Canning Basic Tomato Sauce

Beautiful Home Canned Tomato Sauce.

Yesterday I met the loveliest young family!  Mark and Shannon Saltzman and their young son.  Mark is friends with and a fellow gun enthusiast of my husband's.  He had invited us to their lovely home in Wadesville, IN. to share their huge tomato crop of this year.  Shannon has canned and juiced to her wits end and was happy to share their bounty as not to have them go to waste.

This morning I got them going and I am sure there is a good half bushel simmering away on my stove at this very minute!

Ingredients for Basic Tomato Sauce:

1/2 bushel (20 pounds) ripe tomatoes


3 large onions
1 head of garlic
15 fresh basil leaves
3 T. kosher salt
2 T. sugar
1T. black pepper

Wash, core, and cut off the flower end of each tomato leaving the skins and seeds.  Cut in half or quarter so they are all of a similar size. Place the tomatoes in a very large or 2 smaller heavy bottomed pans.  Peel and rough cut the onions and add.  Peel the garlic cloves and rinse the basil leaves and toss them in along too.  Stir in the salt, pepper, and sugar. 

We like onions, garlic, and basil to flavor our sauce.

Bring to a boil and stir well.  Reduce to a simmer and partially cover with a lid.  Simmer for 6-8 hours or more until the sauce is thickened and the tomatoes have cooked down to nothing but skins.  You will NOT see a lot of water or liquid on top.

Fill the cold packer with water enough to cover the jars and place the rack to rest up on the rim of the pan.  Set the clean empty jars in the rack and turn the heat on to bring the water up to a boil.  In another pan set the rings and seals in water and bring to a boil.  Boil for 10 minutes and turn off. 

Meanwhile place a food mill atop a soup kettle and ladle the hot tomato mixture into the food mill then process the sauce into the kettle.  Dump the seeds and skins into the disposal.  Fill the hot jars leaving 1/2" head space and wipe the rims of each jar with a clean wet cloth before placing the lids and rings atop the jars.  Tighten just enough to make them snug.  Place the jars back into the rack and lower into the hot water bath.  Add additional boiling water to cover the lids if necessary then bring back up to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium high and cover.  Process for 24 minutes for pint jars or 30 minutes for quarts. 

When the time is up turn off the heat and lift the rack of jars up and again and hang it on the rim of the cold packer.  Let the jars rest about 10 minutes.  Remove the jars to a clean tea towel on the counter and do not disturb them for 24 hours.  Label with contents and date.  Store in a cool dark place.

Yield about 11-12 pints of sauce.