food:: tomato sauce

In my last post, we talked about the sorting of tomatoes and the blanching part.  Onward to the sauces…

T~O~P (that’s tomatoes, onions & peppers)::

since they aren’t all ready from the garden at the same time I chop and freeze the  onions & peppers until the tomatoes are ripe

45 lbs of tomatoes/onions/peppers should make approximately 7 quarts of canned sauce

lemon juice

garlic & chili powder are optional add-ins if you plan to use it for chili

In batches with the blender, or with hand blender in a stock pot (the easy way), blend up the blanched tomatoes, fresh or frozen onions & peppers (I use about 4 cups of each).  Crank up the heat on the stove, cooking the mixture for about 3 hours to reduce the volume by one half.  Add fresh clove garlic during blending if desired, or 2 T powdered garlic and 2 T chili powder after the mixture has reduced (more or less to your taste).  Use 2 T lemon juice per jar, then ladle the hot sauce into the hot jars and process for 40 minutes (per the Ball Blue Book).

Spaghetti Sauce::

45 lbs of tomatoes should make approximately 7 quarts of canned sauce

lemon juice

4 cups chopped onions & peppers

10 – 12 cloves fresh garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

1 T sugar

1 T salt

1 tsp pepper

1 T oregano or italian seasoning

2 T chopped fresh parsley

2 T chopped fresh basil

In batches with the blender, or with hand blender in a stock pot (the easy way), blend up the blanched tomatoes, fresh or frozen onions & peppers, and garlic.  Once pureed, add the olive oil and seasonings, and crank up the heat on the stove, cooking the mixture for about 3 hours to reduce the volume by one half.  You will want to taste it…several times.  Adjust your seasonings if you wish.  Use 2 T lemon juice per jar, then ladle the hot sauce into the hot jars and process for 40 minutes (per the Ball Blue Book).

Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!