Tomatoes everywhere. Time to can some tomato sauce.

Sep 6, 2011 by Andrew Stone

So, last weekend I got the bug to go pick tomatoes at one of our local U-Pick Farms. It was Day Farms up in Layton. It is a great place and just a short drive from SLC.

It really was a beautiful Day.  Not too hot and not too cool.  Just right for the back breaking job of tomato and pepper gathering.

So I sent the laborer off into the fields…

And we came home with this!

And a case of peaches and a case of peppers and a bag of zucchini and a bunch of corn.  Day Farms is a great place!

Two days later I was canning tomato sauce and tomato paste.

It took all day but I did end up with 10 quarts and 9 pints of sauce and 11 4oz jars of Tomato paste.  Today I am working on more sauce.  Should get another 10 pints or so.

The process is pretty easy so check out the photos below and have fun.

First you roughly chop up about 12 pounds of tomatoes and put skins, seeds and all into a large pot to simmer.  (I leave the skins and seeds on to add depth and flavor) You will also notice chopped garlic in that photo.  I added one clove per 12 lb batch for added depth as well.  No salt.  I’ll do that when I cook.

You should have a pot like this.

Notice the super cool Portable Induction Cooktop I got!  Such even and FAST heat!!!

Once you get it warmed up and simmering you can mash it a bit with a masher.

Simmer some more (1/2 hour I guess) and then dump it into your food processor to puree the whole lot of it.  Better yet, if you have an Immersion Blender, puree it in the pot.  It is much safer that way.

Then you simmer some more (1/2 hour I guess).

And then ladle it into a Food Mill to separate the sauce, the seeds and the skins.

Then return it to the pot to simmer some more.  You want to go from about 7 quarts to about 5 quarts of sauce.  Then bottle your sauce in quart or pint jars and process it in your pressure canner per the directions as they are laid out for your region and altitude.  In my case it was 13 lbs of pressure for 25 minutes.

When you are done ( in my case I did it four times), you will end up with this…

 

Want to make tomato paste?  Then roast your tomatoes in a 450 degree oven for about 1/2 an hour – 45 minutes.  Then follow the steps above and simmer to a lovely thick paste.