Steem-Ants: How to store tomato sauce for the winter!

If you want to eat healthy food and to minimise processed ingredients as much as possible, here is a way to make tomato sauce and store it for your cookings throughout the winter

Ingredients: Tomatoes and flower salt. In order to have 8 jars of 1 kg each, I used 8 kg of tomatoes and 1 small tbsp of flower salt per jar. The salt is not used for taste only; it is also necessary to preserve your sauce.

So, the preparation of this tomato sauce incorporates, firstly, the sterilising of the jars, which I did – after washing the jars and caps thoroughly – in the oven; i.e. I placed firstly the jars for 10’ in the oven at 150C, looking downwards (so as to abolish any remaining liquids). Then I turned off the oven and put the caps for another 5’, also looking downwards. I pay extra attention to the caps as they are usually more fragile and high temperatures can melt them, instead of sterilising them. Alternatively, you can put both the jars and caps in some boiling water with some vinegar. If you choose this method, you must pay attention so that the remaining liquids are dried off.

I grind my tomatoes on the fine grater shredder in a big bowl. I don’t use an electrical shredder, or some kind of food processor, as I want to dismiss the skins and keep all the flavours. And this cannot be accomplished a 100% by using food processor. I add the salt in the big bowl and toss. I fill up the jars and close them very well. Be careful to close them well because we don’t want to have any spilled tomato juice during the boiling process and, the most important, if the jar is not closed correctly, the tomato will not be properly pasteurised.

In a deep pot, I add water (until the ¾ or the ½ approximately) and boil it. I put the jars upside down in the pots and wait 5’. In order for the jars not to crash into each other, I place a vettex at the bottom of the pot. I turn off the heat and leave the pot as is without removing the jars. After a few hours, the water is at room temperature and now my jars are ready to be stored in a cool place for the winter.

Enjoy!