Cold pack tomatoes canning means packing peeled raw tomatoes into jars, adding acid, then processing the sealed jars. It is a tested method, not a shortcut around safety. The jars still need bottled lemon juice or citric acid, the right headspace, and a full process time that matches how you filled them. Skip the acid or use the short water-pack time on a dry-packed jar and you are no longer following a safe recipe.
The payoff is speed at the stove. You skip the extra simmer that hot pack requires. The tradeoff is longer time in the canner for some styles, plus more floating and extra headspace after the fruit shrinks. Pick the pack that fits your afternoon, then follow that one schedule all the way through.
What Cold Pack Tomatoes Canning Actually Means
Cold pack is the older kitchen name for raw pack. You wash, peel, and core the fruit, then fill hot jars with uncooked tomatoes. You do not simmer the tomatoes first. You still add acid to every jar. You still process in a boiling-water canner or a pressure canner using a current tested schedule.
Raw pack is allowed for whole or halved tomatoes packed with no extra liquid, packed in water, or packed in tomato juice. Crushed tomatoes are a hot-pack method, so do not treat diced or mashed fruit as a cold pack. That change in density needs its own tested process.
Tomatoes sit near the acid line that separates high-acid food from low-acid food. Modern varieties can land above pH 4.6. That is why extension guides treat added acid as nonnegotiable, even when you pressure can.
Choose Your Pack Style Before You Heat the Canner
The style you choose changes flavor, how many tomatoes fit in a jar, and how long the water has to boil. Decide this first. Mixing styles in one canner load is how people grab the wrong timer.
Raw pack with no added liquid
Add acid to the jar. Pack peeled whole or halved tomatoes, then press until the released juice fills the gaps. Leave 1/2 inch of headspace. This gives the most tomato flavor in the jar. It also needs a long water-bath time because the pack is dense.
Raw pack in boiling water
Add acid, pack the raw fruit, then cover with boiling water to 1/2 inch headspace. Water transfers heat faster than thick juice, so the water-bath time drops. The tomatoes taste a little milder, and you may see more floating.
Raw pack in hot tomato juice
Add acid, pack raw tomatoes, then cover with hot plain tomato juice. Flavor stays closer to the fruit than water pack does. Heat still moves slowly through that thicker liquid, so the water-bath time matches the no-liquid method.
| Pack style | What covers the fruit | Water-bath time at 0–1,000 ft | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|
| No added liquid | Juice pressed from the tomatoes | 85 minutes, pints or quarts | Stronger tomato flavor, fewer extra ingredients |
| Packed in water | Boiling water | 40 minutes pints, 45 minutes quarts | Shorter canner time, easier first batch |
| Packed in tomato juice | Hot tomato juice | 85 minutes, pints or quarts | Tomato flavor without watering the jar down |
Those times come from the National Center for Home Food Preservation schedules. Raise them at higher elevations. A pint of water-packed tomatoes at 3,001 to 6,000 feet needs 50 minutes, not 40.
Acid, Jars, and Tomatoes You Should Not Skip
Use firm, ripe or slightly underripe fruit with no soft spots, mold, or decay. Do not can tomatoes from dead or frost-killed vines. Overripe fruit can be too low in acid. Green tomatoes are more acidic and can follow the same tested directions. Heirlooms are fine if you still acidify every jar.
Cherry and grape tomatoes are not recommended for canning. They are awkward to peel and pack, and they are not the fruit the process times were built around. Save them for the skillet or the freezer.
Plan on about 3 pounds of tomatoes per quart, or about 21 pounds for a 7-quart canner load and 13 pounds for 9 pints. Paste types such as Roma hold shape better than watery slicers. Any safe variety still needs the same acid.
Add one of these to each jar before you pack:
- Bottled lemon juice: 1 tablespoon per pint, 2 tablespoons per quart
- Citric acid: 1/4 teaspoon per pint, 1/2 teaspoon per quart
- 5% vinegar: 2 tablespoons per pint, 4 tablespoons per quart
Bottled lemon juice has a consistent acid level. Fresh lemons do not. Vinegar works, but it can leave a sharp taste. Salt is optional and only for flavor: 1/2 teaspoon per pint or 1 teaspoon per quart.
Use standard mason jars and new two-piece lids. Wash jars in hot soapy water. Keep them hot until you fill them. Preheat the canner water to about 140°F for raw pack so the glass does not crack when the full process boil starts.
How to Cold Pack Tomatoes Step by Step
Work in small batches so peeled fruit does not sit out while you chase lids.
- Wash the tomatoes. Score a shallow X on the blossom end. Blanch 30 to 60 seconds, just until the skins split. Move them to ice water, slip the skins, and core. Leave whole or cut in halves. Trim any bruised flesh.
- Put the measured acid in each hot jar. Add salt only if you want it.
- Pack the raw tomatoes. For no-liquid pack, press until juice fills the spaces. For water or juice pack, fill with fruit, then add the hot liquid. Keep 1/2 inch headspace.
- Slide a plastic bubble tool around the inside of the jar. Add more liquid or fruit if the headspace grew. Wipe the rims, apply lids, and tighten bands fingertip-tight.
- Load the jars onto the canner rack. Cover water-bath jars with 1 to 2 inches of water. Start timing only after the water returns to a full boil, or after a pressure canner reaches the tested pressure for your altitude.
- When time is up, turn off the heat. For a water bath, wait 5 minutes before lifting jars. For a pressure canner, let the pressure drop on its own. Cool jars upright 12 to 24 hours. Check seals, remove bands, wash, label, and store.
If a jar fails to seal, refrigerate it, freeze the contents, or reprocess within 24 hours in a clean jar with a new lid and a full process time.
Processing Times You Have to Match to the Pack
Water-bath times above already cover most home kitchens at low elevation. Pressure canning is shorter and still requires the same acid. For whole or halved tomatoes packed raw with no added liquid, a common tested option is 25 minutes at 11 pounds on a dial-gauge canner or 10 pounds on a weighted-gauge canner at 0 to 1,000 feet. Water-packed tomatoes have their own shorter pressure schedules. Use the table that matches the exact pack, not a time you remember from sauce.
An atmospheric steam canner is not a free pass. Penn State notes that a steam canner cannot be used for products that process longer than 45 minutes. That rules out the 85-minute raw packs. Instant Pots and other multi-cookers are not approved canners, even with a canning button.
Altitude is not optional trivia. Water boils cooler as you go up, so process times or pressure must rise. Look up your elevation before you fill the first jar.
The CDC also advises boiling home-canned tomatoes for 10 minutes before you eat them at elevations below 1,000 feet, plus 1 minute for each extra 1,000 feet. That step is about leftover risk, not a substitute for correct processing.
Problems That Show Up After the Jars Cool
Floating tomatoes are common in raw pack because the fruit still holds air. Pack tightly without crushing, keep the liquid at the correct headspace, and accept that some lift is normal. Hot pack shrinks the fruit first and usually looks neater after storage.
Separation, where watery liquid sits under a tomato layer, comes from enzymes that start working after you cut the fruit. It is a quality issue, not proof the jar is unsafe if the seal is good, the process was correct, and the food looks and smells normal when you open it. Heat the fruit faster next time, or switch to hot pack if the look bothers you.
Siphoning (liquid loss) happens when jars go into water that is too cool, when bands are cranked down too hard, or when you yank jars out of a rolling boil. Match the preheat to raw pack, use fingertip-tight bands, and give the canner that short rest before you lift.
Never taste from a jar with a bulging lid, spurting liquid, off odor, or visible mold. Discard it without sampling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have to peel tomatoes for cold pack canning?
Yes for tested whole or halved recipes. The blanch-and-slip step is part of the procedure those process times assume. Skins can harbor soil bacteria and they turn tough in the jar. If peeling a mountain of fruit is the part you dread, freeze the extras or make a tested crushed hot-pack batch instead of inventing a skin-on cold pack.
Can you use a steam canner for cold pack tomatoes?
Only if the tested water-bath time is 45 minutes or less and you follow the steam canner’s own rules. That can cover some water-packed pints at low altitude. It does not cover raw pack with no added liquid or raw pack in juice, both of which need 85 minutes or more.
Is bottled lemon juice required if you pressure can?
Acid still belongs in the jar. Pressure kills more microorganisms by heat, but tomato pH still varies. Extension guidance keeps acidification in place for whole, crushed, and juiced tomatoes under both canning methods. Citric acid is the quiet swap if you dislike the taste of lemon.
Why did the liquid look thin after processing?
Raw tomatoes shrink and release juice as they heat. Water pack starts with extra liquid, so the finished jar can look sparse. Next time pack more tightly, use paste tomatoes, or choose no-liquid pack if you want a thicker jar and you can spare the longer boil.
Can you add garlic, onions, or peppers to a cold pack jar?
Not as a casual extra. Plain tomatoes are one tested product. Salsa, sauce with vegetables, and tomatoes mixed with low-acid produce need their own recipes and, often, pressure canning. A clove “for flavor” changes the food you just processed.
Pick the Pack That Fits the Day You Have
If you want the shortest safe water-bath time, pack raw tomatoes in boiling water and set the timer for your jar size and altitude. If you want a jar that tastes like summer fruit instead of tomato water, press a no-liquid pack and give it the full 85 minutes. Either way, the acid goes in first and the process time follows the pack you actually made.
A pretty Pin can make cold pack look like a five-minute trick. The real kindness is a measured spoon of lemon juice and a timer you refuse to bargain with.