Tomatoes are Bad for Cast Iron Cookware

I ruined our new cast iron Dutch oven by keeping goulash in it for about one week. When I took the tomatoes based goulash out of it I discovered that the inside had rusted and pitted. I looked online and learned that since tomatoes are acidic, food containing them should not be stored in cast iron cookware.  I wish I had known this before letting the tomatoes eat through the inside of the Dutch oven. 

Dejected, I called Lodge and spoke to a customer representative (she was very nice) who told me to take some steel wool/fine sandpaper to the rust and then reseason the piece. Luckily I bought some fine sandpaper in connection with renovating the middle bedroom so tonight while Becks was at the gym I sanded the rust off.  It was a very messy process and my hands were eventually covered with a layer of black dust.

After I sanded the Dutch oven I wiped it out and then lathered it in shortening. Smearing the grease was pretty gross and I had to work at getting it off my hands.  I then placed it in the oven (which was set at 350) and let it bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes I dumped out the excess grease and then let it bake for an additional 2 hours. I then turned the oven off and let it cool inside of it.

This morning I opened up oven and checked out the result of the seasoning process. The inside is darker than it was after I sanded it, but you can still see some silver of the iron through it. I guess I will have to coat the Dutch oven with shortening and go through the seasoning process again. Either that, or I can buy another one when I get paid and save both time and electricity.