{"id":606,"date":"2021-08-23T11:54:38","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T15:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/?p=606"},"modified":"2021-08-23T17:24:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-23T21:24:13","slug":"tomato-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/?p=606","title":{"rendered":"Tomato management"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Summer rolls on, and the tomatoes keep coming. We&#8217;ve done a pretty good job of managing the volume, having made an adjustment to a greater number of large tomato and fewer cherry tomato plants in the garden this year. It&#8217;s a major reason why we keep a journal, so we can improve upon each year based on previous years&#8217; learned lessons.  Having recently finished putting up our frozen tomatoes for soup and cooking, we moved onto one of our favorite condiments: barbeque sauce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A couple of years ago J became interested in making homemade BBQ sauce from our tomatoes. We have no complaints with store-bought, but the problem with large gardens and good growing years is that production often outstrips consumption, even when being generous with the neighbors &#8211; and we&#8217;ve found absolutely no one who eats the same quantity of vegetables we do. Our sauce recipe was a bit of trial and error (this one is version number six of what we&#8217;ve tried) but it&#8217;s quickly become our favorite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><strong>Cocktail Farmers  Best BBQ Sauce<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>6 lbs tomatoes<\/li><li>2 cups chopped onion<\/li><li>4 garlic cloves<\/li><li>1 jalapeno (or other pepper with a kick)<\/li><li>2 cups cider vinegar<\/li><li>1 cup packed brown sugar<\/li><li>1\/2 cup molasses<\/li><li>1 Tbs crushed pepper (black or red, depending on taste preference)<\/li><li>1 Tbs dry mustard<\/li><li>1 Tbs Kosher salt<\/li><li>1 Tbs smoked paprika<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Smoke tomatoes, onion, and garlic on a smoker or charcoal grill for 1-2 hours, depending on the volume of vegetables. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" src=\"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1278.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"608\" data-link=\"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/?attachment_id=608\" class=\"wp-image-608\" srcset=\"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1278.jpg 320w, http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1278-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><figcaption>This is actually 12 lbs of tomatoes, plus 4 cups of onion<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Remove from heat, allow to cool slightly, and then mill with a fine screen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" src=\"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1279.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-609\" srcset=\"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1279.jpg 320w, http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1279-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><figcaption>In process<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Add spices to the tomato puree and boil until reduced by half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" src=\"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1277.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-607\" srcset=\"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1277.jpg 320w, http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1277-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><figcaption>That is an automatic pot stirrer &#8211; like that one coworker we all have, but significantly more helpful.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>We made a double recipe over the weekend &#8211; we smoked twelve pounds of tomatoes + onion, milled and cooled it, and parked it in the fridge for the evening, then finished the sauce and canned it yesterday. All told, it took about 8 1\/2 <em><strong>hours<\/strong> <\/em>which I realize sounds slightly insane, but so are we. The reduction time for the sauce is really where the hours came in &#8211; it was almost 5 to get it down to the righ consistency, but we started with 2x the volume for this recipe, so it should be shorter if you go strictly by what I&#8217;ve written above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Twelve pounds of tomatoes made 4 16 oz jars and 3 8 oz jars:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" src=\"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1285.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"612\" data-link=\"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/?attachment_id=612\" class=\"wp-image-612\" srcset=\"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1285.jpg 320w, http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1285-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" src=\"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1286.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"613\" data-link=\"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/?attachment_id=613\" class=\"wp-image-613\" srcset=\"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1286.jpg 320w, http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/IMG_1286-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>My house has smelled amazing for two days, and I can&#8217;t wait to do a brisket in a few weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summer rolls on, and the tomatoes keep coming. We&#8217;ve done a pretty good job of managing the volume, having made an adjustment to a greater number of large tomato and fewer cherry tomato plants in the garden this year. It&#8217;s a major reason why we keep a journal, so we can improve upon each year &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/?p=606\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Tomato management<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sharing_disabled":false,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[71,73,58,70,24,53,31],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3f8I6-9M","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=606"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":616,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606\/revisions\/616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}