Tomato soup is an essential childhood staple- soda crackers or grilled cheese sandwich to go along side. I became a tomato soup expert over my many years. Which brands where worth buying and which tasted like red tempera paint mixed with sugar. Trust me it is a thing and it is horrible.

With my adventures in canning I soon realized the world of soups was now a vast possibility and I wasn’t limited to the grocery shelf any longer. I could make my own shelf stable soups right in my own kitchen, with local ingredients.

I have posted about tomato soup before but this recipe is specifically for canning. If you have not had home made tomato soup- I encourage you to try it here before big batch canning. Nothing quiet compares to homemade freshness or flavour.

The orig recipe below calls to cook in a big soup pot – but I prefer to roast pepper onion tomatoes garlic and oil at 350 first just until tender for flavour approx 30-40 min . Then transfer it all to soup pot and proceed with step 10 in below recipe. If you do this you may need to add a bit of water to help boil- depending how long you roasted. But roasting is optional.

You will notice there is no dairy in this soup, but you can always turn this soup into cream of tomato by adding 1/3 cup heavy cream while gently heating it to serve.

Vine fresh Tomato Soup – yields 4 litres – orig in Ball blue canning book

• 1 bell pepper (medium)
• 1 onion (medium)
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• 6 kg tomatoes (14 lbs / 10 quarts chopped)
• 4 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
• 1 tablespoon salt (OR non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub)
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• lemon juice (bottled, OR citric acid)

1. Wash, stem, seed and coarsely chop the bell pepper; set aside.
2. Wash, peel and coarsely chop the onion; add to bell pepper.
3. Wash, peel and mince the garlic; set aside separately.
4. Wash and core the tomatoes; chop into quarters. Set aside.
5. Heat the oil in a very large pot.
6. Add the onion and pepper, sauté for a few minutes until the onion starts to turn a bit translucent.
7. Add the garlic add to pot.
8. Sauté for another minute.
9. Add the tomatoes.
10. Stir mixture in pot.
11. Set heat to medium.
12. Cover pot, and bring to a boil, covered. This may take 30 to 40 minutes. Stir often to prevent bottom scorching.
13. Once the mixture has released enough liquid to start boiling, reduce heat to a simmer.
14. Simmer covered for another 30 to 40 minutes or until tomatoes have all broken down and mixture has begun to thicken a bit.
15. Pass mixture through a food mill or strainer to remove tomato skins and seeds. Do this carefully, minding the very hot liquids.
16. Return the strained tomato mixture to the large pot.
17. Add the tomato paste, sugar, salt and pepper.
18. Bring back to a simmer and let simmer for 15 minutes.
19. Ladle hot soup into heated jars, either half-litre (pint) OR litre (quart).
20. Leave 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
21. To half-litre jars, add ¼ teaspoon citric acid OR 1 tablespoon lemon juice.
22. To litre (quart) jars, add ½ teaspoon citric acid OR 2 tablespoons lemon juice.
23. Debubble, adjust headspace.
24. Wipe jar rims.
25. Put lids on.
26. Process in a water bath or steam canner.
27. Process either size jar for 40 minutes. Increase time as needed for your altitude.