All the NCHFP recipes are safe, so that's not an issue. The varying processing times are mainly due to varying density and pH. With some tomato packs heat penetration is easier so the processing time doesn't need to be so long.

I think which pack is the "best" depends on how you use your canned tomatoes and which you and your family prefer. Some are also quicker to prep and therefore offer convenience when you're short of canning time or over-burdened with a lot of tomatoes. You might want to think of this canning season as your "learning time" and try out different ways of processing the tomatoes. Make notes as to which is preferable in terms of canning and also which you and your family find most useful for your recipes.

Then next year you'll be a pro!

Carol

I would like to keep the tomatoes whole or in large pieces as much as possible. I am a little leary of the pressure canning just because I remember my Mother cooking green beans in the pressure cooker, and after a very short time they would soft and limp. At the time that is what I thought cooked green beans were supposed to be. Now I generally like my veggies cooked a little less and firmer and crisper. I am just concerned the pressure canning will turn the tomatoes to mush, or juice instead of whole tomatoes. I am going on faith when people say you get a better quality product from pressure canning, lol.

I don't have a huge garden so getting enough tomatoes to can is always a little iffy, and I may only get one batch put away.

If anyone remembers what time/pressure combination they use or if they have tried both BWB and pressure canning tomatoes which you preferred and what any differences were in the final product, I would love to know. :)

Many of us pressure can our tomatoes and they do not turn to mush. The whole point of NCHFP testing and publishing the pressure canning times was because it results in a better quality than the BWB processing does.

Do you want whole packed raw or packed hot? Packed with no added liquid or with water or with tomato juice? What is your altitude? Does your PC have a gauge too or just the weight?

Those answers will determine your pressure canning time.

Dave

PS: please note that the added lemon juice is still required either way.

I am using citric acid. My elevation is about 150 feet above sea level. It ONLY has weights, no dial guage. I am planning to do raw pack with no added liquid, whole or halved tomatoes.

I had checked the NCHFP and there 3 times/pressures given for the above, and I wasn't sure what difference they would make in the final product:

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP chart I am using

raw pack with no added liquid, whole or halved tomatoes

Processing for Whole or Halved Tomatoes (packed raw without added liquid) in a Weighted-Gauge Pressure Canner gives you options for different weights, true, but with no difference in the results because the pressures and the times are balanced out.

40 min @ 5 lbs.
25 min @ 10 lbs.
15 min @ 15 lbs.

Since your canner has the 3 piece weight set you can use any of those. It just depends on how much time you want to spend. Logically the shortest time at the highest pressure uses the least amount of energy and time.

Personally, when I do raw pack - which isn't often as I much prefer hot pack - I use 25 min. @ 10 lbs. simply because 10 lbs is what I have to use for everything and that is the weight I have on all my canners. I don't want to have to dig out my other weight piece to up it to 15 lbs. and I don't want to have 40 mins of steam in the kitchen when I can get by with 25 mins of it. :)

It really is your choice.

Dave

Thanks, Dave. Why do you prefer the hot pack? My using raw pack is to decrease the amount the tomatoes are "cooked", simply because I find the longer tomatoes are cooked the more they lose their fresh garden taste. The same reason when I used my garden tomatoes for sauce, I make a quick cooked "fresh" sauce instead of a longer simmering sauce, which I usually use canned tomatoes for (esp. since my supply of home canned tomatoes is limited). I have the jars in the dishwasher, the washed tomatoes on the counter, but I still have time to change the method, lol.

It is just a personal preference and depends in part on how you use them after opening the jars. I'd have little use for whole tomatoes in cooking. Hot pack means less floating and separation, better appearance, easier packing, and much shorter processing times because of the faster heat penetration.

Based on past discussions here about the methods, I think most of us prefer hot packing.

Dave

You might have better luck making a quick-cooked fresh sauce and freezing it.

The reality is the nature of tomatoes is such that canning them in any form is going to alter the texture. It's an inevitability. I think sometimes we set ourselves up for failure when we try to circumvent seasonality. Fresh (raw) tomato pasta sauces with fresh garlic, onion and basil or tomato-and-onion sandwiches with the best mayonnaise are summer pleasures. Maybe we appreciate them more for that reason.

Also, the variety of tomatoes you're working with will make a huge difference in final quality and you're going to have to work out what is the optimal canning variety for your climate. The nearest Extension service for your region can assist with that.

For example, we've had two terrible summers here (not this summer but the two previous). Cold, wet and cloudy. Terrible tomato weather. Our best tomato was Stupice, but it's not a good "canner" except for sauces. Too juicy, too little meat and simply too fragile to hold up.

Carol

Thanks Carol. I grow a variety of tomatoes and found the mixture wonderful for an "almost fresh" quick cook sauce in winter the last time I canned them. Soooo much better than canned tomatoes. I used a BWB method because I did not have a pressure canner and didn't want to invest until I knew if I would ever do it again. It was so nice to have that winter that I have been itching to do it again ever since. Because of that, the reports of better quality from it, and because of the versatility of a pressure canner, I invested. I just don't have experience with this method, and obviously my experience with the BWB was limited, lol. It worked out quite well, though.

I have my first batch just heating up in the canner now. It is 90 degrees out and the AC is on, so I will probably go with the 15 lb, 15 minute method. I do tend to over think and over research things sometimes, esp when I am concerned about safety.

This year my tomatoes will some mixture of the one of each plant I have of Rutgers, Jet Star, Brandywine, Anna Russian, Kosovo, Orange Minx, Kellogg's Breakfast, KBX, Cherokee Purple, Donskoi, Reif Red Heart, and Costoluto Genovese.

It sounds as if you have it under control. Good luck with your tomato harvest. It sounds like a lot of wonderful varieties.

Carol