As far as that sieve, its probably a Foley. KInd of looks like a sauce pan with a paddle inside and a small wire on the bottom to 'wipe away' the stuff that gets forced through. You can use that, but to get a thicker sauce before its even cooked, you would use mostly meaty plum tomatoes. To get the sauce to be a bit less watery, cut the tomatoes in halves and try to scoop out as much of the seeds and watery liquid before it goes in the strainer. Here, I do this with plum tomatoes, and use a ROMA (formally Villaware) strainer, which has conical sieves and an auger that pushes the tomatoes passed the sieves holes and forces the meat away from the skins and seeds, which is pushed out the end. When I do tomatoes, its usually by the bushel and so I need speed. The Foley is fine for small batches, and can also be used to make apple sauce from cooked apples. Some salsa a re quite chunky and just have chopped tomatoes as opposed to just a sauce. Do a search on the word 'Villaware food strainer' and 'Foley', and you should see the big differences.

It's much older than a Foley :). It's a garage sale find: conical with a wooden rolling pin like part than smooshes the tomatoes agains the sides. Seems to work pretty well, though. Thanks for the trick about the seeds. Unfortunately, I only have Cherokee purple and Togo Trifle ripe right now. The paste tomatoes are a little behind on ripening. The Togo's are a more meaty tomato with few seeds, so I'll try them. If it's too watery, can I cook it down a bit? The recipe also calls for a lot of chopped tomatoes, so hopefully that will thicken it up some.

After looking at the Villaware, I may have to modernize. I have a huge number of tomatoes getting ready to ripen. I over planted just a litte bit :).

thanks!
Bellatrix

I'm almost overwhelmed at the number of questions!

OK, first, to make tomato paste you've got about 3 1/2 hours of cooking time plus the prep time plus 45 minutes BWB. Which is why I buy tomato paste, LOL!

Here's the recipe and instructions if you want to do it:

Making Tomato Paste.

If you want to add black beans to the salsa then you're going to have to increase the processing time to the time for black beans, which is 75 minutes under pressure for pints. I don't know what that will do to the salsa. IIRC, Annie tried adding black beans and corn to her salsa once but wasn't satisfied with the results.

Here's the canning info for black beans. You might find it more time-efficient to can black beans separately. Then you can stir them into the salsa when opened or use them for any other recipe. Or black beans could be cooked and frozen in small amounts.

Canning Dried or Shelled Beans.

Keep the time the same for the 4 oz. jars. I doubt you'll notice any reduction in quality. Stacking the jars is fine. It's better if you use an extra canning rack or other rack between the layers of jars. I bought a second one to match the original that came with my canner. It didn't cost very much.

Carol

CHEAT!!!!!
if you don't have you own sauce or paste, go to the grocery store (only problem, neither comes in 16 oz size so you'll either throw some out or come up a bit short, just don't go over)
Annie sez there's not much wiggle room in her recipe, so add the black beans (and, or corn) when you serve it

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

Hmmm, 3 1/2 hours of cooking on a 95 degree day with no airconditioning...I think Muir Glen tomato paste will be just fine :). At least most of the salsa will be with my own tomatoes.

Excellent idea on the beans. I will freeze small amounts and add them as needed.

Thanks so much, everyone. This is exactly the infomation I needed.
Bellatrix

Glad to help Bellatrix. I use so little tomato paste I just decided it wasn't worth it, even with my own tomatoes. The cost of the commercial variety is low and when you look at the ingredients list, it's one of the "purest" products out there.

Carol

I bought an old one of these on a garage sale.

Here is a link that might be useful:

You would basically have to make chili with beans and can it if you want beans in it. It would need to be liquid enough to can to get proper heat penetration.
Personally, I wouldn't mess with the great salsa recipe !
I agree, I don't make tomato paste or sauce. I buy those on sale instead .
If you have a cooker and not a canner, you cannot safely can in it. To be safe for canning it must be able to hold at least 4 quart sized jars. Otherwise your food will be considered underprocessed and unsafe to consume. I don't know what you have, just that you said small tall pressure cooker.
Oh,and if you stack jars you can do it without a rack as long as you stagger the jars, not sit one directly on the lid of the one below it. I find a rack is much better. I got a great little rack meant for a small bbq grill at the thrift store for 99 cents.
Yep, 4 ounce jars you process the same length of time for half pints or pints.

WOW! That is good salsa - fantastic recipe. Somehow, I managed to get just the right amount of heat from the jalapeno/black hungarian peppers that I used, pure luck. So tasty - I think I need pint jars now.

Snolady - that's my contraption, but mine looks less new.

My pressure cooker is a 7 quart duromatic, but it's tall rather than wide. My next purchase will definitely be a rack.

Looks like I won't be buying salsa again :)
Bellatrix

Bellatrix, you have to be sure your pressure cooker is labeled also as a pressure canner. All the tested recipes assume a certain volume in the canner and that influences the processing time. Smaller cookers aren't the same.

The smallest pressure canner I know of is the Mirro 12-quart.

Carol

annie sez the salsa is BETTER after a couple of weeks when the ingredients have melded. I am patiently waiting to sample mine -- just five days to go.

Dang. Now I'm a bit frustrated. I have a Kuhn Rikon Duromatic 7L (not quart) that says both in the book and the website that it can be used for canning. Yet, the website is a little vague/confusing and says that they do not make a pressure canner. At 15p the temp is 250, 8p 235. Nothing that I can find in my Ball Blue book mentions the difference between a canner and a cooker or a size limit. Seems like that would be a good thing to mention!

What a weekend. Here I am single, yet rather than going out and meeting someone new or accepting any date, I took this whole weekend off to process vegetables (I know, the smart move would be to find a man who likes processing tomatoes :) ). I'm silly - zucchini, beans and tomatoes over men! Any way, what do I do now? Freeze everything? Up the processing time? Can at 15p rather than 10p? Obviously, I think I need to buy a pressure canner.

Sigh. And I was so ecstatic when the jars started pinging.

What would I do without Gardenweb? You all are the best information source I've ever found. I definitely want to avoid botulism!
Bellatrix

I have a Kuhn Rikon Duromatic too. I think the problem is you're working with a European brand and all the testing for pressure-canned foods that I know of comes from U.S/Canadian sources.

I think you can assume, since these sources mention the Mirro 12-quart as the smallest approved size, that the 7L isn't big enough to qualify.

The problem with a smaller cooker is the tested times assume a canner of a certain minimal volume and factor in the time for that canner to come to pressure as part of the safe-processing time. Obviously a smaller cooker isn't going to take as long.

Maybe 15 psi would be OK, maybe not. There just aren't any tests for that. Neither is there any formula for how much time would need to be added. So it's not that it's unsafe; it's that it's an unknown.

I'd keep an eye out for a reasonably-priced canner of a suitable size for your needs. Best-buys are Mirros and Prestos and especially this time of the year, they're starting to come on sale.

Hey, some of us have been known to take vacation time to can, so you're not alone in your "obsession!"

Carol

The oven method for reducing the liquid in tomatoes works well too. They get placed in a large flat baking pan and are baked to remove the water. Because they ar ein a big oen area pan, the cook down faster. After an our at about 325-350 degrees, they should be reducing some of the liquid. As mentioned, you can dig out the liquid and seeds before running them through a food strainer too. When writing about 'canners', there are two kinds. A water bath canner and a pressure canner.. It can get confusing if your only mentioning the word 'canner'. The link below has photos of both types as well as afew other items

Here is a link that might be useful: Foley and Villaware strainers

Bella trix, can you put 4 quart sized jars in your cooker ? If so, it is fine, if not, then it is not safe for canning in.
It will heat up too quickly, cool down too fast. The time it takes to do both in the processing procedure is part of the safe time and is factored in the processing times. Otherwise your food is underprocessed.Also, are you venting it for a full 10 min. before you put the weight on ? A canner must be vented for a full 10 min. to get an accurate reading. Even Prestos manual says 7 min. but they are supposed to be changing that, as well to 10 min.
Those folks who make the things are not trained in food safety.... another one of my pet peeves ! Just like other things on the market that are not safety tested but are still sold.

Problem solved! I just went out and made one of my few impulse buys: a 16qt Presto pressure canner. Now, off to read the manual.

That's really a shame about the duromatic, definitely wouldn't fit 4 quarts. Still, I use it for a ton of other things so it was worth the investment.

Thanks again,
Bellatrix

Congratulations on the new addition! I know you're going to love it.

As you said, the duromatic is definitely a great pressure cooker, even if its not suitable for canning.

I wrote over the info in my Presto manual to reflect the 10-minute venting time, as Linda Lou mentioned. They just don't update those things.

Carol