Tomato sauce question, sort of OT.

[Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat]

I've asked this in rec.preserving but no reply so excuse me for asking again here.

I am about to have a glut of tomatoes (my first year of growing them and I went abit mad with the planting). I love tomato sauce for pasta and have had a go making my own as my favourite shop bought brand has disappeared off the shelves (and I've got all these tomatoes coming !) I've frozen a batch that I made but I'd like to know, if I make some, pour into sterilized warmed jars and pop a lid on, how long would this keep in the refridgerator unopened ? Any ideas ? I eat alot of it so I guess it would be gone within a week of opening but frozen never seems to taste the same somehow, for me. I imagine I'm looking at a couple of weeks at the most ?

TIA in advance for any advice if anyone knows.

Rachael

[Marcella Tracy Peek]

I think your estimate of a couple of weeks is about right. A sterilized jar with a lid popped on isn't preserved. For that you would either need to do a boiling water bath or pressure canning session. Otherwise, you could just as easily use a ziplock bag or tupperware and get the same length of refrigerator storage.

marcella

[Katra]

I'm wondering why she just does not go ahead and can it? :-)

I simply juiced a bunch of my tomatoes with the Victorio strainer, then froze the juice. I'll make sauce out of that then, and that should taste ok. Especially with fresh herbs from the herb garden.

I dried the skins and seeds that came out of the strainer, then tossed that mess back into the tomato garden. Many of the seedlings are now 3" tall! That should be good for a fall crop.

K.

[Steve]

Wait a minute... you have 3 inch tomato seedlings now and you will get ripe tomatoes in the fall? Wow, I live really, really too far north! I've got to think about moving farther south while I still have some good gardening years left in me.

Steve in the Adirondacks

[Steve Calvin]

Ditto!

[belly]

On Sun, 08 Aug 2004 21:58:41 -0400 in , Steve graced the world with this thought:

I believe the woman lives in TX, so be prepared for quite a move!

[Katra]

Well, late fall/early winter. :-) We usually don't get our first freeze until the first part of January, if then. We did not get a single hard freeze last winter, but that means we are having a bad bug season. :-P

K.

[Katra]

K.

[Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat]

She doesn't have a canner / equipment nor the money to buy one. ;-) I considered it but for three things.

a) I'm not sure I can justify the outlay for something I might use only once a year when my tomatoes come in. b) I have just laid out money on a new fridgefreezer cos my old one died. In the height of summer over here.It always happens that way ! c) I am on disibility benefits which means that purchase has pretty much cleaned out all my reserves ! Having looked at prices for canning starter kits - water bath methods and steamers - I just don't have that sort of money to spend on something I might not use alot.

Am I missing a cheaper way to do it ?

I'm also wary of having to read temperatures if my wellbeing might depend on it - the reason I'm on DB is that I am seventy percent blind.

Rachael

[belly]

On Sun, 08 Aug 2004 21:38:10 -0500 in , Katra graced the world with this thought:

I pay attention, although some may argue with that....

[belly]

On Mon, 9 Aug 2004 12:47:33 +0100 in , "Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat" graced the world with this thought:

you can can with just a stock pot, however, you need to get the jars and lids (if you have jars, or someone else does, you can buy lids by themselves and save a few bucks). Tomatoes are one of the safest and easiest foods to can because of their acid content.

[Sunflower]

Go to

and sign up for the group in your area. Place a WANTED: canning supplies on the list. There are a lot of folks out there who've canned only a time or two and would probably like to get rid of them. You can reuse the jars and bands, but you'll need to buy new lids, which is pretty cheap. A plain old stockpot that you boil your spaghetti noodles in will work for the water bath. All you now need is some tongs, and someone will probably come through with those as well. If you can see a rolling boil on your stove and have a clock that you can see for timing, you don't really need to worry too much about temperature. But, you might also ask if anyone has a large print thermometer as well. It never hurts to ask YOu might also think about sun drying some of the tomatoes. It's a bit easier labor wise, and they make really good sauces when reconstituted.

[Ramon Hernandez]

You might try just getting the sauce to the point where the tomatoes are boiled down and not adding anything to it before freezing. Once you're ready to use the sauce, defrost the tomato base and add all the other ingredients. I have tried it both ways and adding all of the spices and other ingredients at the time I'm using it seems to result in a better tasting sauce.

[Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat]

There's an idea, thanks !

Rachael

[Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat]

Hey wow - what a good idea. I never knew this existed ! I have lots of stuff I no longer need that I could also offer. I usually give to charity but this is a good idea to get stuff to people who are looking for it too.

Thanks for that - I'm in the uk and there are groups near to me. It seems a very good concept, I'll read the site in depth.

There are a lot of folks out there

I'll try a search on google for that - I am assuming sun is one of the requirements ? - we did some sun here for a week or so but now it has clouded over again. ;-)

Rachael

[Katra]

Yes. A single pressure cooker/canner is all that you need. It usually comes with jar tongs.

And of course some jars, lids and rings. :-)

A canner is less than $100.00.

understand money being tight, but pressure cookers are also good for _lots_ of cooking applications! I use mine all the time.

If you only can in pint jars, you can get by with the smaller one and it's great for cooking rice, potatoes, yams, pot roast, bone stock.....

I could go on. I grew up with mom teaching me to use a pressure cooker and it's fabulous.

Hope this helps?

K.

[Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat]

!

I appreciate your advice, really I do - but $100 is quite abit of money where I come from ! *Quite* abit !

I do recall my mum had a pressure cooker when I was a child. Looking at that link they do sell for less for the smaller ones, don't they ? Perhaps when my birthday comes around I should add one to my wish list.

I have a slow cooker that I use - but as I recall the pressure cooker is the other end of the timescale, LOL !

So, am I to understand that what I would call yer normal run-of-the-mill pressure cooker - like this one for example

I could can in assuming my choice of jar would fit in ? This one is much more in my price range. ;-)

Rachael

[Steve]

I lived in Texas when I was 4 and 5 years old. My dad was in the air force and went there for pilot training. I don't recall being interested in growing tomatoes back then.

Steve

[Katra]

Sorry. ;-)

I've always considered good kitchen tools to be a good investment as they last for many years.... My stove was $800.00 and it took me a year to pay it off.

Slow cookers and stock pots will work, but I persnonally prefer a pressure cooker as it's faster and more sure. But, that's just a personal preference!

Yes! You do not need the fancy "canner" to do the job with smaller jars if you are just canning a few. :-)

Just read up on it as since they have no pressure or temp. guage, you will just be timing it. It's much simpler and works fine.

Also cooks a mean bunch of rice in only 20 minutes.

K. (who LOVES her pressure cooker!!!)

[Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat]

I'd love a good range or something similar but unfortunately, I am unlikely to get credit for something quite as expensive on benefits - unless I use my poor beleaguered credit card of course which can be a tad expensive in the long run with big items.

I quite like the idea of wood burning stoves which provide hot water and cooking and I have seen these second hand for not alot of money but I understand they literally eat wood ! I have a real fire in one room and am always looking to collect wood for it - anything burnable, like cupboard doors even, never gets wasted but I'm in a very built up town with few opportunities. My boyfriend however seems to enjoy the "hunter-gatherer" instinct it brings out in him ! ;-)

I guess I'll just have to wait until I move to Scotland (my dream) to do some of the stuff I'd like to.

For canning ?

but I persnonally prefer a

I could imagine standing there over my slow cooker for a very long time to can a jar of sauce !

Interesting. I'll do that then. Perhaps the archives of the rec.preserving group would be a good place to start looking.

I was intrigued by the "potatoes in six minutes" theory I saw somewhere whilst reading about them... now that's what I call a good idea !

It would be great to make and jar my own sauce - that sort of thing really appeals to my sense of self sufficiency.

Thanks for all the tips Katra, you've been really helpful.

Rachael