Thread: Canning tom' sauce

D. Arlington wrote:
> Can someone suggest a way to thicken tomato sauce before canning it? I
> can't see simmering it for hours and hours as it heats the house at a
> time of year we don't want heat. I run the partly cooked toms through a
> Roma machine that removes the skins and seeds, then make the sauce for
> canning. It's too watery. Any suggestings to remove all the excess water?
Two ideas,
One--if you take the skins and seeds that you removed, and dehydrate
them, it just takes over night, then powder them and add them back into
your sauce this will thicken the sauce and add back all the vitamins etc
that is in the skins and seeds.
Two-- you can thicken with cornstarch/clearjel (not surejel which is a
pectin for jam)

Connie TC

On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 02:52:00 -0500, "D. Arlington" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Can someone suggest a way to thicken tomato sauce before canning it? I
>can't see simmering it for hours and hours as it heats the house at a time
>of year we don't want heat. I run the partly cooked toms through a Roma
>machine that removes the skins and seeds, then make the sauce for canning.
>It's too watery. Any suggestings to remove all the excess water?


I strain mine after I remove skins and seeds. Gets rid of quite a bit
of liquid without cooking it to death.
--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)

D. Arlington wrote:
> Can someone suggest a way to thicken tomato sauce before canning it? I
> can't see simmering it for hours and hours as it heats the house at a
> time of year we don't want heat. I run the partly cooked toms through a
> Roma machine that removes the skins and seeds, then make the sauce for
> canning. It's too watery. Any suggestings to remove all the excess water?


People are gonna boo and hiss at me for saying this, but add a little
commercial tomato paste. It doesn't take much. HTH

Bob

zxcvbob wrote:
> D. Arlington wrote:
>> Can someone suggest a way to thicken tomato sauce before canning it?
>> I can't see simmering it for hours and hours as it heats the house at
>> a time of year we don't want heat. I run the partly cooked toms
>> through a Roma machine that removes the skins and seeds, then make the
>> sauce for canning. It's too watery. Any suggestings to remove all the
>> excess water?
>
>
> People are gonna boo and hiss at me for saying this, but add a little
> commercial tomato paste. It doesn't take much. HTH
>
> Bob
Boo! Hiss! It's done.

I generally freeze the tomatoes for a few days and then take them out to
thaw. When they thaw the skins slip right off and most of the water can
be poured into a container to add back to the sauce if needed. Saves a
lot of time and work for me.

In article <[email protected]>,
zxcvbob <[email protected]> wrote:

> D. Arlington wrote:
> > Can someone suggest a way to thicken tomato sauce before canning it? I
> > can't see simmering it for hours and hours as it heats the house at a
> > time of year we don't want heat. I run the partly cooked toms through a
> > Roma machine that removes the skins and seeds, then make the sauce for
> > canning. It's too watery. Any suggestings to remove all the excess water?
>
>
> People are gonna boo and hiss at me for saying this, but add a little
> commercial tomato paste. It doesn't take much. HTH
>
> Bob


I was going to suggest tomato powder. Hisss-sss-sss :-) I can
buy it from my food co-op; I *think* KA Flour might also offer it. JAT.
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://web.me.com/barbschaller - updated 3-31-2009
"What you say about someone else says more
about you than it does about the other person."

In article <gqv6f4$8ms$[email protected]>,
"D. Arlington" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Can someone suggest a way to thicken tomato sauce before canning it? I
> can't see simmering it for hours and hours as it heats the house at a time
> of year we don't want heat. I run the partly cooked toms through a Roma
> machine that removes the skins and seeds, then make the sauce for canning.
> It's too watery. Any suggestings to remove all the excess water?


How much time and fridge space are you willing to expend, D. Arlington?
Put the juice in the fridge for a day (two is better) and let the solids
settle out some. Pour off the clear liquid (prized by hoity-toity chefs
in NYC) then put up the remaining juice. Sauce?

Can you get your hands on any tomato powder? That will thicken it up.
And Bob suggested tomato paste. A can of Hunt's tomato sauce has this
ingredient list: "Tomato puree (water, tomato paste), water, less than
2% of: salt, citric acid, spice, tomato fiber, natural flavor."

If you can cook down the juice some, put it in a container with a wide
opening for more surface evaporation.
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://web.me.com/barbschaller - updated 3-30-2009
"What you say about someone else says more
about you than it does about the other person."

"The Cook" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
> On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 02:52:00 -0500, "D. Arlington" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>>Can someone suggest a way to thicken tomato sauce before canning it? I
>>can't see simmering it for hours and hours as it heats the house at a time
>>of year we don't want heat. I run the partly cooked toms through a Roma
>>machine that removes the skins and seeds, then make the sauce for canning.
>>It's too watery. Any suggestings to remove all the excess water?
>
>
> I strain mine after I remove skins and seeds. Gets rid of quite a bit
> of liquid without cooking it to death.

You strain what comes out of your skin/seed remover?

> --
> Susan N.
>
> "Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
> 48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
> Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)

"Connie TenClay" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:qcJAl.18946$[email protected]..
> D. Arlington wrote:
>> Can someone suggest a way to thicken tomato sauce before canning it? I
>> can't see simmering it for hours and hours as it heats the house at a
>> time of year we don't want heat. I run the partly cooked toms through a
>> Roma machine that removes the skins and seeds, then make the sauce for
>> canning. It's too watery. Any suggestings to remove all the excess
>> water?
> Two ideas,
> One--if you take the skins and seeds that you removed, and dehydrate
> them, it just takes over night, then powder them and add them back into
> your sauce this will thicken the sauce and add back all the vitamins etc
> that is in the skins and seeds.
> Two-- you can thicken with cornstarch/clearjel (not surejel which is a
> pectin for jam)
>
> Connie TC

We don't want to do that as would have to leave them overnight before
canning. Also, the seeds would add a bitter taste.

"zxcvbob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
> D. Arlington wrote:
>> Can someone suggest a way to thicken tomato sauce before canning it? I
>> can't see simmering it for hours and hours as it heats the house at a
>> time of year we don't want heat. I run the partly cooked toms through a
>> Roma machine that removes the skins and seeds, then make the sauce for
>> canning. It's too watery. Any suggestings to remove all the excess
>> water?
>
>
> People are gonna boo and hiss at me for saying this, but add a little
> commercial tomato paste. It doesn't take much. HTH
>
> Bob

We did. It didn't help. The sauce was still too watery.

"George Shirley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:_eLAl.23508$[email protected]..
> zxcvbob wrote:
>> D. Arlington wrote:
>>> Can someone suggest a way to thicken tomato sauce before canning it? I
>>> can't see simmering it for hours and hours as it heats the house at a
>>> time of year we don't want heat. I run the partly cooked toms through a
>>> Roma machine that removes the skins and seeds, then make the sauce for
>>> canning. It's too watery. Any suggestings to remove all the excess
>>> water?
>>
>>
>> People are gonna boo and hiss at me for saying this, but add a little
>> commercial tomato paste. It doesn't take much. HTH
>>
>> Bob
> Boo! Hiss! It's done.
>
> I generally freeze the tomatoes for a few days and then take them out to
> thaw. When they thaw the skins slip right off and most of the water can be
> poured into a container to add back to the sauce if needed. Saves a lot of
> time and work for me.

Hi George, our fridge's freezer isn't large enough to freeze the amount we
can at one time. We bring them to a boil, simmer a minute and put them
through the Roma which removes all the seeds and skins. The sauce is made
but we can't figure out how to get rid of all that excess water. When you
look at a jar of sauce, 25% is clear liquid on top. Adding Tomatoes paste
didn't help. We don't have a coffin or upright freezer.

"Melba's Jammin'" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
> In article <gqv6f4$8ms$[email protected]>,
> "D. Arlington" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Can someone suggest a way to thicken tomato sauce before canning it? I
>> can't see simmering it for hours and hours as it heats the house at a
>> time
>> of year we don't want heat. I run the partly cooked toms through a Roma
>> machine that removes the skins and seeds, then make the sauce for
>> canning.
>> It's too watery. Any suggestings to remove all the excess water?
>
>
> How much time and fridge space are you willing to expend, D. Arlington?
> Put the juice in the fridge for a day (two is better) and let the solids
> settle out some. Pour off the clear liquid (prized by hoity-toity chefs
> in NYC) then put up the remaining juice. Sauce?
>
> Can you get your hands on any tomato powder? That will thicken it up.
> And Bob suggested tomato paste. A can of Hunt's tomato sauce has this
> ingredient list: "Tomato puree (water, tomato paste), water, less than
> 2% of: salt, citric acid, spice, tomato fiber, natural flavor."
>
> If you can cook down the juice some, put it in a container with a wide
> opening for more surface evaporation.

We make as many as 2 dozen qts at a time, sometimes twice a week when the
tomaotes come in. I would have to buy another fridge to fit all those jars
for settling out. I'm a serious canner and do large batches at a time. I
was hoping there was some way to drain off all the excess liquid and can
them the same night. Tomatoe paste doesn't help unless I use so much it's
bitter and the cost is prohibitive when making as much sauce as we do.

> --
> -Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
> http://web.me.com/barbschaller - updated 3-30-2009
> "What you say about someone else says more
> about you than it does about the other person."

In article <gr12en$19c2$[email protected]>,
"D. Arlington" <[email protected]> wrote:

> "Melba's Jammin'" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]..
> > In article <gqv6f4$8ms$[email protected]>,
> > "D. Arlington" <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >> Can someone suggest a way to thicken tomato sauce before canning it? I
> >> can't see simmering it for hours and hours as it heats the house at a
> >> time
> >> of year we don't want heat. I run the partly cooked toms through a Roma
> >> machine that removes the skins and seeds, then make the sauce for
> >> canning.
> >> It's too watery. Any suggestings to remove all the excess water?
> >
> >
> > How much time and fridge space are you willing to expend, D. Arlington?
> > Put the juice in the fridge for a day (two is better) and let the solids
> > settle out some. Pour off the clear liquid (prized by hoity-toity chefs
> > in NYC) then put up the remaining juice. Sauce?
> >
> > Can you get your hands on any tomato powder? That will thicken it up.
> > And Bob suggested tomato paste. A can of Hunt's tomato sauce has this
> > ingredient list: "Tomato puree (water, tomato paste), water, less than
> > 2% of: salt, citric acid, spice, tomato fiber, natural flavor."
> >
> > If you can cook down the juice some, put it in a container with a wide
> > opening for more surface evaporation.
>
> We make as many as 2 dozen qts at a time, sometimes twice a week when the
> tomaotes come in. I would have to buy another fridge to fit all those jars
> for settling out. I'm a serious canner and do large batches at a time. I
> was hoping there was some way to drain off all the excess liquid and can
> them the same night. Tomatoe paste doesn't help unless I use so much it's
> bitter and the cost is prohibitive when making as much sauce as we do.

OK, I understand the lack of space. I didn't have the juice in jars
when it was settling out, though. My thought was to have it in a large
container, pour off the clear liquid, then reduce the rest of it, jar
it, and process it. Apparently, that isn't feasible.

Best luck to you in figuring it out.

--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://web.me.com/barbschaller - updated 3-30-2009
"What you say about someone else says more
about you than it does about the other person."

"Melba's Jammin'" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
>
> OK, I understand the lack of space. I didn't have the juice in jars
> when it was settling out, though. My thought was to have it in a large
> container, pour off the clear liquid, then reduce the rest of it, jar
> it, and process it. Apparently, that isn't feasible.
>
> Best luck to you in figuring it out.
>

I have a huge pot I can probably let it settle in and somehow siphon the
fluid off. I wonder how the canning companies do it?!??!

D. Arlington wrote:
>
> "Melba's Jammin'" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]..
>> In article <gqv6f4$8ms$[email protected]>,
>> "D. Arlington" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> Can someone suggest a way to thicken tomato sauce before canning it? I
>>> can't see simmering it for hours and hours as it heats the house at a
>>> time
>>> of year we don't want heat. I run the partly cooked toms through a Roma
>>> machine that removes the skins and seeds, then make the sauce for
>>> canning.
>>> It's too watery. Any suggestings to remove all the excess water?
>>
>>
>> How much time and fridge space are you willing to expend, D. Arlington?
>> Put the juice in the fridge for a day (two is better) and let the solids
>> settle out some. Pour off the clear liquid (prized by hoity-toity chefs
>> in NYC) then put up the remaining juice. Sauce?
>>
>> Can you get your hands on any tomato powder? That will thicken it up.
>> And Bob suggested tomato paste. A can of Hunt's tomato sauce has this
>> ingredient list: "Tomato puree (water, tomato paste), water, less than
>> 2% of: salt, citric acid, spice, tomato fiber, natural flavor."
>>
>> If you can cook down the juice some, put it in a container with a wide
>> opening for more surface evaporation.
>
> We make as many as 2 dozen qts at a time, sometimes twice a week when
> the tomaotes come in. I would have to buy another fridge to fit all
> those jars for settling out. I'm a serious canner and do large batches
> at a time. I was hoping there was some way to drain off all the excess
> liquid and can them the same night. Tomatoe paste doesn't help unless I
> use so much it's bitter and the cost is prohibitive when making as much
> sauce as we do.
>
>> --
>> -Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
>> http://web.me.com/barbschaller - updated 3-30-2009
>> "What you say about someone else says more
>> about you than it does about the other person."
>


What kind of tomatoes are you using? You might need to grow a canning
tomato. (San Marzano, Roma, "Sausage", any of the Campbell's or Heinz
varieties, etc.)

If you have a large wok and a gas stove, you can boil the sauce down
very quickly to thicken it a little -- huge surface area.

Just shake the cooled jars to remix and don't worry about it.

Some combination of all-of-the-above.

/Bob

D. Arlington wrote:

> We don't want to do that as would have to leave them overnight before
> canning. Also, the seeds would add a bitter taste.

Well, then. Use chopped up dried tomatoes. As they rehydrate, they'll
absorb much of the liquid.

B/

"zxcvbob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
>
> What kind of tomatoes are you using? You might need to grow a canning
> tomato. (San Marzano, Roma, "Sausage", any of the Campbell's or Heinz
> varieties, etc.)
>
> If you have a large wok and a gas stove, you can boil the sauce down very
> quickly to thicken it a little -- huge surface area.
>
> Just shake the cooled jars to remix and don't worry about it.
>
> Some combination of all-of-the-above.
>
> /Bob

I grow a variety of tomatoes here since disease is a serious problem with
the heat and humidity. And yes, they're rotated through several garden
areas. I love the Romas and other sauce tomatoes but they get early blight
that wipes them out just as they're coming into heavy production. I haven't
found a sauce tomato yet that doesn't get the blight. That leaves me with
the more disease resistant varieties, but they're very juicy. We have an
electric stove and no wok. I've never even seen a wok the size we would
need. We love a good thick sauce on our Pasta (and home made pizza) and
this is so thin it runs to the bottom and doesn't stick. Oh well..........
:0\

D. Arlington wrote:
>
> "zxcvbob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]..
>>
>> What kind of tomatoes are you using? You might need to grow a canning
>> tomato. (San Marzano, Roma, "Sausage", any of the Campbell's or Heinz
>> varieties, etc.)
>>
>> If you have a large wok and a gas stove, you can boil the sauce down
>> very quickly to thicken it a little -- huge surface area.
>>
>> Just shake the cooled jars to remix and don't worry about it.
>>
>> Some combination of all-of-the-above.
>>
>> /Bob
>
> I grow a variety of tomatoes here since disease is a serious problem
> with the heat and humidity. And yes, they're rotated through several
> garden areas. I love the Romas and other sauce tomatoes but they get
> early blight that wipes them out just as they're coming into heavy
> production. I haven't found a sauce tomato yet that doesn't get the
> blight. That leaves me with the more disease resistant varieties, but
> they're very juicy. We have an electric stove and no wok. I've never
> even seen a wok the size we would need. We love a good thick sauce on
> our Pasta (and home made pizza) and this is so thin it runs to the
> bottom and doesn't stick. Oh well.......... :0\


I have trouble with Late Blight here. Going to try a resistant variety
this year and see if it helps.

You're probably gonna have to slice and dehydrate some of your tomatoes,
pulverize them, and add them back in to the sauce like Wayne suggested.
Don't worry about the seeds and skins in the dried tomatoes, they will
just add more pectin to help thicken the sauce. (run most of the
tomatoes thru that juicer/strainer to remove *their* seeds and skins)

I pretty much just freeze a few quarts of tomatoes every year, eat a
bunch fresh, and make all the rest into salsa. I can make better salsa
than I can buy. I can buy better canned tomatoes (and cheap!) than I
can make.

If you don't care if the sauce is green instead of red, you might try
tomatillos. The vines are not as sturdy as tomatoes but they seem way
more disease resistant. [I've never made any kind of sauce with
tomatillos except for cooked salsa, so this might be a stupid idea]

Bob

On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 19:44:26 -0500, "D. Arlington" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>
>"The Cook" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]. .
>> On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 02:52:00 -0500, "D. Arlington" <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>Can someone suggest a way to thicken tomato sauce before canning it? I
>>>can't see simmering it for hours and hours as it heats the house at a time
>>>of year we don't want heat. I run the partly cooked toms through a Roma
>>>machine that removes the skins and seeds, then make the sauce for canning.
>>>It's too watery. Any suggestings to remove all the excess water?
>>
>>
>> I strain mine after I remove skins and seeds. Gets rid of quite a bit
>> of liquid without cooking it to death.
>
>You strain what comes out of your skin/seed remover?
>
Yes. I discovered that it shortened the cooking time substantially. I
pour the juice into the composter or water plants.

I use thin kitchen towels or a piece of nylon.
--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)

The Cook wrote:
> On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 19:44:26 -0500, "D. Arlington" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>> "The Cook" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]..
>>> On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 02:52:00 -0500, "D. Arlington" <[email protected]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Can someone suggest a way to thicken tomato sauce before canning it? I
>>>> can't see simmering it for hours and hours as it heats the house at a time
>>>> of year we don't want heat. I run the partly cooked toms through a Roma
>>>> machine that removes the skins and seeds, then make the sauce for canning.
>>>> It's too watery. Any suggestings to remove all the excess water?
>>>
>>> I strain mine after I remove skins and seeds. Gets rid of quite a bit
>>> of liquid without cooking it to death.
>> You strain what comes out of your skin/seed remover?
>>
> Yes. I discovered that it shortened the cooking time substantially. I
> pour the juice into the composter or water plants.
>
> I use thin kitchen towels or a piece of nylon.


Whenever I have "tomato water" drained from frozen tomatoes, I use to
reconstitute beef bouillon and drink it as a soup.

Bob