Preserving tomatoes has never been so easy!

Boiling down tomatoes is mega easy! With these instructions, you can make your homemade tomato sauce in no time.

Tomatoes every day. Do you feel the same way? If you're like me and you've overdone it again with the tomato plants, then you should preserve tomatoes.

So you don't have to eat cocktail tomatoes, ox heart tomatoes and the like every day. Big plus: You always have a delicious tomato sauce on hand in winter. It goes well with pasta, rice, pizza, casseroles, lasagna and much more. You'll love the taste!

There are a few tips and tricks that you should keep in mind when preserving tomato sauce. What they are exactly and what you need to pay attention to when preserving tomato sauce, I want to show you today.

Why you should preserve tomatoes

In the high season you can buy tomatoes quite cheap. Sometimes less than 1 euro per kg. This is worth it alone because you can save a lot of money.

You don't need more than tomatoes, herbs and jars. You don't even have to buy jars. You can just use old jam and honey jars.

You're also doing the environment a favor. You're eliminating the waste that would be created if you bought ready-made tomato sauce.

Once you've tried it with tomato preserving, you won't even like store-bought sugo. I promise you that :)

When you do your own preserving, you know exactly what ends up in the jar. For example, almost all store-bought tomato sauces contain a lot of sugar. I just leave it out. Preserving tomatoes without sugar is on the agenda! Also preservatives or flavor enhancers you will look in vain in a DIY tomato sauce.

When boiling down tomatoes, you are in control of what the sauce should taste like. If you like, you can add herbs to the sauce to give it even more flavor.

Mmhh delicious - Homemade tomato soup with rice!

What ingredients do I need for the tomato sauce?

The basis for preserving tomatoes is, of course, a homemade tomato sauce. There are countless recipes here. I'll tell you which ingredients go into my sugo. You can of course add other ingredients.

Tomatoes

You can boil down any kind of tomato. However, in my experience, beef tomatoes have turned out to be particularly tasty. They have a lot of flesh and not so much water. Most beef tomatoes are also naturally somewhat sweeter in taste.

My absolute favorite are ox heart tomatoes. They grow particularly large - my largest specimen in the garden managed a proud 647 grams - are wonderfully creamy and contain few seeds.

If you like it fancy, you can also boil down yellow tomatoes. They contain just as little acid.

Basically, there are tomatoes with thin and thick skin. For sauces, I go for thin-skinned varieties because then the skin is easy to strain and does not have to be removed.

But I am not so precise. All tomato varieties that are just ripe come together in the jar. No matter whether yellow, red, small, large, striped or bicolored.

Those who do not have their own garden, wait until August. From August to September, you can find tomatoes from local farmers at the regional market. The riper and fresher the fruits are harvested, the better they taste.

Onion and garlic

I try to keep the sauce very pure. Then it can be used for many purposes. You have to sauté the onion and garlic properly and then let them cook in the sauce. Otherwise, the sauce will not cook down.

But do not overdo it with garlic. After all, it should not overtaste the tomatoes. When boiling down, even a few cloves of garlic are very intense. So rather use a little less than too much.

Herbs

Fresh herbs really bring out the flavor of the tomatoes. What makes very good in the sauce is

• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Oregano
• Sage
• Basil

Be careful with rosemary and sage: they have a strong taste of their own. Do not use too much of them!

The DIY tomato sauce goes perfectly in this lentil bolognese!

Tip: Preserving bible

As you can see, there's a lot to keep in mind. Especially as a novice canner, it's easy to get confused. If you love canning vegetables, fruits and more, I recommend the book the preserving bible at Amazon* to view. You'll find 325 recipes and tricks for preserving, pickling and fermenting.

I have myself the preserving bible at Amazon* and have been using them since last year. I've already made lots of recipes with it, such as pickled gherkins, tomato sauce and baked apple spread.

Do I need to peel tomatoes?

Admittedly: It is a matter of taste and gives very hardened fronts. Some are sure that the sugo will never be good without peeling. The others simply do without it.

I clearly belong to the second group. Because in terms of taste, it makes no difference. The big advantage is that you can save a lot of time if you cook tomatoes with skin.

Who has a powerful food processor* or a good Blender* at hand, you don't need to worry. And if you don't have a powerful appliance, you should simply get one. It's a one-off purchase that really saves a lot of work and will bring a lot of joy if you love cooking.

So: Put the tomatoes in the powerful food processor*, puree and you won't even notice the peel. Preserving tomatoes can be so easy :)

The tomato sauce is the perfect side dish for this low carb gnocchi!

All you need then are firm sealable preserving jars* and you're ready to go!

With the jars it is mega important that you check in advance whether they can be closed tightly. It has already happened to me that the sauce was filled and the lids were then no longer tight. This often happens when you use the jars for several years.

It is worth regularly investing in new fixed sealable preserving jars* to invest.

What do I need to consider when canning tomatoes?

Many confuse boiling down and pouring sauce hot into the jars. This is not the same! When boiling down, the sauce is cooked again in the jars. But we'll get to that in a minute. Let's quickly review a few basics.

Reduce the sauce

Is your tomato sauce very liquid? Then you should reduce it. First cut the tomatoes into pieces and bring them to a boil. Turn down the heat and let the sauce simmer gently without a lid. The water will evaporate, but the flavor will remain.

My sauce simmers gently for about an hour before I puree the tomatoes.

Important: keep stirring, otherwise the sauce may burn.

If the water just won't reduce, you can add a little potato starch to the sauce. But be careful: please do not use flour, Cornstarch* or something similar - these ingredients cannot be boiled down and will make the sauce go bad!

Sterilize jars

Very important: If you boil down, you must work cleanly. Only then will the sauce keep and can be stored at room temperature. Don't forget the lids either! You can find detailed instructions here: "How to sterilize jars and bottles correctly!„.

Fill jars

Leave at least 3 centimeters free in the jar. As it boils down, the sauce will begin to simmer inside the jar. It needs enough space to expand. If you fill the jars too full, the contents will be forced through the lid. In the worst case, the jar will even burst!

Observe boiling time

Preserving tomatoes is not witchcraft. You just have to make sure that you choose the right cooking time. It depends on whether you add onion and garlic to the sauce or only herbs. I have created a small overview for you here, which you can use as a guide.

Ingredients	Canning time	Temperature
Pure tomatoes	30 min	100 degree
Tomato sauce with fresh herbs	30 minutes	100 degree
Tomato sauce with onion and garlic	90 minutes	100 degree

If you cook sauces with onion and garlic too short, the sauce will go bad. Onions and garlic can start to ferment.

Turn glasses upside down

This is still practiced. However, it is absolutely pointless and only ensures that the shelf life of the food drops sharply. Therefore, do not put the jars upside down!

The sauce pulls vacuum when boiling down.

You ensure with the on the glasses upside down that

• the lid sticks together and mold and bacteria can penetrate the glass more easily
• softeners come out of the lid and end up in the boiled down product
• the lid comes off in the worst case and the sauce ends up all over the floor
• the formation of the negative pressure is prevented and the boiled down is not durable for a long time

In short, just let it be :)

Observe expiration date

Properly canned foods have an almost infinite shelf life. You can store the jars at room temperature. The only important thing is that they are protected from sunlight. I've had tomato sauce from the cellar that was over 10 years old.

As with all foods, smell and taste.

It may be that the sauce changes color a little. This is a perfectly normal process. Usually the sauce becomes a little lighter if you store it for a long time.

How to turn an egg carton into a DIY greenhouse for tomatoes!

Preserve tomatoes in 3 simple steps

First we need the sauce, then the jars are sterilized and then the tomato sauce is preserved in the oven.

By the way, the cooked tomatoes go wonderfully on pizza dough, with pasta, rice, lasagna, casseroles and stuffed peppers.

Step 1: The tomato sauce

If you like, you can add a little sugar to the sauce. Many are convinced that this brings out the tomato flavor even better. However, I do without it and prefer to use very sweet tomato varieties instead.

Step 2: Make the jars sterile

While the sauce is simmering, you can prepare the jars. You will need 6 jars of 500 ml each. You may also get a little more or less tomato sauce. It depends on the water content of the tomatoes.

Make sure that the jars and lids are clean. I wash them with detergent and then sterilize them in the microwave.

• To do this, put a little water in the jars and put them in the microwave
• Heat the microwave at 600 watts until the water boils. If you can see the first bubbles, the jars must remain in the microwave for another 60 seconds.
• Take the jars out of the microwave with oven gloves (very important - the jars are mega hot!), pour off the water and let them cool.

Bring the lids to a boil in a pot full of water and then dry them well.

Now fill and then the project tomato boiling down is completed.

Pour the hot sauce into the jars and seal them as tightly as you can.

You now have 24 hours to boil down the sauce.

Step 3: Boil down tomatoes in the saucepan

The safest way to preserve tomato sauce is the classic large cooking pot with a lid.

1. Place a kitchen towel in the cooking pot to protect the jars
2. Place the jars in the pot with the lid facing upwards
3. Fill the pot with water that has the same temperature as the contents of the jars. The jars must be covered 3/4 with water
4. Put the lid on the pot and bring the water to a boil
5. When the water boils, the boiling time begins. Turn down the temperature - but the water must boil continuously
6. Boil the tomato sauce for 90 minutes
7. Pour in hot water as needed - the rest of the time, keep the lid on the pot!

After the canning time, take the jars out of the pot and let them cool. They should now draw a vacuum within 24 hours and will keep forever.

or in the oven

To be sure that the jars 100 %ig sterile and the sauce will last a very long time, you need to turn on the oven.

So now you have the sealed jars of tomato paste in front of you.

1. Fill a deep baking tray halfway with water. Place it on the lowest rack of the oven and turn the oven on to 120° Celsius.
2. Place the jars on the baking sheet and leave them in the oven for 90 minutes.
3. Turn off the oven and let the jars cool in it.

When the jars are cold, a vacuum should have formed. Press lightly on the lid with your fingers - if it lowers in the middle and then comes right back up, then it has worked.

Your jars can now go on the pantry shelf.

The project to boil down tomatoes is complete. That's not so bad, is it? It's best to keep a sample for yourself right away.

What is the shelf life of DIY tomato sauce?

It all depends on where you store them. The best place is a cool and dark cellar. But the sauce also stays fresh for a long time in the pantry. Provided that no daylight gets to the jars and you have worked cleanly.

If you are unsure, always trust your senses. First, look at the sauce - does it look normal? Smell it to determine if it smells sour or spoiled. And finally, do a taste test. If it passes these tests, then you can eat it.

By the way, hot filled sauce with closed jar is not boiled down! Although it is also durable for a time. How long, I do not know. Because here it depends enormously on the storage conditions - only a very cold cellar can ensure shelf life. With preserving you play it safe!

Our conclusion

Boil down tomatoes is not difficult. The basis is a delicious tomato sauce, which is then filled into jars and heated in the pot or oven. Once you get the hang of it, it's a breeze.

Good luck and enjoy it!

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