Now that summer is over, I bet you’re looking for the best of all tomato sauce recipes to can.
Well, this one is the easiest and probably the most delicious one!
I’d like to share with you a way to make simple tomato sauce out of your fresh tomatoes.
You can juice the tomatoes in a juicer, but if you have a high-speed blender—such as a Vitamix or Blendtec blender—and you like more “body” to your juice, you might like to use the blender instead.
Some tomatoes are sweeter than others, depending on their ripeness and the variety of tomato. Use the ripest tomatoes you can.
Ingredients:
- 11 pounds tomatoes
- 6 pounds peppers
- 3 drops stevia (optional)
- Coarse salt
Method:
You don’t have to peel the tomatoes. Instead, just blend the tomatoes and the peppers. Add some drops of stevia if you like it sweeter and salt to taste (I usually add 3 tsp to each gallon). If you like, you can also add a 1/4 onion, fresh oregano, and basil. This is optional of course.
Put them into jars and make sure that you sterilize them first. I’ve previously boiled the jars pictured here. Pour into jars, leaving a 1/2-inch air space.
Place jars into the canner and boil for 25 minutes.
Let them rest overnight.
Then simply store them in your pantry, root cellar or any cold dark place you have in your house. They should last for at least one year. Once we opened a 3 year-old can like this and we ate it. It was perfectly good.
Imagine how much better your meals will taste in the winter with the flavor of homegrown tomatoes!
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You neglected to say if the lids should be tightened before or after boiling. Very important for those who do not know the proper procedure to avoid injury and a messy kitchen.
They should be finger tightened do not over screw the lid. I call it king konging!
How long do you cook the sauce? Is this a matter of preferred consistency? How about recommended tomatoes for sauce?
As for the peppers, are these Bell?
Be very careful using old jars from grocery items. This original sauce was cooked before putting in hot jars. Never add yellow tomatoes as they do not have the acid level needed to be canned properly.
I always add celery to give the tomato sauce a base. If you don’t, the sauce has an overwhelming tomato base & just doesn’t taste”right. Use fresh celery not celery seed or salt
Do you have a recipe using the celery that you would share and do you also use green peppers and onions too?
I’ve never added celery, and my tomato sauce turns out perfect. I don’t follow this recipe, I have my own I made up, I taste it as I’m making it, to ensure it’s to my liking 🙂
Sometimes some of the tomatoes are low acid so you might want to add just a tad of lemon juice to your sauce before using a canner if you plan on storing. If you are adding extra types of produce to your sauce you may need to use a pressure cooker to can instead of a canner.
This is not a safe way to can tomato sauce according to Extention service. You need to use regular canning jars with lids and bands. Due to the addition of other vegetables, they need to be pressure canned for safety from botulism. I wouldn’t do this with the tomatoes we grow now as they are usually hybrid and not high acid. Better to be safe than sick or dead
Yes, always add vinegar or lemon! The lemon makes it tastier anyway-2 TBS per quart. ! You can water bath can if you add the acid! 1/2 ” water over the lids.
pickyourown . org has great detailed instructions.Pressure canning will give better storage results!
Yes, use proper canning jars and lids. the jars can be reused the lids should be new.
Blanch the tomatoes and skin them. Nobody likes chewy sauce. Remove the seeds as they make the sauce bitter. You won’t need the stevia. Cook the sauce down slowly to a thick viscosity. Add 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid to each quart canning jar and put the lids and bands on moderately snug. Process in a water bath at boiling for 20 minutes. Doctor the sauce when you use it.
Please follow a recipe that adds lemon juice or viniger to offset the low acid tomatoes, also your jar lids should be covered with at least 1/2″ of water when water bath canning.
I want to store beans in 5 gallon buckets that I obtained from Dunkin Donuts do I have to use mylar pouches for the individual bags of beans that I place inside the large mylar bag that lines the bucket or can I just put the beans that I buy from the store with their packaging plastic and just place them inside the mylar liner in the bucket and do it that way thank
They don’t have to be in individual mylar bags.
I’m 63 I’ve been canning my own tomato sauce for many years, first you don’t have to cook the tomatoes first thats called raw pack, I run mine through a food press that removes the seeds and skins, I prefere to cook mine down by 50% first you can add citric acid salt or lemon juice if needed but not always nessesary again my choice but like I said I’ve been canning a long time I learned from my grandmother and mother, a good source is the Ball blue book, the things I see wrong here is 1 the head space it should be 1/4 inch a little more won’t hurt this depends on the product and method you are using to can, you want as much air out of the jar to start as possible, 2 the time is wrong you should waterbath tomatoes or sauce for 40 minutes for quarts and 35 for pints this is according to the ball blue book and what I’ve been taught over the years, the better job you do the longer your product will last! we just finished 60 quarts of tomato sauce and 42 quarts of green beans along with others canned items and frozen vegetable we do this will get my wife and I through the winter and into next years harvest
Thank you so very much!!! I appreciate it!!