'Maters Matter

Thirty pounds of 'Amish Roma' tomatoes from the first picking hit the pot after being washed, examined and cut up. They spent all day on the stove cooking down awaiting to become transformed into Valley Spaghetti Sauce. That's a lot of 'maters.

After adding herbs from the garden like basil, rosemary, oregano and fennel - salt, pepper, minced garlic and garlic powder besides our own homegrown peppers and onions were chopped and added.

They were all left to simmer and meld in the large pot on the left while the 40 year old pressure canner heated up and the lids were sterilized.

Each mason jar was filled almost to the rim, lids placed and rings tightened before 7 jars at a time made their way into the canner. The canner was allowed to evacuate for 7 minutes and then cook at 10 pounds/20 minutes.

It's allowed to cool until the pressure is released and the jars are removed as we await the individual lid pops to signal that the lids have sealed. The process begins all over again to fill the next 7 jars. The day's work made 17 quarts (more than 4 gallons) of sauce.

This spaghetti sauce will make its way onto pasta of all kinds, pizzas and Italian dishes including 'spaghetti' squash, for our meals throughout the entire year.

So you ask, what happens to the rest of the tomato crop?
Well, it will find its way into either salsa or stewed tomatoes with the remainder becoming tomato, cabbage/ End of the Year Garden Soups...

Nobody has ever said 'maters don't matter nor that we don't eat well here in the End of the Rainbow Valley...