Tomato Sauce

A great basic sauce to add to pastas, lasagnas and chilis. You can add more herbs and spice as desired but the basic tomato ratio to lemon juice should not be changed.

Time

Prep Time: 1 hour

Difficulty: Intermediate

Ingredients

Tomatoes

Bottled lemon juice or citric acid

Salt, optional

Dried herbs, to taste, optional

Directions

Place the required number of clean 500 ml, 750 ML or 1 L mason jars on a rack in a boiling water canner; cover jars with water and heat to a simmer (180°F/82°C). Set screw bands aside. Heat sealing discs in hot water, not boiling (180°F/82°C). Keep jars and sealing discs hot until ready to use.
Wash tomatoes, remove cores and trim off bruised or discoloured portions.
Option 2 -- Quarter 1 lb (500g) tomatoes (about 2 cups/500 ml) and place in a large stainless steel saucepan over high heat. Stir and crush tomatoes until mixture boils rapidly. Then continue to slowly add and crush freshly cut tomato quarters to the boiling mixture. Be sure to maintain a constant, vigorous boil while adding remaining tomatoes. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Puree tomatoes until desired consistency.
Return 4 cups (1 L) of mixture to large deep stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a vigorous boil. Add additional tomato mixture 1 cup (250 ml) at a time, maintaining a steady boil. When all of mixture has been returned to pan, continue stirring occasionally and boiling gently until sauce reaches desired consistency. Boil until volume is reduced by about one-third for thin sauce or by one-half for thick sauce.
Add quantity of lemon juice or citric acid specified below to each hot Mason jar before filling with sauce. If using, add salt and dried herbs to jar prior to filling:

Jar size Lemon juice or Citric acid Salt, optional Dried herbs, optional
500 ml 1 tbsp (15 ml) or 1/4 tsp (1 ml) 1/2 tsp (2 ml) 1-2 tsp (5-10 ml)
750 ml 2 tbsp (30 ml) or 1/2 tsp (2 ml) 1 tsp (5 ml) 2-3 tsp (10-15 ml)
1 L 3 tbsp (30 ml) or 1 tsp (5 ml) 2 tsp (10 ml) 3-4 tsp (15- 20 ml)

Ladle hot sauce into a hot jar to within 1/2 inch (1 cm) of top of jar (headspace). Using nonmetallic utensil, remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if required, by adding more sauce. Wipe jar rim removing any food residue. Centre hot sealing disc on clean jar rim. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight. Return filled jar to rack in canner. Repeat for remaining sauce.
When canner is filled, ensure that all jars are covered by at least one inch (2.5 cm) of water. Cover canner and bring water to full rolling boil before starting to count processing time. At altitudes up to 1000 ft (305 m), process –boil filled jars–

•Jar size Processing time*

500 ml 35 minutes

750 ml 40 minutes

1 L 40 minutes

When processing time is complete, remove canner lid, wait 5 minutes, then remove jars without tilting and place them upright on a protected work surface. Cool upright, undisturbed 24 hours; DO NOT RETIGHTEN screw bands.
After cooling check jar seals. Sealed discs curve downward and do not move when pressed. Remove screw bands; wipe and dry bands and jars. Store screw bands separately or replace loosely on jars, as desired. Label and store jars in a cool, dark place. For best quality, use home canned foods within one year.

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