Sauce Tomatoes. Tomato sauce. Great year in 2018. 9.7.18

Despite other challenges, the sauce tomatoes have been a start crop this year.  Until 2016, I thought that growing sauce tomatoes wasn't worth the effort, but had never tried.  Then I grew some, and made my own sauce, and I was amazed at how good it was.   Far better than any commercial sauce.  I also thought it would be a lot of trouble to make tomato sauce, or very complicated.  It's not.

The challenges of growing sauce tomatoes, in my yard:
1.  Deer.  So I grew them in a fenced bed this year.
2.  Lack of experience.  Now I have it.
3.  Blossom end rot.  This was a big challenge during previous years.  I read it was insufficient calcium, or too much watering, or too much nitrogen.  I added lime to the soil, watered less, and gave less nitrogen, but did not have an improvement.  This year, I grew 3 varieties:  Ranger (From Territorial Seeds), Big Mamma (From Burpee), and traditional Roma (I forget where ).

As it turned out, the Ranger and Big Momma had not blossom end rot at all.  The Romas, in the same bed, had a fair amount.  So I think the hybrids are better.  As for flavor, I didn't test side by side, but the sauce is excellent.  As for productivity, the Big Mamma tomatoes are huge!  And meaty.  But the Ranger tomatoes are a good size and meaty, and I think pounds per plant is more with the Rangers.  I didn't measure, but I got a lot more tomatoes on the Ranger plants.

The photos show how I make the sauce.  No added salt or sugar or anything, just tomatoes.  Additives go in when I make something using the sauce.  It's very simple.

1.   Wash the tomatoes.  Remove stems.  Cut each into big chunks - halves or quarters.  No water is added.  No salt, no sugar.

2.  Heat on low/medium until they release their juices and start to boil.  Stir with wooden spoon to prevent sticking to the bottom, about once
every 10 or 15 minutes. Then reduce to the lowest setting.
I change to a mesh colander for lid.

3.   Simmer for about 90 minutes.  I've seen shorter and longer times.  This works for me.  Volume reduces by about 1/3.  I think more watery tomatoes would need longer.

4.   Replace lid and let them cool off.  A few hours or overnight.

5.  Use food processor to puree, skins, seeds, and all.  I don't remove anything.

6.  Portion 1 cup per labeled 1-qt freezer bag.  Freeze flat, then arrange in plastic box in freezer like cards in a file.  I use these about one per week, for a year or more.

I think most sites say they will keep for a year.   I think that by the end of the season, I'll have about 50 pouches, which gives me about 1 per week, which is about perfect.

Making Use of Extra Tomatoes. Tomato Sauce. 9.24.16

Tomatoes Harvested 9.24.16

SunnyBoy Tomatoes Chopped and Korean Red Pepper Added.  9.24.16

 I continue learning how to do things that turn out to be very simple.  Then I wonder, why did it take me so long?

This time it was tomato sauce.  After waiting all summer long for a taste of home grown tomatoes, there are now too many to eat fresh.  With considerable inspiration from my friend Rich, I decided to make tomato sauce.

This is simple.  Other than some peppers from the kitchen garden, nothing was added.  I will add garlic, onions, olive oil, salt, pepper to taste when I use the sauce.

The tomatoes were chopped.  Ditto for a few peppers.  In this case a Korean hot pepper.

Place in pan.  Heat to gentle boil.  The cell walls break down quickly, and gradually the tomatoes break down leaving a thick juice  and skins.  Simmer until volume decreases by about half.

I cooled a little, then poured into food processor to puree the skins along with the remaining tomato flesh.

About 15 Minutes into the Simmering.  9.24.16

Tomatoes and Home Made Tomato Sauce.  9.24.16

Then poured into jar to cool.  When cool, I transferred into freezer baggies to freeze.  Some went into the fridge to use in a couple of days.

I don't know yet how to can, and prefer to avoid botulism so may never can.  But freezing works well for a lot of foods, and gives us some summer sun during the gloomy rainy days of winter.