On 11 May 2003 17:26:20 -0700, (JCM) wrote:

(Bob Elliott) wrote in message . com...
Hello gardening and canning experts,

I have a question regarding canning homemade spaghetti sauce.
Normally I do the following steps to make it.

1. Skin tomatoes
2. liquefy skinned tomatoes in blender
3. mix with other ingredients and boil down to thicken
4. process in canner

However, I have discovered that if I put the tomatoes in a large bowl
after step 2 (liquefy in blender) the mixture seperates. A clear,
yellowish liquid forms at the top, all the red meaty stuff sinks to
the bottom. If I spoon off the top liquid layer and dispose of it,
step 3 (boil down to thicken) takes a lot less time. Am I losing
any nutrients, taste, good stuff, etc by excluding the liquid from the
mixture ? Is it a good idea / bad idea ?
Any ideas ?

Boiling down is the most time consuming and risky (scorchwise) step.
If I can make that step easier I'm all for it but I don't want to risk
hurting the quality of the final product.


Thanks, Bob Elliott


I recommend getting rid of the seeds in about half of the tomatoes.
(Actually, I'd get rid of all the seeds -- they make the sauce
bitter.) Scoop them out and toss them -- don't blenderize then. You'll
find you have more mass to your sauce -- less liquid and less cooking
down.

You might want to consider an inexpensive tomato press that I bought
about two years ago when I have an overabundance (not this year; lousy
luck!). I learned about it on this NG, I think. .

It's a little Italian press, bright red, adorable. I parboiled the
tomatoes and put them through. Machine caught peels and seeds
and just pulp came out. Place in jars, process, bingo! No pain no
strain.

Source: Gardener's Supply Co. 133 Elm Street
Winooski VT 05404. Web site gardeners.com

I paid $19.99 + S&H on sale. Just checked, and unfortunately they no
longer seem to have it listed.

However, Googling "tomato press" came up with quite few URLs,
including http://www.thegadgetsource.com/8001895000665.html
$29.99 plus s&h.

Well worth it, IMHO.

Good luck!


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Polar