Six hens, three seasons in: what we'd do differently

There comes a Saturday in the first half of September when the kitchen counter is no longer a counter — it’s a tomato situation. The vines, which all summer have been polite about ripening one or two at a time, decide together that the season is over and offer up everything they have left in a single weekend. The basket on the porch is full; so is the colander; so is the cookie sheet you forgot you set down. This is the day you put up.

We built a method that fits a real Saturday, with kids underfoot and a husband walking through the kitchen every twenty minutes for a glass of water. It is not the prettiest method. It is the one that holds.

What you’ll need before you start

You don’t need a fancy canning setup to put up tomatoes well. We’ve been doing this on a flat-top range for six years now. Here’s what we reach for, in the order we use it.

• A big, heavy pot.Enameled cast iron if you have it; a wide stainless if you don’t.
• A water-bath canner with a rack.
• A jar lifter, a wide-mouth funnel, and a bubble tool.
• Pint jars and lids.
• One bowl of ice water. The skin-saving trick.

The slow-Saturday schedule

Coffee in hand by 8, jars out of the dishwasher by 9, sauce off the stove by 4, and dinner together at the table by 6. No marathon.

9:00 — set the table

Pull every empty jar out of the cabinet, line them up on a folded tea towel, and set the lids in a bowl of warm water.

9:30 — blanch & peel

Score the bottoms. Blanch in batches of eight to twelve. Shock, peel, core, and quarter the lot into the biggest bowl you own.

11:00 — start the sauce

Into the heavy pot: a small splash of olive oil, four smashed cloves of garlic, a pinch of salt. Add the tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and walk away — but only across the room.

2:30 — taste, ladle, lid

When the sauce coats the back of a spoon and the kitchen has gone quiet, you’re ready. Ladle through the funnel, leaving a half-inch of headspace.