Canning in Quantity / Questions from a Newbie

[Diavolicchio]

I've never canned tomato sauce before and am quite interested in doing so this coming year. My family never canned anything growing up, but I have wonderful memories of my Great-Aunt and Great-Uncle, right off the boat from Italy, canning hundreds and hundreds of quarts of sauce every Summer and Fall. I was at my Grandmother's house at least once a week and she shared a common driveway with my Great-Aunt and Great-Uncle, so although I could never see what they were doing, I certainly could smell the sauce cooking. Their backyard, which was most likely 100' x 100', was completely tilled under at one point and turned completely into a vegetable garden. There wasn't even one blade of grass in their backyard. They may have grown other vegetables aside from tomatoes, but all I remember seeing was the huge sea of beefsteak tomato plants (they didn't use paste tomatoes for their sauce) from which they saved the seeds every year.

I want to can my own killer marinara sauce and a TON of it. I found a recipe online that I want to use, but I need to better understand the affect that certain ingredients have on the canning process (i.e., how long the quarts need to remain in the pressure cooker and at what temperature), given the particular recipe I want to use.

Here's the recipe I plan to use, substituting my own fresh crushed tomatoes for the cans of crushed tomatoes listed in the recipe:

*****

Marinara Sauce

Serves: 8 servings

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
2 teaspoons oregano, dried
2 teaspoons basil, dried
2 whole bay leaves
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Over medium heat, heat oil in a large pot until hot. Add onion and garlic, saute for 3 to 5 minutes until the onions begin to appear translucent. Add the tomatoes, stir to mingle the flavors. Add in the herbs and bay leaves. Sprinkle in sugar, salt and pepper. Lower the heat and continue to simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered. Stir occasionally.

*****

I'll be using an All-American 41-1/2-Quart Pressure Cooker/Canner to do the canning. It supposedly has the capacity to hold 19 quart jars at a time.

Would anyone out there be willing to walk me through the basics of how I should go about canning marinara sauce made following the previous recipe? I'm guessing the first thing I'd need to do would be to adjust the size of the recipe for larger-scale production, right?

I'll be growing not just the tomatoes, but the onions, garlic, oregano and basil that I'll be using. Herbs will therefore be fresh and not dried.

I'm all ears!

 

[Ldychef2k]

Give this site a look see http://canningusa.com/IfICanYouCan/SauceMarinara.htm You will not need to pressure can your sauce. I sometimes add just a touch of lemon juice, as tomatoes vary in their acidity.

If you add meat (such as Spam ) you would then use the pressure canner.

 

[Diavolicchio]

Give this site a look see http://canningusa.com/IfICanYouCan/SauceMarinara.htm You will not need to pressure can your sauce. I sometimes add just a touch of lemon juice, as tomatoes vary in their acidity.

If you add meat (such as Spam ) you would then use the pressure canner.

Don't you DARE make Spamarinara Sauce.

What a great website. I watched a couple of their videos which are really helpful.

Thanks for pointing me to the right place. It's now bookmarked.

 

[FarmerChick]

Wonderful site LDY

thank you!

 

[Ldychef2k]

It's where I learned to can !!!!

John, if I don't how will I sauce this:

You might get a huge kick out of this site:

http://lileks.com/institute/gallery/

It has a gallery of old cookbook photos with hysterical descriptions:

"Meat entombed in gelatinous horror"

 

[okiegirl1]

It's where I learned to can !!!!

John, if I don't how will I sauce this:

http://www.rexipe.com/recipe/image/52/full/cannelloni.jpg?1182543795

You might get a huge kick out of this site:

http://lileks.com/institute/gallery/

It has a gallery of old cookbook photos with hysterical descriptions:

http://lileks.com/institute/gallery/meat2/12.jpg
"Meat entombed in gelatinous horror"

sorry, but....

 

[Ldychef2k]

I think that's the point of the site. To reveal the regrettable foods of the past. I have followed it for years. Much of the food was actually served at my mother's house over the years. I guess that explains a lot....

 

[Diavolicchio]

I think my most horrific food memory growing up would have to be one of the "holiday desserts" my mother likely found in Reader's Digest or Ladies Home Journal. It was a sickening concoction of corn flakes, karo syrup, butter, marshmallows and enough green food coloring to dye the Chicago River on St. Patty's Day. The sticky, algae-green glop was mixed together, packed into a Bundt pan, and inverted onto a large plate, resembling a radioactive Christmas wreath. It was then dotted with cinnamon Red Hots to look like fake holly berries. I believe it was then sliced into thick wedges and served with a hypodermic needle full of insulin.

I shudder just thinking about it.


EDIT: I just found photos online of a 'personal-sized' version WITH the recipe. Enjoy.

The one intriguing thing about it is that you'd never be able to tell if someone had actually thrown it back up.

 

[me&thegals]

I think my most horrific food memory growing up would have to be one of the "holiday desserts" my mother likely found in Reader's Digest or Ladies Home Journal. It was a sickening concoction of corn flakes, karo syrup, butter, marshmallows and enough green food coloring to dye the Chicago River on St. Patty's Day. The sticky, algae-green glop was mixed together, packed into a Bundt pan, and inverted onto a large plate, resembling a radioactive Christmas wreath. It was then dotted with cinnamon Red Hots to look like fake holly berries. I believe it was then sliced into thick wedges and served with a hypodermic needle full of insulin.

I shudder just thinking about it.

Thanks for the out-loud laugh you just gave me! I think Cool Whip, Jell-O, marshmallows and food dye have "brightened" holiday tables across the midwest for years

As for marinara sauce, here's one I'm happy with. However, do NOT throw out the garlic!!! The recipe suggests this, but this borders on blasphemy!

I adjust the recipe to as many multiples as I want and can the sauce in pint jars. You could use quarts, too. There's no meat or stuff to bring the pH down much, so I glug in a little bit of red wine vinegar and steam/water bath can it. You'd have to consult a canning book for the appropriate times, as I cannot remember and don't have it included in the recipe. I use all my own fresh herbs for this (and garlic), as you plan to. I also often cheat and dump in storebought tomato paste to speed up the thickening process. We use this for lasagna, pizza, spaghetti, soup. Enjoy!

The Tomato Ladys Garden Marinara Saucefreeze extras for pizza sauce, as topping for pasta or base for spaghetti and meatballs.

A colander heaping full of heirloom tomatoes (assorted varieties make the best sauce)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic
2 handfuls fresh mixed basil, parsley, oregano and marjoram, chopped
2 tsp kosher salt
Several grinds of fresh pepper

Peel and seed the tomatoes. (For easy peeling, cut an X in the bottom of the tomatoes, then boil them briefly the skins should slide right off.) In a saut pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat, then add the garlic. When the cloves turn a honey brown, remove and discard. Put half of the tomatoes in a food processor and pulse to make small chunks. Add to the oil. Pulse the remaining tomatoes with half the herbs. Add to the pan with salt and pepper. Simmer to the desired consistency, 30 to 40 minutes depending on the tomatoes water content. Turn off the heat and stir in the remaining herbs. Enjoy. The sauce can be frozen for future use. Serves 8 to 10.

 

[Diavolicchio]

"Meat entombed in gelatinous horror"

And you didn't even post the RECIPE?

(Awesome description, by the way . . . )