Tomato Sauce/Puree for Canning

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This is my last post for the season on tomato canning. I have enough tomatoes left to eat and use in a few meals. I am not tired of canning but sure am tired of tomatoes! But oh so thankful for such a bountiful harvest this year.

I made over 60 quarts of tomato sauce/puree. Here is how I made it…

For each batch I used about 45 pounds of tomatoes. I pureed them in my food processor. I did not peel them, but you could if you wanted. After I pureed them I put them in my large roaster oven (you could also use a large stock pot, but I find the roaster oven to be easy and convenient)….


I let them boil and cook until they had cooked down a bit. Actually all 45 pounds did not fit in the pan to begin with. I filled the pan as much as I could and let it cook down until I could add the remaining tomatoes, then let them cook down until the sauce/puree was not so watery. This took several hours.

When it was all cooked down it was time to start canning. To each quart jar I added 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon citric acid to bring up the acidity level so I could water bath can them. Citric acid can be found online and often in the canning section of stores that sell canning supplies. If you would rather you could add 1 tablespoon vinegar or 2 tablespoons lemon juice to each jar. I like using the citric acid because it does not affect the flavor of the tomatoes as much as vinegar and lemon juice do.

Then I filled the jars with tomato sauce/puree and put a new lid on and ring and put them in a boiling water bath. I canned them for 40 minutes. Here is my last batch…



I ended up with anywhere from 15 to 17 quarts of sauce/puree per batch. The amount varies depending on how much you let it cook down.

That ends the canning from this year's garden. My next canning projects will soups, stew, and meat.

Comments

  1. villarosaOctober 12, 2012 at 5:57 PM

    THANK you for taking to time to share with us!! I wish my garden would produce the amount of tomatoes yours has! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 13, 2012 at 4:31 AM

    My mom and I use the same method as yours for our tomato sauce. We also don't peel, but we do core. I was wondering aloud to her this year if there was actually a need to core the tomatoes. Paste tomatoes have such an itty-bitty core that is sometimes seems silly. Do you know if there is a 'real' reason to do this, such as a bitter flavour or a quality that would otherwise mess up the sauce?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MarnitaOctober 13, 2012 at 11:54 AM

      I only core the really big tomatoes. the small ones get thrown in whole.

      Delete
    2. CrystalOctober 15, 2012 at 9:11 PM

      I don't core.. I just cut the stem end off.. Crystal :)

      Delete
  3. SharonROctober 13, 2012 at 4:38 AM

    They do look beautiful sitting on the counter. The reward for a job well done in canning, is just looking at the jars. Very nice.

    ReplyDelete
  4. MarnitaOctober 13, 2012 at 11:52 AM

    I also use this method. I don't peel them I always thought it a waist of time. I use lemon juice and never noticed a taste difference. Thanks for the post it is fun to hear of others who do this stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  5. KaciOctober 10, 2017 at 9:12 AM

    Do you season it with garlic cloves, basil or onions??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CrystalOctober 16, 2017 at 7:25 PM

      I do not.. I save the seasoning for when I use it. Sometimes some seasonings can have a bitter taste after canning. Crystal

      Delete

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