Monday, August 2, 2010

Canning Your Own Tomato Sauce

Every year, I plant 24 or so tomato plants. I don't NEED 24 tomato plants...I could probably get by with 4. But I like canning, and I like tomatoes, so there you are. This morning, my son and I picked about 15 or 20 pounds of them, and having already made 15 pints of salsa, I thought I'd make some spaghetti sauce.

Homemade Garlic-Basil Tomato Sauce

This Morning's Tomato Harvest






  1. After rinsing the tomatoes and pulling the stems and various garden bugs off, blanch the tomatoes for about 60 seconds in boiling water, then dump into a sink full of icy water. After this, the skins should peel off nicely. Using a sharp knife, core and cut the tomatoes into quarters.
  2. Remove the seeds. You may do this by scooping them out with a spoon, squeezing them out, or pressing the pulp through a sieve
  3. In a large pot, saute 1/2 cup olive oil, 5 cloves of garlic, minced, 2 large onions, chopped fine, 1 tbsp. oregano, 2 Tbsp. Basil until onions are caramelized.
  4. Add tomato pulp mixture and heat until gently boiling. Stir occasionally to keep from sticking.
  5. Add 1 tbsp. of Sugar. Cook until sauce thickens and volume is reduced by one half.
  6. Add 2 tbsp. lemon juice to each quart jar. Add hot tomato sauce to hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Adjust 2 piece caps and process for 40 minutes in a boiling water canner.
This recipe is terrific for spaghetti, lasagna or any recipe needing tomato sauce.
 The bonus of canning is that you get to enjoy summer's bounty all year, and save money on groceries in the long run.

Any other canners out there?

1 comment:

  1. We may never see eye-to-eye on this (and I'm not trying to pick a fight! Really!), but tomato sauce in a boiling water canner? With all those low acid ingedients, oil, and only 2 Tbs of (non-bottled?) lemon juice? I know, I know, you've been fine so far...

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