Canned Spaghetti Sauce

(Scroll to bottom for recipe)

I've been canning this wonderful spaghetti sauce for years, and it has such great taste!  It's a little time consuming but fairly easy to put together.  If you don't have a stockpot that is 16 quarts or larger, I would half the recipe.  Also, be very careful not to burn the sauce.  I once borrowed my neighbors stockpot that was brand new.  I felt horrible when I scorched the bottom so badly that it didn't come clean, and my sauce had to all be thrown out.  I now use a very thick stainless steel Belgique pan by Tools of the Trade from Macy's and it's amazing!  If you do a lot of canning, I would invest in one.  

Start by weighing your tomatoes.  I do 5 lb. increments because small kitchen scales cannot handle 30 pounds.  

After you have a large pan of water boiling, submerge the tomatoes for about 1 minute.  Blanching them like this will make the peels fall right off.  

After you remove them from the boiling water, rinse with cold water.

 Peel and the cut the cores out of the tomatoes.  Place the peels and cores in a large bowl for compost or to discard later (I feed mine to the chickens ).

Fill the blender up with tomatoes, blend, and then poor into a large stockpot.  

Blend the onions in the blender as well, mixing them will a little bit of blended tomato so that they have enough liquid to blend well.  Do the same thing with the garlic.  Just put it in the blender with some blended tomatoes and then you don't have to worry about chopping or pressing the garlic.  

 Simmer 2-4 hours depending on how thick you like the sauce.  Just be very, very careful not to burn the sauce!  I have heard of some people simmering theirs in the oven rather than the stove top for this reason.  You will see in the picture below that the through the simmering process, the sauce has been reduced.

Ladle into hot jars and then add about 2 tsp bottled lemon juice to each jar so that there is enough acid.  Process in a hot water bath or a pressure canner.  I process it in a pressure canner for 25 minutes at 13 lbs. of pressure.  I have to use 13 versus 10 because of the elevation of where I live.  Check with your local extension office to see if there is a variation in the pounds of pressure according to where you live.

Spaghetti Sauce:

30 lbs. ripe tomatoes

8 cans tomato paste (or just use 4, your choice)

1 c. white vinegar

1/2 c. sugar

3 Tbs. oregano

4 Tbs. Italian Seasoning

3 Tbs. basil

2 heads of garlic (the entire head and all its cloves)

4 small onions

1/3 c. plain salt (no iodine)

3-4 bay leaves

Blanch tomatoes about 1 minute. Remove from boiling water and rinse with cold water.  Peel and core tomatoes, then blend in a blender.  Poor into a 16-quart stockpot.  Peel onions, cut, and put them in the blender.  Add about 1 cup blended tomatoes so there is enough liquid to let the blender smoothly blend the onions.  Add the onions to the saucepot.  Do the same with the garlic.  Just add a little tomatoes to the blender and throw the garlic pieces in and blend well.  Add all the other ingredients and stir well.  Simmer about 2-4 hours, depending on your desired thickness.   WARNING: Do not scorch or burn! 

 Remove the bay leaves, then ladle sauce into hot, clean jars.  I add about 1 tsp. bottled lemon juice per quart just to be safe (even with the vinegar in the recipe). Adjust screw caps and lids.  Process 25 minutes at 10 lbs. of pressure, or 13 pounds if you live where I do (check with your local extension). 

**Note: you can freeze this recipe as well. After you have cooked the sauce down, put it in the fridge overnight to cool it. Fill 1-quart freezer bags, seal, and freeze.