Home Canned Tomatoes

I wanted to show you newbie canners something.

 Look at the 2 jars.  The one on the left is crushed tomatoes and the one on the right is tomato sauce.  Both are crushed but the difference I wanted to show you is the "water" on the bottom of the left one.

  Both are just tomatoes that I've crushed.  The reason for the "water" or "juice" on the bottom is the amount of time you cook the tomatoes BEFORE processing them in the canner. 

For just crushed tomatoes you only cook them on the stove for about 30 minutes the sauce for a couple of hours.  The water cooks out of the sauce but not the crushed tomatoes.  So, your jars will look like the left. 

There is nothing wrong with this, just wanted to show an example so you won't think you did anything wrong.

Happy Canning!