My Almost Daily Journal-Making Tomato Sauce (Using Heirloom Tomatoes)

Volume 41-Tag Along With Me on My Sometimes Boring Sometimes Interesting Sometimes Humorous Journey Through Life

Welcome back. I can’t believe August is ending. Where did summer go? That said we will welcome September and hope for good weather. Usually here in central NY September is lovely. It can be summer-like or fall-like. A good transition month. Recently I wrote an article about a great heirloom tomato harvest. The harvest continues; today I made a batch of sauce for dinner with extra to go in the freezer.

I must confess that I normally don’t do a lot of canning or freezing. I’m just not into that. We love to just enjoy the veggies from the garden and not worry about saving any for the winter. However, I do store potatoes and onions in our cellar for the winter since our basement works well as a root cellar. Also, I try to extend the growing season with subsequent plantings. For example, I just planted beans, radishes, cucumbers, squash, and several lettuces for a fall harvest. There are also veggies still coming in the garden including swiss chard, kale, leeks, and sweet Spanish onions. Some vegetables grow better n the fall when the temperatures aren’t as hot.

Making the Sauce

How many of my fellow gardeners make tomato sauce? I usually make a few batches each year. My process is fairly simple.

First I cut up the tomatoes into chunks removing any stems and the cores. A quick hand squeeze over the sink removes a lot of the excess seeds and water, which will make the thickening process quicker. Then I cook them for 5 to 10 minutes to soften them for the food mill. The food mill removes the skins and seeds making for a smooth delicious sauce.

If you have a good blender, this step would be a lot easier than using the food mill. The only blender I’m aware of that would pulverize the seeds and skins is the Vitamix. We don’t have one; would love one however they are pricey. Someday I will get one as my wife has talked about wanting one.

The next step is running the tomatoes through the food mill which I mentioned above. This will remove the skins and seeds. They work well even though it takes some time and strengthens your arm in the process.

Spice it Up

The final step is to add the desired spices and simmer the sauce to thicken either using a large pan or crock pot. I have used both. In my experience, it takes at least 4 or 5 hours to get the sauce thick enough. As far as spices, you can use what you prefer. I normally add salt, pepper, garlic salt or powder, onion powder, oregano, basil, and parsley. Of course, if you have fresh versions of any of these all the better. I also recommend adding a little tomato paste to help thicken the sauce. Finally, a pinch of sugar enhances and softens the flavor.

The best tomatoes to use for making sauce are of course Roma type sauce tomatoes. I used the heirlooms I grew, none of them are sauce tomatoes (didn’t grow this year). Therefore it took longer to evaporate the water and thicken the sauce. But it still turned out well and was delicious. My wife added fresh peppers, onions, and a little dry red wine. She then combined the sauce with some hot Italian sausage and Rigatoni. It was delicious.

The basket of tomatoes pictured produced about 3.5 quarts of sauce; a good yield. I ended up freezing the 2.5 extra quarts we didn’t use today. There are still more tomatoes to pick, so I will make another batch of sauce.

Before simmering the sauce, it can be used as delicious tomato juice. Another alternative. You can also just freeze the cut-up tomatoes, even whole tomatoes. I would recommend a vacuum sealer if you freeze the tomatoes in bags.