Old Fashioned Tomato Sauce

Tomato season is almost at an end.  If you’ve still got plenty coming off your vines and have had enough relish and pasta sauce, try making this delicious home made tomato sauce. 

After testing three old recipes Wendyl came up with a lovely one that’s made with plenty of tomatoes and no apples. I think it tastes best with just tomatoes.

One of the hardest things about making the sauce can be finding bottles to put it in and removing old labels. A tip – soak, then scrub and if the glue refuses to budge rub a bit of eucalyptus oil on to dissolve it.

I’ve been making loads of this in recent weeks making the most of my tomatoes. This sauce will prove very popular with your family and is much better for them than some of the supermarket offerings.

Old Fashioned Tomato Sauce

2 large onions

6 cloves garlic

3 kg tomatoes

6 whole cloves

6 whole allspice

5 cm piece root ginger (unpeeled)

½ tsp smoked paprika (hot)

1 cup raw sugar

4 cups malt vinegar

2 tbsp salt

Wash and roughly chop the tomatoes putting into a large saucepan. Peel and roughly chop the onion and garlic. In a piece of muslin or cloth ( I used a piece of an old sheet or a cloth hanky works well) put the cloves, allspice and piece of ginger then tie at the top and throw in with the tomato mix.

Cook over a medium heat until all the vegetables are soft and well cooked – about 30 minutes. Discard the bag with the spices and put the sauce in a blender until you have a smooth mixture. (You could also use a sieve or a food-mill).

Put the mixture back into the pot and add the sugar, smoked paprika, vinegar and salt. Bring to the boil and keep it bubbling for an hour until it thickens. Stir occasionally.

Meanwhile, clean your bottles and put into a 100 degree C oven to sterilise. Take the caps and put in a small pot of boiling water and simmer for 10 minutes.

Take the hot bottles out of the oven and pour the sauce in while it is still hot. Make sure you haven’t spilled any around the top and screw on the caps.

*In the old days they would put corks in the tops of the bottles then dip the top into melted paraffin wax to give it an airtight seal.