you read the narrative of the post, you’ll see that.
My favorite preserves are fig preserves on a hot buttered biscuit. Our canning usually consist of vegetable soup.
Apricot is my most dear jam.
Thx for posting this recipe! I’m working on a taco sauce and will probably give this one a try, too!
Love canning summer freshness in the teeth of January
I love having peach preserves made from fresh Colorado peaches when peach season seems impossibly far away!
Tomato sauce and pickles would be my go to mid-winter cravings!
Just canned dilly beans and tons of pickles, Pickled veggies over the weekend.
This tomato soup concentrate sounds amazing!!!
Love going to the pantry and using my fig preserves with a fresh, hot from the oven scratch biscuit!
Strawberry jam, hands down!
Meat is my favorite thing to have in the canning pantry.
I absolutely enjoy preserving our garden and orchard bounty. Harvest time is busy but the rewards are amazing!!! Love canning preserves and relishes … ?
I LOVE canned peaches in the middle of a U.P. winter!
This recipe sounds so good. I will have to make it very soon. Thank you for the chance to win your wonderful jars.
I most love having whole or quartered tomatoes. The make the best chili and January is a great month for chili.
Strawberry jam & apple butter. But this soup sounds amazing, hope there are some late season tomatoes at the farmers market this weekend.
It’s got to be the canned tomatoes and tomato juice. I love having my own tomato products for winter soups and sauces.
This is actually my first year intentionally canning, but I look forward to having my garden salsa come January.
mango pineapple marmalade and lots and lots of salsa
We love plum preserves! Yum This soup sounds awesome with a grilled cheese sandwich!
I have a ton of nice tomatoes this year, in particular San Marzanos. I made this soup
recipe, but roasted the tomatoes and onions in the oven, pulled off the skins, pureed and simmered for about three hours as directed. Followed the recipe to the letter. About halfway through, I thought “hey, this is a lot of work for tomato soup, when I could probably go to the store, buy a can and be done!”. After getting it all canned there was a little left over in the pot and I added some light cream and had a taste. It was so good, so fresh and creamy and delicious. It was a lot of work, but I’m looking forward to the snowy winter night when we will have this along with grilled cheese sandwiches.
Anything with the fresh flavours of summer is great to have in winter – tomato sauce, canned peaches etc. Yum.
I love to put up my own Italian tomato sauce.
Brilliant!
I can’t wait to try this!
Oh wow I cannot WAIT to make this!! I love tomato soup and am determined to convert my boyfriend to loving it too. These jars really do spiff up the whole look!
I love making watermelon jam & watermelon rind preserves! They are both delicious & you get 2 different canned products out of 1 fruit. YUMMY!
I love canning tomatoes!!! Love to try your recipe!
marmalade and strawberry jam is a favorite to have on hand
I love having salsa from my garden in January!
I love this recipe for tomato soup!
I picked a bunch of raspberries this summer that I have in the freezer, I want to make preserves with them.
I would love some tomato soup that has been canned in my pantry but since I have no tomatoes, I do not see that happening this year
Blackberry jam is my favorite! But last year I made tomatoe powder, and it was so useful!
I love the roasted tomatoes for freezing recipe/link I found on this site awhile back.
Oh gosh, probably chicken stock for soups, or some kind of berry jam for toast!
Grape, strawberry, and blackberry jams are the favorites in our house. I have several quarts worth of berries frozen to deal with when it’s not so hot out.
Wow I am not really sure. I do love having pears ready to go. Maybe pear butter.
We (meaning my son) love to have Raspberry Jam!!!
I have a hard time with Tomato Soup… most all of them taste like a bowl of sauce to me!
Keeping tomato products on the shelf in my house is a problem. Not because they go bad but because they get eaten faster than I anticipate. I make more every year but never seem to make enough. Seldom does it make it to January.
Thanks for the recipe. Love canning.
Chunky applesauce
I love Tomato soup
I’m hoping to make this this weekend! LOVE Tomato Soup!
Peaches.. in January.. heaven!!!
Peach jam and candied dill pickles are welcome any time of year!
My favorite canned delight in January would have to be tomato sauce…too bad there’s never any left by January!
Where do I start? I think canned tomatoes would be one of the top items. I’m thinking this tomato soup concentrate might be a good one to add!
My favorite late winter preserves are tomato jam and canned whole peaches.
diced tomatoes in their own juice, strawberry preserves and peaches
Strawberry rhubarb jam reminds me of summer in January
Canned tomatoes and peach and strawberry jams would be great to have in January!
My most favorite will certainly be Birthday Jam and Tomato Jam!!
Crushed tomatoes and bone broth! I love making hearty stews and soups when the snow starts!
What I miss is my grandmother’s pear preserves made from hard pears.
Plum jam – the recipe that hooked me on canning
Raspberry jam! But this year strawberry-rhubarb maybe a close second!
Strawberry jam has always been my favorite.
I love jam jars for pickling!
I love having homemade jams and homemade bruschetta style salsa on the shelf- a toasted baguette and you have a great snack and a little bit of summer in a jar!
our soil and water issues makes growing fruits a no-no (believe me, we have tried, lots of $$ and no results) but tomatoes and chillies do fantastic, so tomato sauce, concentrate, whole and diced, and juice as well as pickled chillies and chilli sauce are perennial favourites that are a must
Mango jam is a wonderful treat in the middle of winter
Huckleberry jam, but it is possibly my favorite because 1. I so rarely get to make it and 2. It’s always from huckleberries I went out and picked with friends, so it comes with good memories 🙂
My favorite is any jam – but especially blueberry rhubarb!
My favorite to have on hand are berries! Blueberries, blackberries, all berries. Wonderful to open and enjoy in the middle of winter for a sweet taste of summer.
Canned lemon/ginger pears is my favorite thing to have on the shelf from our homegrown D’Anjou pears.
It seems to vary from year to year, but blueberry-maple sauce to put on pancakes for a snow day are definitely right up there.
Strawberry. But, anything peach is a close second.
Strawberry preserve is our family’s favorite!
I love to preserve tomatoes, I make several different kinds of pasta sauce for a quick and easy after work dinner that can be served with garlic bread.
This year, I’m hoping it will be ketchup!
Strawberry jam for cold winter nights.
raspberry jam
Plums in honey syrup. They are so versatile, I can almost anything with them!
I’m definitely going to try this recipe…as soon as I get a few more tomatoes off the vines!!
I love having homemade tomato sauce in the pantry. None of the commercial brands can compete.
I am so looking forward to spiced peach jam in January!!
Tomato Jam made with honey. It is so good with a quality cheddar.
Canned tomatoes!
Is this how you enter giveaway?
Yes!
Tomato Soup Concentrate with yummy Grilled Cheese Sandwiches!
Delicious Blueberry Preserves canned from this past season’s harvest!
A Winning Combination in our home!
I love Fillmore and could always use some more of their jars:)
Beautiful jars for beautiful tomatoes!
Apple butter. I wish I could can Tomato Confit!
Tomatoes for a quick and easy sauce or for spaghetti
Blueberry butter or tomato jam.
Canned tomatoes are so versatile, but berry preserves always make me me think of sweet summertime!
My version of Annie’s Salsa, with heirloom tomatoes and lime!
Apple butter!
Thanks for the recipe and giveaway!
Strawberry preserves since they have such a short season 🙂
Canned peaches are an absolute must. Those bright yellow orbs bring a burst of sunshine into the dark, dreary days of mid-winter and taste wonderful.
Nothing better than apple butter, we love it!
I often go for a jar of canned tomatoes because I’m making Chili or stew or soup
I really like chunky tomato products too!
My favorite homemade preserves are canned apricots.
Apricots…they exude the warmth of summer…add cinnamon, cloves, and ginger…drizzle over fresh-from-the-oven gingerbread and extend summer into winter!
How do I enter the contest?
You just did!
I love Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Especially in the winter. I would love to win a case of this fabulous soup.
Me too!
Apple butter. Yum!
Peach jam 🙂
I`ve canned jellies and jams and can always use some more jars . I might even try their tomato soup recipe if I get them extra jars .
My homemade Peach Butter…yum!
I love making sweet spicy salsa!
Come winter…. Anything I open that I canned in the summer takes me back to summer!
This sounds delicious! It would be wonderful on a cold winters day.
My favorite soup! I will be stocking up for winter! Thank you!
tomatoes
Bottled tomatoes – they make the best soups in the winter time.
Strawberry Fig Preserves!
In January, I’m so glad I’ve canned homegrown tomatoes. I can do so much with them!
I truly love home made tomato soup, no store purchased brand can take claim to fame over any thing from a home cooked, jarred up food!
It’s nice to know there’s a safe way to can tomato soup without using a pressure canner.
My strawberry rhubarb jam.
I am beginner at canning so no favorites yet but this looks like an awesome recipe to start with!
I can’t pick just one – all the tomato stuff!
Strawberry jam! Love it and always like to have some stored away..
Strawberry jam. It’s a true reminder of early summer!
As a novice canner, this is an awesome recipe! Easy, yet delicious looking!!
Looks good, but I’m not fond of the seeds left in the soup… :/
Thanks for sharing this recipe ! Always looking for more tomato-fun 🙂
My favorite preserves is a spiced plum jam– delicious on a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast!
My family’s recipe for chili sauce which goes on eggs or meatloaf….taste of summer!
Sounds wonderful! Recipe is a keeper
This is a great way to finish out all the tomatoes that are about to invade my kitchen!
My favorite homemade preserve in January is strawberry jam (actually any month when it isn’t strawberry season).
Tomato soup with a grilled cheese..comfort food to me!
I love this! Always looking for a good recipe for tomatoes!
oh I have tons of tomatoes this year, awesome timing!
tomato jam, of course!
I like blackberry or raspberry preserves the most!
My favorite is boysenberry.
I will have to try this soup recipe!
I use canned tomatoes for tomato soup or chili
Love apricot with chambord!
Good timing! I was looking for one last tomato canning project and this is it!!!
Thank you for the inspiration!
My favorite is raspberry jam.
any kind of jam
I made salsa and used Fillmore 4oz. Jars, looks great and taste better. Last week made V-8, great juice.
Strawberry jam!! theres nothing like a taste of summer in the coldest months!
I love having canned apple pie filling in my pantry for easy pies throughout the year.
Blueberry jam! I love a good taste of summer in the winter time!
Bread & butter pickles!
Old fashion apple butter keeps me going through the winter months.
I love to make salsa to use all winter long.
Tomato Soup looks great in the Fillmore jars! Can’t wait to try making it.
I’ve been most grateful for my fruit preserves!
I honestly think my favorite canned item to have is plum jam. Or maybe strawberry jam,
Interested in trying this.
My homemade garlic dill pickles!
elderberry/crabapple jelly. I love it on an english muffin, toast, or mixed into saucy meatballs.
I’m still pretty new to canning, so I didnt realize I could do tomatoes in a water bath. I want to try this recipe for sure!
Thank you! I always wanted to know how to do this!
Applesauce
Apple butter!!!
I love homemade peach jam!
My new fave is your tomato jam recipe from a few years ago! Have nearly 30 small jars stashed away for this winter.
Any kind of fruit..
Blueberry preserves in the middle of winter are such a treat!
Thanks for the recipe! Sounds amazing
I love having jam in the pantry. Fresh fruit taste in the winter is wonderful!
This is a perfectly timed recipe! I can’t wait to have this with grilled cheese and chutney sandwiches this fall!
tonight’s recipe is Italian Drunken Noodles using a jar of canned San Marzano tomatoes from my neighbor’s garden.
Sweet cherry chutney and tomato jam
Jams and Jellies
Thanks for the recipe. Now to find some local tomatoes…
Nowadays, I usually just keep preserving simple and put up plain ingredients like plain tomatoes or frozen strawberries. Then, in the winter, when I have TIME to cook, I can grab them and make fresh-tasting, healthy meals and experiment with small-batch recipes. However, I do have a salsa recipe that I can and am always glad to be able to grab a jar of that!
Jams & Jellies, although Tomato sauce with onions, green peppers, and garlic is a close second.
Strawberry preserves
Not a jam but apple butter.
This looks great I can’t wait to try it!
Thanks for the recipe. My kids love tomatoes soup and i can’t wait to try and make this!
I would say my beef and veggie soup……so yummy and warm after being in a cold barn taking care of the animals.
Michigan winters can be cold and dark – a jar of sweet pickles always makes me happy when the snow is deep outside. They remind me of picnics, green grass, and sunshine.
Requests for our Camp Aranzazu Hot Sauce were under such popular demand that we mass produced the product for table favors during our last ZAZU Fishing Tournament fund raiser. To our surprise, the product was so well received, our kitchen staff was asked to make a second batch to be used for Christmas gifts….
My absolute thing is my tomato chutney!!!
I most love having tons and tons of green tomato chutney. It’s one of my favorites!
Tomatoes or corn relish always brighten my winters!
Green tomatoes for frying 🙂
Green bean pickles. Never seem to make enough.
My favorite is blueberry jam. This post brought back memories of my moms jarred peaches. I don’t remember why I has carrying a jar around the house but I wasn’t supposed to be in my brothers room when I dropped it and the jar shattered. There was peaches and juice everywhere. He was so mad when he got home and his room smelled like peaches.
I like canned pears best!
I love peaches and pears in the middle of winter.
I will be trying this one!
Stewed tomatoes for chili and jams!
I like blueberry or mixed berries for the bit of summer when it’s snowy outside.
strawberry & raspberry
delicious fruit jams
Spaghetti/pizza sauce and blueberry pie filling!
Peaches in syrup are always welcome in January.
Going to try this recipe. When january comes around, there is nothing better than homemade tomato soup with a side of grilled cheese.
Strawberry jam!
probably more candied jalapenos 🙂
I want to say everything! lol But my very favorites are strawberry jam and canned tomatoes.
I love canning the peaches from North Carolina and eating them come January and February.
Pick me!
I love grape jam in january
I love having blueberry jam in the winter made from fresh summer berries.
I love having tomato sauce on hand, that and tomato jam – i can’t keep up with my husbands consumption of tomato jam.
I can’t wait to try this, what a great way to save precious pantry space!
I am just learning how to do all this, I love every minute of it. Thank you for the great give away
I LOVE Fillmore for my containers and lids. I own a candle company and I hand make/pour all my products. My favorite are the 9oz jars with the Lug70 lids! ♡
Hmm. Probably pluot jam!
I’m addicted to canning and these jars would work great for my spaghetti sauce, chilli sauce and so many other things …. keeping my fingers crossed 🙂 I’m disabled and on SSD so I have to watch every penny – this would be so great to win these 🙂
Come January, I love either Peach Preserves or Plum Rum Jam.
Can’t live without Plum Jam with Star Anise. I’m now the nuisance neighbor who is pestering the neighbors with plum trees!
I always have Blueberry jam!
I love being able to open a jar of apricot jam in winter, it totally brings back the taste of summer.
My favorite home canned item is my homemade tomato sauce – with tomatoes from my garden, as well as my homegrown onions sweet peppers, 4 kinds of garlic, and a wide variety of herbs that I use and my chickens enjoy too!
I love to have Wineberry jam from my own hand picked Wineberries.
It’s a toss up between jam and tomato sauce. Both are tastes of summer long gone…….
Looks yummy and lovely! I love tomatoes, and these cans would be perfect for sauces and salsa!
I love cherry preserves on fresh baked bread for breakfast on cold January mornings BUT this tomato soup recipe would make for a fabulous dinner in the evening 🙂
I love being able to grab blueberry jam from my pantry during winter, but I always run out too quickly.
Pickled okra. The crunch just makes me happy.
Tomato soup!
wow! I love tomato soup! It great on a old night with a grilled cheese. Or when you need a hug me food also.. Beautiful jars too.
I love this recipe…tried it this morning and got five qts. after my husband and I ate a bowl or in his case Two….I thought about getting out some jars of tomatoes canned and doing this too..already has the salt in them but think it might work good…delicious soup
Strawberry preserves. I love all kinds of preserves.
Awesome assortment of canning stuff at Filmore for black raspberry jam.
Loving having rhubarb chutney come January!
I love having Blackberry jelly during the winter months. But this year I also canned a lot of stewed tomatoes so I can’t wait to have those over rice in January.
I love canning homemade pasta sauce
Apple pie filling makes holiday pie making so much easier.
Homemade tomato sauce
It’s the best
This may be a silly question, BUT, to make the soup – how much milk do you add?
It’s really something I advise you do to taste. Start with a 1/2 cup and then add more as needed.
Does keeping the skin on the tomatoes affect the safety? (I’m lazy and have no room for a food mill) I add a little sugar to counteract the slightly bitter skin when I freeze my roasted tomato soup recipe, but I’d love to can this instead. My freezer is teensy!
Tomato skins don’t impact safety. They just can impart a slightly bitter flavor. However, if you’re up for adding a little bit of sugar to counteract that (as you’ve said), then there’s no reason not to leave them on.
[…] winner of the Fillmore Container giveaway is Jessica A. Stay tuned, another giveaway coming up […]
If I wanted to can this in quart jars (it’s what I have already), how would I change the citric acid amounts? Just want to make sure I do this safely
Use a heaping 1/2 teaspoon.
[…] of yucky, moldy uglies). I decided to try canning tomato soup for the first time and went with this recipe due to not needing a pressure canner for it. (I have one, but I’m afraid of it and would […]
[…] is the act of putting food that is warm or cooked into jars and then processing them. Think tomato sauce, salsa, dilled carrot spears, BBQ sauce, even jam and jelly are hot pack preserves. Find more […]
Question on the tomato soup concentrate – when you use it, how much water do you add? Or do you use it the way it is canned? Thanks!
I add about a cup to a cup and a half of milk or water to thin it out before serving.
I made three batches of this last week and working on more this week (the tomatoes just keep coming and coming from my garden). I am so excited about this recipe and I think this will be one of my new favorite things to can. Thank you for figuring out the math for us!
This sounds wonderful. I’d like to do it with my own tomatoes, though, and doubt I’ll get more than 8 pounds at a time. I’d like to half the recipe and put it up in pint jars. I found a comment on this post from last year that said it could be done in pints with a 5 minute shorter processing time, but I’m not quite sure how to adjust the citric acid. Should it be 1/4 tsp per pint jar?
You’re right on the money with your adjustments. 1/4 teaspoon citric acid and 40 minutes in the canner for pints.
[…] suggestion… simply put up some good tomato soup concentrate in your pantry or some roasted tomatoes in your pantry or […]
[…] this discussion in our post The Trouble with Tomato Soup. Our suggestion… simply put up some good tomato soup concentrate in your pantry or some roasted tomatoes in your […]
[…] The first are tomato based: Tomato Jam (from Marisa over at Food in Jars) Whole Tomatoes, Roasted Tomato Sauce and Tomato Soup Concentrate. […]
I can’t wait to try this with my homegrown tomatoes!
Hi, Marissa. Could you provide an estimated weight of citric acid in your 1/2 tsp (or even the 2.5 tsp recipe total? Depending on how finely milled the citric acid is, a person could have fairly different weights in the same volume. And considering how critical this is to the safety of the product, I don’t want to under-acidify my tomato soup concentrate. Thanks!
Citric acid measurements are always given in volume. This is standard across all canning recipes. In my experience, all citric acid is pretty much the same. If you’re concerned, use a bit more.
I would like to try the Tomatoe Juice concentrate recipe, but could I use fresh garlic finely chopped? I haven’t found granulated garlic here…only garlic powder. Thanks!
It would be better to use the garlic powder rather than fresh, as the dried product doesn’t impact the acidity in the same way.
I appreciate finding this; I was intrigued by the tomato soup recipe in Not Your Mama’s Canning book but the proportions of onion, carrot, and celery seem too high for the amount of tomatoes used. I’ll feel mjiore comfortable using your recipe.
[…] If your garden blesses you with more tomatoes than you think you can handle, and your family loves Tomato Soup, the UW Extension sheds light on why you can’t just can your favorite tomato soup, and Food in Jars has an alternative! […]
I’m a bit confused. Is this ready to eat soup, or is it to be mixed with some other liquid to create soup? It’s called “concentrate” so I assume the latter. Please clarify. Thanks much.
If you read the narrative of the post, I mention that I reheat it with some milk before serving, much in the same way one would treat a canned tomato soup concentrate from the grocery store. I don’t give an amount of milk because everyone’s batch of concentrate is going to be a bit different. It’s up to you to dilute as you deem necessary.
I wish my great aunt Maudie were still here to share this one with her. She canned more tomatoes being a single person than anyone else I ever knew. She mostly did tomato juice and then tomatoes for vegetable soup and I have to say, she made excellent vegetable soup. Both of my parents always worked full time my entire childhood and there were many evenings not long after we all arrived home the phone would ring (this is LONG before the days of cell phones) saying she had a kettle of vegetable soup, a meatloaf, a kettle of green beans, ham and potatoes or a few other things ready for us and one of us would pop out to her house. She lived only about a 1/2 mile away. While she had her electric stove and oven in the kitchen the old farmhouse still had the woodfired stove and oven. While I don’t believe she used the oven any longer she did use the stove in winter. There was a flavor which no other method of cooking imparts which just makes anything extra delicious. She would have LOVED something like this. She lived mostly on the homecanned produce she put away up until her 80s and chickens and eggs she raised and until the last few years, even a few beef cattle. All being a single farm woman on a 60 acre farm. Living until 95 I think it was eating her own produce which contributed to this, very few of those chemicals in everything from the store. She even used very little chemical treatment on her farm. She also used to make the best Bread & Butter pickles. This was long before they ever appeared in the supermarkets in commercial production. I think it was the 80s before that happened. There is a lot to be said for putting away your own food.
Can I can this in 32oz jars? I have those on hand. What would be the processing time and would you recommend upping the citric acid per jar?
Thank you!
How do you serve this? It is a concentrate, do I add milk or water to it? How much?
Thanks!
I use it as a concentrate and thin it with some milk upon heating. Because everyone’s batch is a little different, it’s hard for me to call for an exact amount. It’s something you need to do to your own taste.
Can I cut this recipe in half? There is just me and so I don’t want to make a ton of soup concentrate. Also can I make it in smaller jars such as half pints or pints? And if so what would the processing time be? Still the same?
You can cut the recipe in half, as long as you keep the relationship of ingredients the same. You can use pint jars. Keep the processing time the same and use 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid.