Canning Tomato Sauce

So like I said in the previous post, this weekend Sprouts had a sale on their organic Roma tomatoes for $0.99/pound. I also had a coupon for $5 off a $20 purchase, so I came home with 20+ pounds of Roma tomatoes for about $15.  

First up I canned diced tomatoes, next up was tomato sauce.  It's the same steps as the diced tomatoes, washing, coring and peeling the tomatoes. 

Next is sterilizing the jars.  

Jon diced the tomatoes and I pureed them in the blender and added them to my large stock pot.  I cooked down the tomato mixture for two hours reducing the water in the mixture leaving a nice thickened sauce.  You can also cook it down in the Instant Pot. 

In each of the pint Ball Quilted Jelly Jars I placed 1 tablespoon of lemon juice along with 1/2 teaspoon of Morton Canning and Pickling Salt.  Next I added the tomato sauce, leaving about 1/2″ of head room at the top of the jar for expansion. 

Wipe down the tops of the jar with white vinegar and place the lid on each jar.  Tighten the ring on securing just enough so the lid stays on and doesn’t fall off. You don’t want to overly tighten the ring at this point. Process the filled jars in a boiling water canner for 35 minutes for pints.

Twelve pounds of Romas yielded 10 pints of diced tomatoes. These will be perfect for adding to soup, pasta, or homemade chili.  In a price comparison the 12 pounds cost around $9 for 10 pints meaning $0.90 per 16 ounce jar. A can of generic brand tomato sauce is $1.28 (14 oz) at Target.  So not a lot of savings, but my jars will have more sauce and won't taste like a tin can! 

One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. Romans 14:2