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homemade canned tomatoes sauce in a barrel the sauce
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📋The Tradition of Canning Tomato Sauce in a Barrel

Canning tomato sauce is an old Italian tradition, an occasion to get family and friends together.
With such a large quantity to make, you need a barrel! A low cost and low waste methodology everyone can follow.
Course Canned & Jam
Cuisine Italian
Keyword canned tomato sauce, Italian tomato sauce, preserved tomato sauce
Prep Time 4 hours
Cook Time 2 hours
Resting time 1 day
Total Time 1 day 6 hours
Servings 100 jars
Calories 3kcal
Author Laura Tobin

Equipment

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Canning tomato sauce is a social event, call your friends and family to help

Cleaning the tomatoes

  • Cut the tomatoes into 4 sections, removing the green connection of the stem and any damaged parts.

Pre boiling the tomatoes

  • As soon as a bucket is ready, pour the tomatoes into a large caldron to cook while covered, stir from time to time to make sure they don't stick to the bottom.

Strain the water from the tomatoes

  • Roughly line the crates with some old clean towels
  • Align the crates over the drainage grid so the water of the tomatoes can drain away
  • Once the tomatoes have softened and lost their consistency, poured them back into the crates over the towels
  • Squeeze the tomatoes inside the towels

Grinding the tomatoes

  • Grinde the tomatoes in the grinding machine, one, two, three times, to make sure no pulp is left on the skin.

Zero waste

  • The tomato skin and the parts of the tomatoes that were removed earlier will go into the compost, to fertilize more tomatoes plants for next year.

Filling the cans

  • The jars should be sterilised
  • Put a basil leaf inside each jar and fill them with the tomato sauce

Preparing the barrel

  • Place the barrel over the burners
  • Place a potato bag at the bottom of the barrel

Putting the jars filled with tomato sauce in the barrel

  • Put a band around each jar
  • Layer the jars placing potato’s bags over them until they filled the barrel to the top
  • Fill the barrel with water all the way to the top
  • Placed a cover on top, and a brick to stop the jars from floating and banging while boiling
  • Start the fire and wait for the water to boil

Boiling the canned tomato sauce

  • Let the jars boil for 1 hour
  • Turn off the fire and wait until the next day for the water to cool down completely before removing the jars
  • A vacuum has now formed inside the jars and the sauce will keep for the winter

Notes

  • Use long tomatoes, San Marzano are the best if you can find them
  • Make it a yearly event and invite friends and family to help
  • There is no skin in the tomato sauce but you don't necessarily have to peel them as there are grinder machines that will do that for you.
  • If you don't have a grinder you can peel the tomatoes by immersing them in hot water for 5 minutes. The skin will then come out very easily.
  • Remove the green or any damaged part of the tomatoes before pre-boiling them.
  • Drain the pre-boiled tomatoes before grinding them otherwise, the sauce will be too watery.
  • When you grind them, make sure no skin falls back into the pan with the sauce.
  • Re-process the discharged skin at least twice, there is still plenty of tomato pulp to be recovered.
  • To can the tomato sauce follow exactly all the procedures to make sure the jars are sealed, properly sterilized and a vacuum created inside the jar to preserve the sauce.
  • You need to sterilize the glass jars before using them. The easiest way is to wash them in the dishwasher at a high temperature. Otherwise, you can just boil them
  • While you can reuse the glass jars, every year you should buy new silicon sealers.
  • Once you boil the jars filled with tomato sauce, it is very important you leave the jars in the water to cool down, that is when the vacuum that preserves the sauce forms inside the jars.
  • Once the jar is open, it is recommended to use the sauce within a few days and store it in the fridge.
  • Use jars of different dimensions so if you need only a small amount of sauce you can open the small jars.
  • Always remember to label the jars with the date and the content.

Nutrition

Calories: 3kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 37mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 146IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 2mg | Iron: 1mg