Here are some advisory notices you may want to review before making up your mind.

U. Of Wisconsin Ext: Tomatoes and potatoes infected with late blight

Penn State: Tomatoes and Potatoes Infected with Late Blight
 Are They Safe for Canning?

Poor Richard's Almanac: Late blight warning: DonÂt can those tomatoes!

Note Penn State's statement: We also cannot recommend that consumers eat fresh or freeze diseased tomatoes. The disease organism by itself is not harmful to consume. But the tissue damage and rise in pH (decrease in acidity) that occurs can create conditions that promote the growth of other potentially harmful microorganisms.

I wouldn't use them for salsa and I wouldn't dry them as the temperatures reached aren't hot enough to kill the fungus, but IMO I don't see why you couldn't make sauce with them since it will be well cooked 2x before use - prior to canning and again prior to use.

Dave

No blights here even though we had a terrible June and July with 60 degree temps. They are just now going crazy and ripening. I have not had to spray them and don't see any traces of diseases on the leaves. I expect them to continue to produce well into late September until we get a frost.

It's deeply ironic that the increased interest in home-gardening, whether it's two plants or twenty, has provided more hosts for a speedier transmission of late blight.

One reminder if it isn't mentioned in the links Dave provided - plants with late blight are not recommended for composting.

I'm sorry to say (remembering some particularly terrible seasons) that fruit from plants tainted with late blight are only marginally salvageable. I wouldn't do it at all. Tomatoes from plants with late blight often develop "off-flavors" which make for unpleasant eating. So even if you think they look OK, you often discover at the point of consumption the tomatoes taste awful.

Carol

Thanks a lot Dave.

The first 2 links you listed basically say to NOT can tomatoes that have blight, but go on to say this: "What if you have unblemished tomatoes growing on plants with leaves, stems or adjacent fruit showing signs of infection? These can be safely eaten, and even preserved" This leads me to believe that fruits that look ok (no lesions or rot) are fine to can.

The third link goes as far as saying you shouldn't can or freeze fruits from blighted plants, and Penn State says "We also cannot recommend that consumers eat fresh or freeze diseased tomatoes" So they are talking about diseased tomatoes, not ok tomatoes from diseased plants!

I am still confused! Seems like it is a judgement call, and nobody knows for sure!?!?!?

Anyway - to try to clarify - you personally would can sauce - due to all the cooking time involved, but wouldn't dehydrate tomatoes due to the low temperature - which would not kill the spores, correct?

Any thoughts about putting dried tomatoes in the oven briefly at a high temp - to kill any remaining spores?

Thanks again for your response, and sorry if I am being difficult. This whole late blight thing just really threw me thru a loop!

So they are talking about diseased tomatoes, not ok tomatoes from diseased plants!

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My interpretation is that they are talking about both - plants and the fruit. I base that on the fact that unlike early blight, septoria, etc., late blight is one of the few diseases that affect both plant and fruit - even if it isn't obvious. I think the underlying reasoning is the same as the reasons given against canning end-of the season or frost bitten tomatoes - because the pH is affected, bacteria and fungi can survive in them that otherwise couldn't.

As Carol said it may only be an off taste. But it could also be something more serious and honestly wouldn't be worth all the work and the cost of other ingredients, time, etc. So honestly, I probably wouldn't do anything with them. But that is easy for me to say since I got plenty of good ones this year. But if I had to, I would likely restrict it to a seasoned, well-cooked sauce where all the other ingredients could off-set any affected taste and all the cooking would take care of everything else. JMO

Penn State and Rutgers as well as the other NE coast extension offices are in the middle of the worst hit part of the country where thousands of growers - commercial as well as home gardeners - lost their entire crop this year to LB so I'd go along with their recommendations.

Our specific recommendation is that tomatoes showing signs of late blight disease should not be used for canning. This applies even to tomatoes with only minor lesions since we cannot be sure that the infestation has spread to the interior of the fruit and the extent of internal infestation is not always clearly visible.

Also, folks from that part of the country have posted over on the Tomato forum that they are finding fruit that appears fine one day going bed within 24 hours so don't put too much stock on how the fruit looks.

Dave

If you chose to can them, you need to be 100 percent sure they do not have any blemishes on them or they may be infected. They are saying if the tomatoes themselves have any diseased blemishes not to eat the tomatoes.
Personally, I would say to not try to can them at all . Better safe than sorry. You may do as was said, can them, waste all your time and effort,as well as cost for lids, power, water, etc. and find they do not taste well. That or have some sort of spoilage in the jars. I don't feel it would be worth it.
For drying them, it still may leave a bad taste, but this is what is said about drying tomatoes :
Preparing the fruit for drying can involve as much or as little effort as you want, but make sure you choose fresh, perfectly ripe, unblemished fruit, or cut away any damaged areas.
The call is yours on drying them. You may or may not wind up with a tasty product.
As for "damaged areas", I am seeing this to mean bruised, not diseased. To me there is a difference.

We have had years of destroyed harvests due to late blight. Like Dave, we just sucked it up and didn't even attempt to preserve from that harvest. It's one argument, I suppose, for canning in two-year cycles rather than one.

We haul blighted plants out of the garden as soon as we spot them, scoop up as many tomatoes that drop as we can manage and burn everything.

Of course, that is only possible in regions where such burning is legal.

Carol

Thanks to everyone for their input - I appreciate it.

Guess I'll just be canning pickles and pickled hot peppers this year. At least I still have a little green tomato relish from last years harvest : )

I feel your pain. Our tomatoes here are also affected. The raccoons have eaten most of my corn. The "peach guy" didn't come back so I don't have Colorado peaches to can. The peppers haven't had enough hot weather to ripen. My first eggplant is about the size of a chicken egg. My apple trees have a total of about 15 apples which the squirrels will probably eat.

At least my raspberries and green beans were good. But my larder is going to be quite bare this winter.

At least we have access to grocery stores. Imagine how hard it was for the pioneers when they had harvests like these.

We just had a community garden in a poor section of Portland vandalized. It was tragic for people who struggle to get enough fresh food into their diets and lost all their hard work.

Carol

In the 'old days', many of the tomato plants have a lot more natural protection againt any blights. Today, with all the hundreds or varieties, its very hard to know which will grow well in a specific area. I recall growing stuffing tomatoes one year. Kind of like a cross between a big bell pepper with an empty cavity inside except for the seed cluster. The stuffing tomatoes looked good at first, but once the started to ripen to red, they got small spots on the skins that destroyed them very fast. If they were picked before the spots appeared and brought indoors, washed and allowed to sit on a counter overnight, the next day they would have many bad spots that quickly consumed them. Never again will I plant a stuffing tomato. My two favorite choices for tomato seeds is Totally Tomatoes and Tomato Growers. Both offer many kinds, and some are highly resistant to blights. Of course the store boughts are like baseballs and can take a lot of banging around, but thats fine if they are intended to be handled a lot and shipped a long distance away.

OUCH Prairie Love! I've at least harvested a few decent eggplant, and some nice peppers as well. So sorry to hear about your losses - now I feel your pain!

The last of the tomatoes (I can't believe I am saying this on the 4th day of September) are simmering on the stovetop right now. Think they will become spaghetti sauce that will be frozen, not canned.

Plants will be ripped up Sunday and thrown on the burn pile.

Carol - your community garden vandalism is just heartbreaking - so sorry.

If open burning is illegal in your location you can still burn in a fireplace or chimenia (sp?).

Fortunately, I wasn't one of the community gardeners but I still feel for them. A lot of people helped with produce to make up for what was lost but still, when you've spent a season growing your own it's hard to lose. I really hope they identify the culprits.

Here we've been fortunate (knock on wood) to escape blight so far but the weather is changing, we have rain and thunderstorms predicted all weekend, and I spent the day picking everything in the garden I could. This will definitely be a canning weekend.

Having grown up in a farm family, I know we're really at the mercy of nature. There's just no way to predict what the season will bring. For us this is the first really good season after four mediocre ones. Last year was terrible. I scrounged tomatoes and never did get any peppers to speak of.

Carol

I've canned and/or froze tomatoes from blighted plants for years. Blight hits tomatoes here every single year. I've never had a problem with off flavors.

eks - on the bright side, the advantage of freezing over canning is that you can make the sauce however you want without worrying about safety!

greenhouser - it depends on the type of blight. I don't believe early blight has nearly as much effect as late.

Carol, that is very sad for the community gardeners. You're right, we are fortunate to not have to rely on the home produce. Even if the grocery store kind isn't as good!

I agree that early blight is a different issue. Late blight is destructive in ways early blight isn't. It's what caused the potato famine in Ireland. Fungicides can limit it but you have to literally flood the tomatoes and that comes at its own cost.

Carol