Preserving - Tomato Sauce (katsup)

Hi All,

This is rather a long blog... so if you just want the recipe scroll down the page. If you want a short

story about sauce, get reading.  Either way, enjoy!

 

One of the things I find  special about cooking is the passing down of recipes through family and friends.  It is not just the food,  I feel it is really passing down the feelings of love... "I love you enough to make you this special dish, I hope you enjoy it!"  It certainly gives me the warm fuzzys. 

 

 LOVE IS MY FAVOURITE INGREDIENT !!! And you need lots for this sauce!

 

Last year I wanted to learn how to make tomato sauce so I could pass on the love and teach my kitchen kids at school how to make it with the tomatoes they grew in their school garden.  

 

Of course I called on Mum to dig out her Grandmothers recipe from the 1920's, possibly earlier.  It was originally measured in pounds and ounces and I'm thinking it could be at least 100 years old.  It has now been passed down 4 generations.  I am told my Great Nanna Stoneman was a great at cooking, knitting and crochet.  All of which has been passed on down the family line, or at least, many of us attempt to continue the line of specialised Granny talents.

Mum and I made a successful batch of sauce before I attempted it with my kitchen kids.  All I can say is.... AWESOME and tasted just as I remembered.

A few weeks later the kitchen kids and I also managed to make a tasty batch of sauce which we used with sausage rolls made during class.  My mouth is watering whilst I am writing, remembering the flavours together...mmmm...

We entered our sauce in the Botanical Gardens Tomato Sauce Competition and came 3rd...our prize was a cooking demonstration by 2011 Master Chef runner up, Michael Weldon.  That was an exciting and entertaining class for us all.

 

A year later and  the sauce making began again.  It was a long process so a day needed to be set aside.  It is quality time with Mum, we can chat for the whole day whist doing something fun and productive.  And, I don't have to do all the dishes!

 

Little Nanna's old mouli

Tomatoes, apples and onions are peeled and chopped, spices are added, the sauce was on the stove top simmering so went around the corner to my Nanna's to borrow her mouli - we needed this to get lumps out of the sauce later. 
 

 

Little Nanna is my Dad's Mum (and YES! she is little) she came back for a cuppa and chat.  She became our third "stirrer". There is no way this sauce was going to stick now!  Nanna is an expert stirrer and at 86, she was still making her own apricot jam.

After a days work and ten kilo's of tomatoes later,  we had 2 massive pots of tomato sauce ready to be bottled. Yay!  

 

BUT, hang on, I think the after taste is a little sweet.  Hmmm, I was not happy with it.  What to do now?  Mum researched on GOOGLE... other sauce makers are saying add salt or more spices... hmmm.  Nope.  I was not happy with that either!  Thought I might just leave it in the pot overnight and have a think about it.  I think we overcooked it.  It was not burnt but the sauce was quite dark.   I think the sugar caramelised which led to the concerntrated flavour of sugar hence the over sweet taste.

 

My gut instinct  told me to just cook up some more tomatoes without any flavours, mouli it and add to the original sauce. I believe we need to follow our instinct in cooking.  I have often wondered, is there someone from the spirit world whispering a solution over my shoulder?  This solution was in fact the "perfect fix".  There was no sweet aftertaste.  I was happy now.  The sauce was saved.. dant da da da!

 

Here it is my Great Nanna Stonemans Tomato Sauce Recipe - make it with a friend and enjoy!

 

Ingredients

 

5 1/2 kilo tomatoes

60g chopped garlic

4 large onions

6 good sized apples

915g sugar

1 desert spoon pepper

28g cloves

21g allspice

80g salt

3 1/2 cups vinegar

Muslin/calico/cotton bag for spices or square of cloth and string

 

What ya gotta do:

 

*Place a 2 forks in the bottom of a large saucepan to stop the sauce from sticking

*To peel tomatoes (best done with firm tomatoes), cut a cross the base of the tomato and place in a   pot of boiling water ( a bowl will also do). When the edges of the skin curl up it is easy to peel off

*Chop and add to a large pot over medium/high heat

*Once it starts boiling, turn to a simmer

*Peel and finely chop apples, garlic and onion - add to pot

*Add sugar, allspice, pepper and salt

*Tie cloves in muslin bag - add to sauce

*Simmer sauce for 2 hours or so, stirring regularly

*Add vinegar and continue to reduce for another hour

*Prepare jars by washing in warm soapy water, rinse and heat in a hot oven for 20 minutes

*Use a silver spoon to test the sauce, it should coat the back without running off

*Each batch will take a different amount of time to reduce depending on the amount of water in the tomatoes

*When the sauce has thickened, dispose of spice bag

*Cool sauce a little and ladle into a mouli to get out the lumps

*I add the extra step of giving a quick wizz with a hand blender, It makes the sauce pour better

*Use a funnel to pour into the sterile bottles

*Put the lid on bottles whilst hot

*This sauce will keep for ages, if it lasts that long

*Refrigerate after opening

See you next time... Happy Preserving!