Making and Bottling Tomato Sauce

NOTE: The following comment was sent in by a reader. I believe it's valuable enough to include it as an addendum here.... "I don't see a point in which you hot water bathed your sauce. This used to be considered the safe way to can tomatoes, but in the last few years the guidelines from the USDA changed. Since more tomatoes varieties have been coming out with low acid types, the acid content is often not high enough to can them safely without either adding a splash of vinegar or lemon juice or hot water bathing the jars. Quarts need to be processed for 40 minutes, pints for 35, depending on your altitude. I would be very wary of using the method you were taught because young children are more susceptible to botulism. See THIS article."

As you know, I live in a tiny Mexican farm town, and bottling garden produce is a way of life. Since the first summer we lived here, even before our house was built, John has planted a bounteous garden each spring, awaiting the day we would put up the harvest and enjoy his vegetables, fruits and herbs throughout the winter.

Alas, though, because the first summer we moved here, I discovered I was expecting twins, which made me a moody, walking beach ball, and the subsequent summers were spent surviving the twins first two years. Oh, and then there was the addition a big fat baby named Baby Hippo.

Now the twins are three, though, and although Baby Hippo is not yet even two, he is only one baby, and quite manageable, so I thought that this would be the summer to learn to bottle. I called my babysitter, who knows my kids and house and all of our needs and desires inside and out, to teach me how. She agreed, and I've been having a wonderful time. I am finally feeling the pride that comes from putting up your own produce and now John won't have to be sad every fall to see all of his carefully-grown vegetables be taken by people, sometimes even strangers, who would actually preserve them.

The following is not so much a tutorial as it is a written record to help me remember what we did, for next year...

1. First we cut off all the tomato tops. Baby Hippo was a super-big help with this...

...then blanched them in boiling water for a minute or two. I'm not sure why blanching is so important, but everyone says it is, so I'll do it next time, too.

2. Next, my babysitter's daughter washed the tomatoes, then cut the them in halves or quarters, depending on their size, so we could blend them up in the Vita-mix....

3. After pureeing them, I poured them through a sieve while my babysitter and/or her daughter pressed the puree through with a spoon, catching any unblended seeds. This step was almost unnecessary as a result of using the Vita-mix.

4. Next, we poured the sauce into a large stock pot, added salt and dried oregano to taste (about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of each per quart of liquid), and cooked it for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally...

5. As we waited for it to cook down a bit, we boiled our lids and steamed our bottles...

6. When the sauce and bottles were ready, we placed a cookie sheet right next to the stock pot and ladled out sauce into the hot jars placed on the cookie sheet. Actually, I didn't use a ladle. While learning to bottle chile at my babysitter's house, I learned that it's much more efficient to scoop out the liquid with a mug than a ladle. She even has a special mug that she always uses for bottling. This is my new special mug...

7. Immediately after I filled each jar, my babysitter would run a spoon over the top of the tomato sauce to remove bubbles. I asked her why she did this, but I did not understand her response, as all of our communications were in Spanish. I'll go ahead and trust her, though. She then placed the lids on the jars and secured them tightly in place. She has amazing hands because she never has to use a hot pad to touch or even pick up the hot jars. I wish my hands were tougher, like hers. It would make things a lot more efficient....

8. The next step was to carefully set the jars on a pretty towel to let them cool and seal. I told my babysitter that now John wouldn't be sad every fall because I didn't use all of his vegetables. She patted the hot jars with her calloused hand and said that I should leave them out on the counter for when he comes home, you know, to impress him. Yes, I will. But not before I do step 9, below.....

9. IMPORTANT: Upon further study, I realized that tomatoes need to be hot water bathed, bu this is a step my babysitter omitted. At this very moment, a day after bottling the tomatoes, I am doing just that. I put the sealed bottles on a rack in a pressure cooker and covered them with about two inches of water, leaving the steam valve opened. They will bathe for about 45 minutes in boiling water. Thank you so much for bringing this important step to my attention, Amy.

After my babysitter and her daughter left, I put together the ingredients for baked spaghetti. And in preparation, I made the most beautiful, thick, seasoned tomato sauce by adding a bit of tomato paste and a couple of handfuls of pureed herbs from our garden: basil, rosemary, and parsley, along with some garlic and onion. The aroma made my house smell like an Italian pizzeria. I guess most pizzerias are Italian. But anyways, it was delightful. I'll blog that recipe soon.

This entire process only took us about an hour and a half and we ended up with 15 quarts...

I feel great! Hope you learned something. Thanks for listening. :)