Making Tomato Sauce from Homegrown Tomatoes

Last week we put up 30 something pints of stewed tomatoes.  The tomato crop this year is one of our best so far and we're eating a whole lot, but it is time to put some more up.  This time we're going to make some tomato sauce, can it, and store away in the pantry.  We're starting out with 19 pounds of fresh tomatoes. We dunked them in boiling water for a brief time, pulled them out and put in cold water and then peeled the skin off and cored them.

As you can see by the tomatoes on the platter below, we have a wide assortment of heirloom tomatoes represented as we planted 14 different varieties.  Our personal favorite is Black Krim, but we'll mix them all up for making tomato sauce.

Skin-free and cored, ready to be pureed

We place handfuls of tomatoes into the food processor until it is full.  Many recipes call for using a food mill or food press, but we just use the food processor and it works fine.  Some of the heirloom tomatoes have what are called 'green shoulders' and we were a little concerned that it would affect the color of the tomato sauce, but you'll see in a minute that the color of the sauce was just fine.

Loading the food processor with fresh tomatoes

It is as easy as pressing a button and your nice tomatoes become tomato puree.

Tomatoes to Juice in a heartbeat

Now, you could pour this juice through a strainer to remove all the seeds from your tomato sauce, if you wish.  We like to make things as simple as possible, so our tomato sauce is going to have seeds in it.  We dump it all into a large pot on the stove top.

Many recipes call for adding garlic, basil, oregano or other seasonings or spices to the tomato sauce, but we're not going to do that as we want a neutral tomato sauce that we serve as a base for many meals that we'll season as we cook those meals.  Our tomato sauce will only contain tomatoes and two other ingredients that we'll add once it has finished cooking.  We'll get to that in a minute or two.

Pot of tomato sauce

We turn the stove on medium heat and will cook it for two hours, uncovered.  During that time the water will boil off in the form of steam, leaving you with a rich, reduced, high-flavor tomato sauce.

Now we're cookin'!

Special News Bulletin: Don't walk away from a pot of hot tomato sauce.  It will bubble over and make a big mess in your kitchen.  Let's just say I learned that lesson the hard way and leave it at that. You'll note that I have a wooden spoon laying across the top of the pot.  I read that doing so will keep the contents of a pot from boiling over and I wanted to test that theory to see if it was true.  Too bad I waited until after it had bubbled over or I could've reported if it is true or not. Supposedly the wooded spoon breaks the surface tension of the bubbles so it won't boil over.

A watched pot...

While your sauce is cooking down, you can wash up some 1/2 pint jars, reusable Tattler lids and gaskets, and rings. After two hours (or more... or less) or until the sauce has reached the thickness or consistency that you are looking for, Add 1/2 cup lemon juice and 2 teaspoons of salt to your sauce and stir it up.  Now all you have to do is get a ladle and get ready to go to work.  We actually used 1/2 pint as well as 3/4 pint jars.

Ladling the sauce

We use a canning funnel to direct the sauce into our jars.  

Using a funnel to fill jars

Once your jars are filled to within a half an inch from the top, use a rag to clean the rim.  You want to get a good seal. 

Cleaning off the rim of th jars

Affix your Tattler gasket to the rim and place the lid on top.

Rubber Gasket of the Tattler lid

So you've got your gasket on and your lid on.  Take your ring and tighten down and then back off, ever so slightly, about a quarter turn.  This is important as it allows the hot air to escape during processing!

Tightening (and loosening) the rings

Then place your filled jars into a water bath canner and begin heating up the water.

Adding the filled jars to the water

You'll want to process the jars in a water bath canner in boiling water for 30 minutes.

Processing the Tomato Sauce

Remove them from the water after 30 minutes and allow to cool on counter completely.

Homemade Tomato Sauce from Homegrown Tomatoes

Once they are completely cool, remove the rings and test for a good seal.  The way you do this is by picking up on the jars just by holding the white Tattler lid.  If it holds the weight - Great!  If not (and we had one that didn't seal), pour into a Ziploc bag and freeze it to use for later.  The rest will go into the pantry, right beside the stewed tomatoes.  In all we made 11 half pints and seven 3/4 pint containers of tomato sauce.

We did another batch the next day.  It was a lot of work, took a lot of time, and made a big mess in the kitchen.  One would wonder, is it worth it.  A quick price check showed that you can purchase Del Monte Organic Tomato Sauce for $0.45 per 8 oz can.  Honestly, if I factor in the value of my time, I can't make it any cheaper than that, but maybe my opinion of what my true cost of my time is inflated!

Nevertheless, the tomato sauce we made came fresh off of the land from vines on Our Maker's Acres Family Farm and was produced from tomatoes nurtured under the Jefferson Davis Parish sun and skies, nourished from bayou soils full of beneficial microbes and nutrients, and then selected and hand picked at the very zenith of their ripeness and flavor by loving hands before being gently and thoughtfully processed. Well, Del Monte can't do that, can they?