Tomatoes and stevia

[buffalogal]

I was lucky enough to get MANY (around 100) pounds of tomatoes at the farmers market and was busy making salsa and marinara sauce. The salsa, I just made fresh and froze. But the marinara sauce was cooked with an onion, garlic and herbs and LOTS of tomatoes.

As I was picking basil and oregano from the garden for the marinara sauce, the stevia caught my eye. Its been really growing well in August. I picked some stevia and added it to the other herbs and onion in the food processor. Then after cooking for an hour, I also froze the marinara sauce rather than just storing in canning jars. I'm not experianced with canning and felt better safe than sorry on food safety. WOW was the sauce great. The sweetness came through very nicely and we are enjoying cooking with stevia.

I'll be drying some of the stevia leaves before long. Right now, I've got the dehydrator going on the wonderful bounty of yellow squash from the garden.

[nutty]

Canning really isn't difficult but it will produce a lot of heat in the kitchen, especially if you are using a pressure canner. A jar lifter is a key piece of equipment for canning. It sure saves "cooking" the fingers while lifting jars out of boiling water. I started canning when I was in 4-H but have not done any for several years.