Tomato canning time!

I'm learning new tricks with our abundance of garden tomatoes. Last year it was tomato jam. This year it's canning tomato soup. I tried it yesterday with a batch, and will definitely make more. I love tomato soup for lunch on winter afternoons. I took a class my senior high of college in preserving, got this book, Keeping the Harvest; still use it and buy it for gifts.

This tomato soup for canning recipe came from my home shopper paper, and is by Beth Desens, a neighbor over in Fredonia. I only had five quarts of tomatoes yesterday, so I didn't make this entire batch. She also didn't specify making a roux with the butter/flour, so I didn't.

Tomato Soup for Canning

14 qrts fresh tomatoes, cut up
14 stalks of celery
a good size clump of parsley (I used dried)
20 whole cloves
12 bay leaves
7 sweet onions
medium sized clump of basil
1 c. sugar
4 tsp. salt
1 heaping tsp. paprika
3/4 pound melted butter
3/4 c flour

Boil tomatoes, celery, parsley, bay leaves, cloves, basil and onions together for about an hour. Stir frequently. Put through a food mill and put back in pot.
Mix together sugar, salt, paprika and flour and butter, add to liquids, stirring continuously. Cook another fifteen-twenty minutes. Pour into hot jars and process fifty minutes in the pressure canner, 5 pounds. Makes 10 quarts.