I am a canning fool this year (key word: fool). For some reason I feel this stress/anxiety about summer running away from me...just outside of my outstretched fingers and because of that I feel this intense need, not desire, to save as much of it as possible...soo because my beau has forbid me from faken-baken (which is fine as I already am worried about wrinkles AND have discovered the awesomeness that is spray tan) I decided to buy another 40 pounds of tomatoes and get my sauce on. Earlier this year I was able to can some stewed tomatoes and freeze some roasted but this is my actual first attempt at making sauce.
I followed this recipe: Family Secret Tomato Sauce as everyone and their mom recommended it.
I pretty much followed the directions step by step except I only had a food mill so I decided to cook the tomatoes down a bit so I could run them through it instead of boiling and peeling the skin off which is a super big pain...I did this one night and ended up with about 16 quarts of liquid, which meant I adapted the recipe to 1.5
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| I just cut them all up, tossed any gross bits & cooked until soft. |
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| So with this method you need a LOT of bowls...or less tomatoes... |
The next day I added the onions (which I cooked in another pot) and spices.
I used some home dried basil (ripped out plant in yard and hung upside down in the garage for a couple of weeks). I also added a couple of tablespoons of chili
flakes. This sauce is very smooth and if you like it a bit chunkier I would recommend going the whole "boil and peel" method.
Also make sure to leave the lid on a slant so steam can escape.
I also took all the scraps and made this recipe: Homemade BBQ Sauce
I cooked both down for a few hours until I liked what I saw. I also used my immersion blender (the best appliance EVER..seriously..) to make the BBQ sauce a bit more uniform/smooth in its appearance. I added Molasses, cayenne and apple cider vinegar and the taste is great! Tangy with a bit of the smoke flavor...I used some brown sugar as well because I didn't have enough molasses.
So for future note next time I will cook the spaghetti sauce in two big pots as it took ffoooorrreeevvvveeeerrrr to cook down (seriously had flash backs to college and "cramming" for tests...and by "cramming" I mean giggling like a school girl while live-journeling all my angst away). Also I made mine a bit thinner then most might as I realized that while the tomatoes cook down the spices (::ahem::: chile flakes) do not...Spicy!!! Though the Mister is very excited about this I wanted to make sure to be able to spoon in some paste to "cool" it down a bit (noted for next year...)
The "bbq sauce" really might of been a bust as my "leftovers" were really just seeds and skins and so it has a very unique taste....the seeds pop when you eat it and it is a pretty intense (and fresh) tomato taste... I can see it as a cracker spread or on a chicken breast sandwich. I will let you know how it goes..
To break down I spent 16.00 a box for the tomatoes, 40 pounds = 2 boxes & I had everything else....though I suppose the lids are about $3 bucks a pack and the lemon juice I used was probably around $1.50:
32.00+3+1.50= $36.50 for supplies which made 9.5 Quarts which equals roughly $4 when I add in honey/spices a jar, each which easily equal 4 meals for us.
This does not include the pints I made of the other recipe either so all in all I am pretty happy.
Some Tips:
I am NOT a master canner and honestly there are MUCH better sites to look to for tutorials BUT I have learned some tips I thought I would share :)
-Store your unused jars upside down, much less dust & chance of spiders in them when you go to use them.
-Always set your just hot jars down on a towel..I had seen my Grandmothers do this but never knew why until I learned it is because the cold counter surface can cause the very hot glass to shatter! Which I learned when I went to add my straight from the fridge lemon juice to the hot, sterilized jar......super sadly didn't realize that cracking noise I heard was from the jar until I went to lift it up and had spaghetti sauce EVERYWHERE. So use a towel!
-Ove-Glove doesn't work when it gets wet....
-always always always use the store bought lemon juice when canning tomatoes! I hate store bought stuff but hate dying even more! Don't risk it.
-Don't start the processing time until the water starts reboiling! (see comment about dying above..)
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| Make sure you have a long enough spoon to reach the bottom of the pan... |
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| just starting to cook down... |
flakes. This sauce is very smooth and if you like it a bit chunkier I would recommend going the whole "boil and peel" method.
Also make sure to leave the lid on a slant so steam can escape.
I also took all the scraps and made this recipe: Homemade BBQ Sauce
I cooked both down for a few hours until I liked what I saw. I also used my immersion blender (the best appliance EVER..seriously..) to make the BBQ sauce a bit more uniform/smooth in its appearance. I added Molasses, cayenne and apple cider vinegar and the taste is great! Tangy with a bit of the smoke flavor...I used some brown sugar as well because I didn't have enough molasses.
So for future note next time I will cook the spaghetti sauce in two big pots as it took ffoooorrreeevvvveeeerrrr to cook down (seriously had flash backs to college and "cramming" for tests...and by "cramming" I mean giggling like a school girl while live-journeling all my angst away). Also I made mine a bit thinner then most might as I realized that while the tomatoes cook down the spices (::ahem::: chile flakes) do not...Spicy!!! Though the Mister is very excited about this I wanted to make sure to be able to spoon in some paste to "cool" it down a bit (noted for next year...)
The "bbq sauce" really might of been a bust as my "leftovers" were really just seeds and skins and so it has a very unique taste....the seeds pop when you eat it and it is a pretty intense (and fresh) tomato taste... I can see it as a cracker spread or on a chicken breast sandwich. I will let you know how it goes..
To break down I spent 16.00 a box for the tomatoes, 40 pounds = 2 boxes & I had everything else....though I suppose the lids are about $3 bucks a pack and the lemon juice I used was probably around $1.50:
32.00+3+1.50= $36.50 for supplies which made 9.5 Quarts which equals roughly $4 when I add in honey/spices a jar, each which easily equal 4 meals for us.
This does not include the pints I made of the other recipe either so all in all I am pretty happy.
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| Some of the lovely sauce sitting on a HUGE ass towel! |
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| an alive canners best friend! |
Some Tips:
I am NOT a master canner and honestly there are MUCH better sites to look to for tutorials BUT I have learned some tips I thought I would share :)
-Store your unused jars upside down, much less dust & chance of spiders in them when you go to use them.
-Always set your just hot jars down on a towel..I had seen my Grandmothers do this but never knew why until I learned it is because the cold counter surface can cause the very hot glass to shatter! Which I learned when I went to add my straight from the fridge lemon juice to the hot, sterilized jar......super sadly didn't realize that cracking noise I heard was from the jar until I went to lift it up and had spaghetti sauce EVERYWHERE. So use a towel!
-Ove-Glove doesn't work when it gets wet....
-always always always use the store bought lemon juice when canning tomatoes! I hate store bought stuff but hate dying even more! Don't risk it.
-Don't start the processing time until the water starts reboiling! (see comment about dying above..)
3 comments:
Hahaha! You crack me up. Your sauce looks great! I've been using the lazy method of throwing tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil on a baking pan, then roasting, pureeing and canning the whole mess. I haaate peeling tomatoes. :P
In addition to storing jars upside down, I'll put new lids and clean bands on them before I store them, so they are like new jars ready to use when I need them. That way I also know if I have enough new lids for my canning project.
Nice work! I love that you didn't let your scraps go to waste - I probably would have just composted mine.
Ahhh...awesome idea about adding lids and rings...I haul my crap upstairs from the basement and have had many a ring shortage due to one or two being bent/rusted/gross and have had to go back down to grab some more....so I think I shall be starting your practice soon! Do you add lemon juice one you puree it? I have never even thought of this method and interested in learning more!
Yes, I do add lemon juice - I'll send you my recipe!
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