Free at Last! (Sundried Tomatoes)

When I moved to El Salvador, one of my friends talked about mini-pizzas that she often made using sun-dried tomatoes as one of the ingredients.  I decided that sounded yummy and proceeded to purchase a jar back in October.  Since I live in El Salvador, I was only able to get the GINORMOUS jar (varying sizes of imported items isn’t a priority).  I figured, they don’t go bad, no problem.

One night not long after the purchase, I decided to open the jar to partake.  The jar was wet with condensation from being stored in the fridge, so I dried it off and made a few unsuccessful attempts at opening the awkwardly large jar.  I was extra hungry so I decided that a pizza could be just as delicious without sundried tomatoes and I would enlist outside help with the jar later.

As time passed, despite having 30 neighbors within a 100m radius, I consistently forgot to enlist outside help with the jar.  It was always just a little too late to go knocking on a door, so I started trying out different techniques: prying with a knife, pounding the heel of my hand on the bottom, running hot water underneath the lid, and letting it sit out of the refrigerator.  These techniques were not only unsuccessful each time I applied them to my jar but when I applied them to my roommate’s identical, unopened, awkwardly large jar, as well!

This past week, we decided we were going to wage war against the sundried tomatoes and WIN and enlisted the help, not of a man, but of Google.  Science was going to help us conquer the stubborn jar.  Many of the suggested techniques were not helpful because we did not have required materials such as rubber gloves, dryer sheets, triangular-shaped bottle opener, wooden hammer, nut cracker or screw-driver.  The others had already been tried unsuccessfully, except for one.  Place the jar upside down on the stove and turn the burner onto low heat.  We were a little concerned that the tomatoes were going to explode everywhere but decided they would at least be opened!

After a few minutes of heating, I took it off the stove and because the metal lid was hot to the touch, I used a towel to attempt the opening.  My roommate watched with great anticipation as I applied every ounce of strength in me to turn the lide and it still wouldn’t budge.  We were highly disappointed as we stood looking at the jar feeling nearly defeated.  How can the jar win?!   I decided to give it one more try and before I could apply any ummph, the jar popped right open!  The jar didn’t win; we won!  Science was our assistant!  The heat had reduced the vacuum inside the jar and it had simply just taken a few more seconds once the jar had been turned over to work.  Celebration ensued in Casa 4D!  The following evening, I made the most delicious pita pizzas with sundried tomatoes, pesto, artichoke hearts, and olives!  They tasted EXTRA delicious because of the nearly 8 month, hard-fought battle with the jar of tomatoes! :)