Crushed Tomatoes (Canning Recipe) - cooking recipe

Ingredients

12 lbs tomatoes
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
4 sprigs fresh basil
lemon juice (1 tbsp. in every pint jar)
sterlized jar

Preparation

Peel the tomatoes and cut them into quarters.
Heat a large pan over medium heat and add the tomatoes, crushing lightly with a potato masher, leaving a few chunks. Add the salt, sugar and basil and bring to a simmer. Skim any foam.
Cook for 15 minutes over high heat, stirring often to keep it from sticking, until the tomatoes have thickened to your liking.
Add 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice to each pint jar. Ladle the hot crushed tomatoes into the warm sterilized jars up to 1/4 inch from the top of the jar. Top with sterilized lids and gently screw on a banded top.
Lower into a boiling water batch and process pints 35 minutes or 40 minutes for quarts. (If you live at 1,000 or more feet above sea level, add 5 minutes to the processing time.).