Canning Tomato Sauce

[YesDeere]

You guys may laugh but we only can beans. Pressure can. We blanch and freeze all of our tomatoes. Make sauce as needed.

 

[F1520]

...I would never just put hot sauce in a jar and hope it seals, it takes the heat in my opinion and the hot water to heat up the rubber sealer to make a seal and create a vacuum....

That was the OP's question and was mainly what I was replying to. It seems like it would not work, but it does. I know a woman who did it that way for forty years and I tried it myself last summer, marking the jars "boil" vs. "no boil" so I would know which were which later in case of a problem.

If you have the puree at a full boil when you put it into the jars and then apply the lids and bands immediately, the lids will "ping" and the jars will seal.

For myself, I didn't like the results and I don't think it's worth the risk of insufficient sterilization. About 10% of the jars I filled that way started to ferment and bubble over within about a month. The other 90% sealed and remain sealed today. I have used them; they smell and taste perfectly fine and fresh and no one has gotten sick from eating them.

The woman I know who does tomatoes this way does ten to twelve bushels of plum tomatoes every year, and has for many years. If it didn't work, her basement would be ankle deep in fermenting tomato goop and her family would have their own chairs reserved at the local emergency room.

To be clear, I don't recommend doing it that way and I don't think it's safe, but it does work and there are people that do it. I must not have the special touch that this older Italian woman does, so I'll stick with the forty minute boiling water bath.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

You guys may laugh but we only can beans. Pressure can. We blanch and freeze all of our tomatoes. Make sauce as needed.

Unfortunately, that takes up a lot of room in the freezer. You don't have to blanch the tomatoes, just bag them up and freeze them. To peel them, run the frozen tomato under warm water and the skin slips right off.

We make what we call "tomato base" with fresh onions, garlic, peppers and herbs. The herbs are going wild just about the time tomatoes get ripe. We also slice up any vegetables, like summer squash, corn, etc. and brew up a pot of "almost minestrone", just add sausage and simmer. We freeze it because pressure canning cooks it to death.

 

[MossRoad]

That was the OP's question and was mainly what I was replying to. It seems like it would not work, but it does. I know a woman who did it that way for forty years and I tried it myself last summer, marking the jars "boil" vs. "no boil" so I would know which were which later in case of a problem.

If you have the puree at a full boil when you put it into the jars and then apply the lids and bands immediately, the lids will "ping" and the jars will seal.

For myself, I didn't like the results and I don't think it's worth the risk of insufficient sterilization. About 10% of the jars I filled that way started to ferment and bubble over within about a month. The other 90% sealed and remain sealed today. I have used them; they smell and taste perfectly fine and fresh and no one has gotten sick from eating them.

The woman I know who does tomatoes this way does ten to twelve bushels of plum tomatoes every year, and has for many years. If it didn't work, her basement would be ankle deep in fermenting tomato goop and her family would have their own chairs reserved at the local emergency room.

To be clear, I don't recommend doing it that way and I don't think it's safe, but it does work and there are people that do it. I must not have the special touch that this older Italian woman does, so I'll stick with the forty minute boiling water bath.

Many times when I can applesauce I will load the jars with hot sauce then put the lids on. As I am finishing up the 5th or 6th jar I will often hear the lids seal on the 1st few jars. Technically, they are sealed just like the tomatoes you mention. That happens with hot packing on almost any product. They still have to get processed in a canner to be safe for long term storage.

 

[llowman]

Thank you all for your posts and help! From the person who also cooks on a ceramic stovetop and logically pointed out that weight of sauce and jars was probably the same; the totally logical person with the science lesson/comparison to a lab; and the woman who canned like the Italian woman who taught her. I totally get the reasoning now! Having never canned anything but sweet pickles which I didn't HWB and are fine a year later; I didn't understand why not. Again, thank you all and I love this forum of knowledge!!!! Enjoy your summer and the bounty of your gardens!

 

[YesDeere]

Unfortunately, that takes up a lot of room in the freezer. You don't have to blanch the tomatoes, just bag them up and freeze them. To peel them, run the frozen tomato under warm water and the skin slips right off.

It can take up a bit of space, but I have plenty. I also have a sort of system. I use 1 gallon commercial grade zip loc freezer bags. And after blanching and chopping them they are frozen flat. So I can stack them like cards on the freezer shelf. Saves a lot of room. I do the same with my ground beef or pork sausage. Usually buy in bulk. Then flatten and freeze. This way when I want to make Sketti or chili I just grab a bag o meat and two bags o maters and thaw. Has worked well for me for several years now.

 

[dmccarty]

We have a glass top range. The manual say to be careful with heavy pots on the glass top especially near the edge of the of the range. Using a pot that was sized correctly for the burner was important as well.

We have a very heavy cast aluminum pressure cooker. Fill that with water, and jars and it is heavier still. The glass is just fine. I also make beer on the stove which requires heating about 2.5 gallons of water and other stuff for hours. No problems with the glass top range.

Read carefully your stove manual and see what they say. My guess is that yes, you can crack the stove top, but it would take quite a bit of weight near the edge to do it.

My kids used to watch Kate Plus Eight, :confused2:, on one of the early shows Kate was cooking on a smooth top stove. She took off the lid of a pot that was boiling. She put the lid down on the glass. The lid had steam on it and as it cooled the water formed a seal and a vacuum. The glass top shattered.

Later,
Dan

 

[Chuck52]

Here's the National Center for Home Food Preservation instructions for sauce:

National Center for Home Food Preservation | How Do I? Can Tomatoes

I thought they would only recommend pressure caning, but I guess the boiling water bath method is OK so fr as they are concerned if you add acid.

Chuck

 

[llowman]

Yeah! All good info! I can't wait to make my next batch of sauce and can it. I'll let you know how it turns out!

 

[wedge40]

As read through this, out of curiosity. I wondered why the ceramic stove top.
I've used gas and electric ranges in my life and there is no way I would ever go back to anything but gas.