When it comes to preserving the rich, sun-ripened flavor of summer, nothing beats a pantry full of home-canned tomatoes. In fact, for many of us, that very image—one of shelves lined with beautiful jars of homemade pasta sauce, hearty stewed tomatoes, and fresh salsa—is precisely what propelled us to start gardening in the first place. Over the years, we've trialed hundreds of heirloom tomatoes of every shape and size—large and small, paste types and slicers, and in every color imaginable. And those harvests, in turn, have afforded us the opportunity to put up, quite literally, thousands of jars of canned tomatoes. We've learned some things over those years spent toiling in front of a simmering stock pot, and in this article, we're going to be sharing that experience, along with our 10 best heirloom tomatoes for canning. So, without further ado, let's get started.
What makes a good canning tomato?
Before we dig in, it's important to understand that there are a few characteristics that will determine whether or not a particular tomato is good for canning. Generally speaking, your choice of tomato is going to be determined largely by your recipe—that is, what exactly you are going to be making with your tomatoes. There are thousands of tomato canning recipes out there, but generally speaking:
The best tomatoes for sauce are going to be meaty, not extremely juicy, and contains very few seeds. These features make them easy to process and reduce the amount of time required to cook down them down into a sauce-like consistency, which is something you'll appreciate if you're looking to put back a lot of sauce in quick order.
The best tomatoes for stewing are your classic garden tomatoes. They're typically oblate (wider than they are tall), and small to medium in size with a small core. I usually avoid really large tomatoes, which tend to have large cores, as well as ribbed or cat-faced tomatoes, which are difficult to peel.
For canning whole tomatoes, I really like a coreless variety—something that needs little more than peeling to be canner ready. For this purpose, I usually stick with smaller, Roma types. Larger paste tomatoes will work, but they don't make efficient use of jar space and they're more likely to fall apart during processing, which is obviously not something you're going to want if the aim is whole tomatoes.
The best tomatoes for canning tomato juice are...well, juicy. This is a great place to use your larger slicers. Really nothing is off-limits when it comes to juicing tomatoes. You'll just want to consider the flavor of juice you're after. Some tomatoes have more intense, savory flavors while others have mild, sweet flavors. Your personal tastes will determine which tomato works best for you.
Our 10 Best Canning Tomatoes
With all that covered, we're ready to unveil our 10 best tomatoes to grow for canning. So, sit back, and get ready to feast your eyes on some beautiful tomatoes, and dream about all the beautiful canned goods just waiting to be made with them.
1. Italian Heirloom
I'm not going to bury the lede, here. What better way to start this article than with my all-time favorite canning tomato, Italian Heirloom. Why do I love it? Well, it's meaty, perfectly juicy (without being too juicy), and it contains few seeds. What's more, it's a downright tasty tomato. In fact, I wouldn't be afraid to put it on a BLT—and indeed I do, but that's not why we're here. I love the Italian Heirloom Tomato because it makes the most flavorful sauce and stewed tomatoes. It's also got a lot of flesh—and when you pick it up, it seems heavier than it should. All that meat means that the jars are going to fill up quickly which, as a busy mom of three good eaters, is exactly what I'm after. All-in-all, even if you read no further than this, you'll have one of the most versatile, best canning tomatoes around.
2. Costoluto Genovese
Costoluto Genovese gets a pass on my general aversion to fluted or ribbed tomatoes for canning. That's because it has such great flavor. Its richness, when combined with a strong, classic tomato flavor is really hard to beat when it comes to making pasta sauce. And I suppose, being bred by the Italians, there's a reason for that. I've also found that Costoluto Genovese's wide, flat shape works well for roasting. I simply cut the tomatoes in half and lay them cut side up on a baking sheet along with quartered onions, garlic cloves, and basil. Once they're thoroughly roasted, I put the roasted mixture through my food mill to strain out the skins and "ecco!" I've got a delicious roasted pasta sauce.
3. Grushovka
This one is for those of you with shorter growing seasons. An old Soviet variety bred for the short Siberian summers, Grushovka is one of only a few really early paste tomatoes. It produces delicious, pink tomatoes that are meaty and few-seeded—they're perfect for making sauce, paste and salsa. The plants are also relatively small in stature making them a great option for containers or gardens with limited space. You don't need a ton of garden space to can your own tomatoes—with Grushovka it's possible.
4. Ukrainian Purple
When most of us think of canned tomatoes, we envision red ones, but have you ever seen a jar of Ukrainian Purple pasta sauce? It's breathtaking! Years ago, when I had more time for making fancier canned tomato recipes, my mother-in-law and I would always make a designated batch of purple tomato sauce to give it away as gifts. Those jars always received "oohs and ahhs" from the recipients, who were taken away by their uniqueness and beauty. It could just be me, but I've always thought that purple foods scream, "I'm healthy, eat me!" so naturally a gift of a handmade purple tomato sauce should say, "It's healthy, because I care about you."
5. Mule Team
Mule Team is my workhorse when it comes to canning. It yields really well, the fruit are large, and they're almost always blemish-free, which makes processing a breeze. Plus, the tomatoes are less juicy than one might expect given their appearance. Don't get me wrong, they're still juicy enough for a burger, but I really love them for canning. From sauce to stewed tomatoes, Mule Team is a great variety for the serious canner looking to put back vast quantities of jars.
6. Amish Paste
Amish Paste is hands-down our best-selling tomato and it's easy to understand why. The tomatoes are meaty, large for a paste-type, and they contain very few seeds. So few seeds, in fact, that we always struggle to make enough seed to meet demand. What's more, Amish Paste is one of the best-tasting tomatoes around. They make delicious salsa, rich sauce, and a darn good BLT. What more could you ask for?
7. Opalka
This Polish heirloom is another customer favorite. Opalka is under spoken as a plant, and its wispy vines often lead gardeners to think it's weak but just hold on. It's about to overwhelm you. We get so many tomatoes from our Opalka's that we can barely keep up. The fruit are not overly juicy and they have somewhat thick skins, so they hold up really well on the kitchen counter. In fact, we don't have a problem setting them aside for a week or more while we catch our breath from the last canning session. But probably the best feature of this variety is that it has no core. Just slice off a tiny bit of the stem end to remove the stem scar and you're ready to go. Opalka tomatoes are perfect for making tomato paste, sauce, and even diced tomatoes but really, they'll work well for any canning recipe where you don't want too much juice.
8. Rutgers
This list of best tomatoes for canning wouldn't be complete without mentioning Rutgers, arguably the tomato that started it all. Bred for the New Jersey tomato processing industry from an old Campbell's soup variety, Rutgers isn't just a good tomato for canning, it was made for it. Its round, exceptionally uniform, 6 to 8-ounce tomatoes are the perfect size for processing and they have that classic tomato flavor we all know and love. My own grandparents would put away hundreds of quarts of stewed tomatoes and tomato juice each year, and nearly all of them came from Rutgers tomatoes. Perhaps that's why I still hold a special fondness for this old canning tomato.
9. San Marzano
This heirloom from Naples, Italy is famous for its robust flavor and excellent sauce making qualities. San Marzano produces a relatively dry tomato, which is exactly what you're going to want for sauce making. No need to stand around for hours waiting for your sauce to cook down. San Marzano tomatoes make a thick, rich sauce in virtually no time. This is definitely our preferred variety for making pizza sauce, as the juicier ones have a potential to burn before you get them cooked down to a thick consistency. With San Marzano, the sauce starts out pretty thick so you can just cook it for a short period or roast a bit to finish it out.
10. Hensley Settlement
Our last variety, the Hensley Settlement Tomato, is not one that you would typically think of for canning, but I felt it worth a mention here for one particular reason: Sweet Yellow Tomato Chutney. If you have not had the pleasure of biting into a smoked pork chop topped with this sweet, chewy, slightly spicy delicacy, you're missing out. My mother-in-law makes small batches of it once every few years and we value it so much that we only pull it out for special occasions. If you've been served yellow tomato chutney at our house, you should know that you're a cherished guest.
In Summary: Our 10 Best Canning Tomatoes
Well, there you have it. This was a difficult task—thinning down all of our tomatoes into just our 10 favorites for canning, but I think we've got a pretty good list here. But just in case you didn't find that perfect tomato you've been looking for, we've got many more on our website. I'd encourage you to take a look. You just never know what delicious, new heirloom tomato might be filling up your jars this year!
Click here for our full selection of tomatoes
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