Story #5 ~ The jarred tomatoes (Maria Pia & Tonino)
03 May, 2025
“It is not the gift, but the thought that counts.’’
Henry van Dyke
*
‘’Every Fall, my parents make their own tomato sauce. Like many other Italian immigrants, it is a tradition my parents continued. One year, while my parents were in Italy, my sister Paola and I went to the Jean Talon Market and bought several bushels of the most beautiful, organic tomatoes we could find. We wanted to surprise our parents and make the tomato sauce so that they wouldn’t have to do all the work. When they came back from their trip and saw their cold room filled with jars of tomato sauce, they were so happy and appreciative of all the work we did. Jars and jars of tomato sauce, with bright green basil leaves peeking through. All was well….until our parents were awakened by some loud noise that night. They followed the noise to their cold room. The glass jars were exploding and the sauce was everywhere… The tomatoes had started fermenting which is why they were exploding. My sister and I had followed the instructions, or what we remembered but had forgotten the jars needed to be boiled for a long time. Our parents put the remaining jars in garbage bins and brought them outside to their vegetable garden where they continued to explode. Needless to say, we followed their lead the following year.’’
~ Grazia (Maria Pia and Tonino’s daughter)
Henry van Dyke
*
‘’Every Fall, my parents make their own tomato sauce. Like many other Italian immigrants, it is a tradition my parents continued. One year, while my parents were in Italy, my sister Paola and I went to the Jean Talon Market and bought several bushels of the most beautiful, organic tomatoes we could find. We wanted to surprise our parents and make the tomato sauce so that they wouldn’t have to do all the work. When they came back from their trip and saw their cold room filled with jars of tomato sauce, they were so happy and appreciative of all the work we did. Jars and jars of tomato sauce, with bright green basil leaves peeking through. All was well….until our parents were awakened by some loud noise that night. They followed the noise to their cold room. The glass jars were exploding and the sauce was everywhere… The tomatoes had started fermenting which is why they were exploding. My sister and I had followed the instructions, or what we remembered but had forgotten the jars needed to be boiled for a long time. Our parents put the remaining jars in garbage bins and brought them outside to their vegetable garden where they continued to explode. Needless to say, we followed their lead the following year.’’
~ Grazia (Maria Pia and Tonino’s daughter)
