Whole Canned Roasted Tomatoes

Ingredients:
Roma tomatoes, olive oil, salt, garlic, basil leaves, lemon juice or citric acid

Heat standard oven to broil or use or convection oven. Rinse/wash tomatoes. Slice tomatoes in half, face down on a baking sheet. Sprinkle top of tomato skins with olive oil and salt. Roast tomatoes for 10-12 minutes, or until skins begin to brown/blacken and are easily removed with tongs. Remove skins from tomatoes.

Add olive juice to jars (see note below.) Pack tomatoes and 1-3 garlic and basil leaves (to taste, optional) into hot, sterilized jars, removing as much air space as possible, covering tops of tomatoes with excess juice from pan. Leave 1/4 inch head space. Place lid on evenly and adjust ring onto jar. Process jars for 30 minutes using boiling water canning method.

Notes:
Yield will vary depending on how many lbs. of tomatoes you have and what size jars you use. An average of 21 pounds is needed per canner load of 7 quarts; an average of 13 pounds is needed per canner load of 9 pints. A bushel weighs 53 pounds and yields 15 to 21 quarters- an average of 3 pounds per quart.

For quart jars: add 2 Tbsp. bottled lemon juice of 1/2 tsp citric acid to each hot quart jar. For pint jars: add 1 Tbsp bottled lemon juice or 1/2 tsp citric acid to each hot pint jar.

To prepare chopped or crushed tomatoes, chop or crush after roasting and remove skins.