Homemade tomato sauce/Photo byGin Lee

Homemade tomato sauce

Today, I will be preparing tomato sauce from ten pounds of fresh tomatoes. I will purée my tomatoes in a blender, then season, cook, and reduce them down to a thick yummy sauce. Then allow the tomato sauce to cool completely before I transfer it to my deep freezer. I will store my tomato sauce by portioning it into heavy-duty, pint-sized freezer bags. This is perfect if you love preparing your sauce in advance, but don't have the necessary equipment to process it in jars.

However, I will make one quart-sized jar of the sauce to refrigerate. (It will keep for about five to six days in the refrigerator.)

Vine ripened tomatoes/Photo byGin Lee

Whole tomatoes by the pound

Below is a close estimate on the amount and type of tomatoes you'd need to equal one pound.

• One really large tomato usually weighs generally close to one pound
• Three medium-sized tomatoes equals close to one pound
• Six to eight Roma tomatoes equals about one pound
• Fifteen to twenty cherry tomatoes equals about one pound
• Eighteen to twenty grape tomatoes averages about one pound

Tomato sauce Ingredients:

• 10 pounds of ripened tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon of seasoning salt, or kosher salt
• 4-½ tablespoons of garlic, minced (or to taste)
• 3 tablespoons of onion powder
• 2-4 tablespoons of Italian seasoning

Optional ingredients:

• 1-2 cans of tomato paste, to make a thicker tomato sauce

Instructions:

Coarsely chopped tomatoes/Photo byGin Lee

Wash your tomatoes well under running water. Then, using a sharp knife, slice each tomato into halves. At this point, you can take the seeds out easily just by squeezing the tomato halves. (I prefer to leave the seeds in my tomatoes.) Then coarse chop.

Processing the tomatoes/ PuréePhoto byGin Lee

Now, use a blender or food processor to purée the tomatoes. Repeat as needed.

If you prefer, you can add your seasoning now and then transfer your fresh sauce to freezer bags, or continue with the following instructions for preparing cooked tomato sauce.

Cooking the tomato sauce/Photo byGin Lee

Transfer the tomato purée into a dutch oven over a high temperature. Add the seasoning salt, canola oil, or olive oil, minced garlic, onion powder, and Italian seasoning to the tomato mixture. Allow your tomato sauce to come to a boil, then lower the temperature to medium-low and simmer.

To make your sauce thicker, simmer it for about twenty minutes. Stirring frequently.

Allow your homemade tomato sauce to cool completely. Then make sure that you taste it (once it has cooled). Add more seasoning if needed to suit your preferred taste.

Once your sauce is finished, transfer it to heavy-duty Ziploc freezer bags. (Proportioned as needed.) Seal your bags tightly. Write the present date on each bag.

Lay the freezer bags on their sides flat side down and stack them accordingly. (Laying them this way will maximize your freezer space.)

Your tomato sauce will taste the best when it's used within six months, but it will stay good for up to one year if it's been frozen properly.

Note:

To use your tomato sauce once it's been frozen, allow it to sit until it thaws. Then heat it up inside a saucepan and add any fresh ingredients to it that you'd like. (I normally season my sauce to (my preferred) taste at this point.) Then pour your sauce over cooked pasta, etc..

If you want to turn your tomato sauce into ready-made pasta sauce, or pizza sauce, just add cooked meat, mushrooms, bell peppers, etc. to your sauce during the last few minutes of cooking it.

I say this from experience, (because it happened to me and I sliced my hand open before realizing what had occurred.) I never freeze sauce, or any other type of food inside glass jars, or any other type of glass container anymore. When the food freezes, it will expand and can break the glass container.