Canning spaghetti sauce (meatless)

Last night I was cooking up a batch of organic, homemade spaghetti sauce and I thought.. I should can this!  It is so yummy!  So I started looking around for others recipes.  I was surprised by how many opinions there are about canning spaghetti sauce.  I can't wait to try these. re-blogged from The farm girl 

I have tried several different spaghetti sauce recipes and always come back to this.  We love it and it looks so pretty in the jars.

16 lbs. tomatoes (about 32 cups)

4 c. onions, chopped finely

1/4 c. garlic, minced

1 c. olive oil

1/4 c. basil

1/4 c. oregano

1 T. sugar

2 T. salt

2 t. pepper

2--12 oz. cans tomato paste

1.  Chop, blend, puree your tomatoes and place in a very thick bottomed pot.  Saute onions, garlic and oil together until onions are translucent.  Add to tomatoes along with basil, oregano, sugar, salt, pepper and paste.  Simmer for 2-3 hours, or until it reaches your desired thickness.

2.  Process in steam bath canner 20 minutes for quarts and 15 minutes for pints.  Follow your canners directions and remember because the spaghetti sauce is very hot you do not need use cold water in your canner.  Start with hot water and place on medium high heat and start timing from the time steam starts coming out.

I did read in a few different places to add citric acid.  Here is why:

Tomatoes were once considered an acid food that could be safely canned in a boiling-water canner. However, because of the potential for botulism when some newer, less acidic tomato varieties are canned, certain precautions must now be taken. Add 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice to pints and 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice to quarts of tomatoes. Or add one-fourth teaspoon crystalline citric acid to pints and one-half teaspoon crystalline citric acid to quarts of tomatoes. Acid can be added directly to jars before filling. Four tablespoons of 5 percent acidity vinegar per quart may be used instead of lemon juice or citric acid, however, it may cause undesirable flavor changes. Add sugar to offset acid taste if desired.

Note: Don't use fresh lemon juice as its acidity varies. Tomato canning tablets should not be used as they are ineffective. 

Pear Ginger Butter

Ingredients 4 to 5 lbs of chopped pears.  Core them, but do not peel them.  Just removed any damaged parts 1 star anise 2 tbsp chopped fresh ginger 2 cups water 1 cup lemon juice (6 small lemons will = 1 cup of juice) 3 or 4 cups a sugar ½ teaspoon ground cardamom ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Equipment needed A wide 8 quart, thick bottom pan or Dutch oven food processor water bath canner 6-8 8oz ounce canning jars, lids, and rings (you can get these pretty cheap at a hardware store)

Put chopped up pears, star anise, and ginger into a large pot.  Add 2 cups of water and 1 cup of lemon juice.

Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until the pears are soft.  About 25-45 minutes.  Remove from heat

Scoop out the Star Anise.  Ladle the pear mixture (liquid included) into a food processor.  Puree!

Scoop the puree back into the thick bottom pan.  For every cup of pear puree, add ½ cup of sugar.  Add the cardamom, nutmeg, and lemon zest.  Taste and season if needed.

Cook on Medium heat, siring often to prevent puree from sticking to the bottom if the pan and burning, Cook until the mixture is thick.  Place a spoonful on a chilled plate.  If liquid does not run out from the purée it is READY!  This could take any where form 45 minutes to 2 hours.  The longer the better.  The pears will continue to break down and get smoother, and smoother.

While the mixture is cooking, sterilize your jars for canning.  To sterilize the jars, either 1 run them through the dish washer, 2 rinse them and place them in a 225F oven for 10 minutes, or 3 place them on top of a steaming rack in a large pot of water which you bring to a boil for 10 minutes.

When the Pear butter is ready, pour into hot, sterilized jars and allow for ¼ inch head space.  (Head space is the distance between the jam and the rim of the jar.)  Wipe the rims off and place the lids (these should be under hot running water in a bowl) on the jars.  If you do not wipe off the rims, the jar will not seal.

Screw on the ring and place in the canner water bath.  Repeat until canner is full!  Use a hot water bath for 10 minutes to ensure a good seal.

[caption id="attachment_253" align="aligncenter" width="490" caption="My very sweet husband helps me with this part!"][/caption]

After 10 minutes remove, tighten again, and place under a towel.  DO NOT let the hot jars touch, and don’t peek until the morning.