Place tomatoes, celery, onion, parsley and bay leaves in a large stainless steel pot. Cook gently, uncovered, until tender, stirring as needed. I aim to reduce the volume roughly by half, or until it starts to thicken.

Press through a food strainer or sieve into a large stainless steel or enameled cast iron saucepan. Set aside 2 cups of puree to cool.

Whisk together Clear Gel (E-Z Gel) and cooled tomato puree to form a slurry.

Bring soup back to a boil and stir in the Clear Gel slurry. Continue to boil for two minutes, until it thickens. Add salt, pepper and sugar (if desired). Soup will not resemble commercial soup concentrate. Instead, it will look like a slightly too thick tomato soup.

Ladle into pint or half pint jars and fill to 1” headspace. Wipe rims and seat two piece caps.

Process in pressure canner at 10 pounds of pressure for weighted gauge and 11 pounds for dial gauge, for 25 minutes for pints or half pints. Do not use quarts for this recipe.

When ready to serve the canned tomato soup, just heat with equal amount of liquid such as milk, water or chicken broth.

Makes around 4 pints.