tomatoes

Homemade Roasted Marinara Sauce for Canning – Recipe and Tips

Last year I canned the most wonderful marinara sauce. This year I knew I had to recreate it and double the amount. That is tricky because tomatoes can vary from year to year and the types that are available in my area also vary. The optimum variety for marinara in my opinion would be Roma or San Marzano. They have very little water and seeds which makes them perfect for sauce.

The tomatoes I had on hand this year were run of the mill “canning” tomatoes. But a little extra time cooking down the sauce will make these work. Last year I had Roma tomatoes and canned them directly from the blender without cooking them down. That is the joy of a good Roma.

I love roasting the ingredients because the char on the tomatoes and the jammy sweetness adds a wonderful layer of flavor in the sauce.

Dried herbs work best if you decide to use any at all. Keep in mind herbs can magnify when canned so be light handed with them if you decide to add them.

I do not peel or seed my tomatoes. Life is short and a good blender will take care of these. If I were canning just tomatoes and not sauce, I would peel the tomatoes.

Tomatoes in general are a good starting point for beginner canners because a simple water bath is all that is required- no pressure cooker needed.

I am a big lover of Ball jars and lids. Canning is a lot of work and you don’t want to waste your time, effort and vegetables on thin jars and cheap lids. Most local hardware stores carry canning supplies you will need and I encourage you to visit your local hardware store. As with everything, the cost of supplies is increasing, so if you find a good deal, snatch it up. I have found great deals on ball jars on FaceBook marketplace and just friends and family that want to get rid of some jars. I DO NOT reuse my lids. Once I “pop a top” I throw the lid away. I have purchased plastic lids that fit canning jars to use for storage, etc and I love them. If you are trying to decide between using regular jars or wide mouth, this is important to know- canners hold less wide mouth jars at a time. Wide mouth jars are a little more expensive and cannot always be found. I have a few that I choose to use for storage and quick pickles. Otherwise, I use the standard Ball canning jar.

I do follow Ball canning recommendations 99 percent of the time. Ball is the gold standard for canning and they have some great books with step by step instructions. If you are just getting started, I recommend purchasing one.

People that do not follow recommended guidelines are referred to as “rebel” canners. Here is my take on this. We all do what we have been taught to do by our mothers and grandmothers. It’s your kitchen. You make the rules of your kitchen. My grandmother was a rule follower and I chose to follow in her footsteps. I see so many arguments and confrontations over rebel canning methods. To each their own. Again, life is short, stay in your lane (kitchen).

Because I am adding other ingredients into my marinara (onions, green peppers) I am potentially lowering the acidity of the contents of the jar. Lower acidity contents require pressure canning. Coincidentally, I always add red wine vinegar to any tomatoes I cook or can. In my opinion it enhances the flavor of tomatoes immensely. I add 2tsps red wine vinegar to each jar, raising the acidity level back to appropriate water bath standards. If you are worried about this issue the solution is easy- you can just pressure can your marinara. Your kitchen and you make the rules.

I like to keep my sauce simple. It is easy after you open a jar to boost the flavor profile by adding additional herbs to align with the dish you are making.

Jars of marina make great gifts. A jar of sauce, a bag of nice pasta and a cute dish towel is a great hostess gift.

Canning Roasted Marinara Sauce

Vine ripened tomato flavor sealed into a jar-a simple blank slate.

Ingredients

1/2 box tomatoes- quartered
3 onions- quartered
2 green peppers- seeded and quartered
12 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/21 tsp dried oregano
2 tsps red pepper flakes

Directions

Roast at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until jammy. Place contents into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a large stock pot and add 3 tsp salt and 1/8 cup sugar (optional). Cook down if needed and pour into sterilized quart jars. Add 2 tsps red wine vinegar to each quart jar. Water bath for 45 minutes.

If making a larger batch, you can cook it down in an electric turkey roaster.

Make this recipe your own. Add carrots for a sweeter, milder sauce. Omit all the extras and herbs and can just tomato sauce.

How I Ended Up With 98 Tomato Plants

First, you need to know my background. Growing up my family had a garden. My Papaw Young lived in the country and had a large garden with his best friend, Glen Tinsley. The garden was large enough to feed all their families, friends and neighbors. Most weekends were spent with my Memaw and Papaw Young. I was their first grandchild and could do no wrong. They snagged me whenever they could which meant I was raised in the garden. It was all I knew. One of my first memories in the garden was sitting in the middle of their strawberry patch eating warm, sweet strawberries right from the vine- that was probably 1974. I even remember falling asleep in the garden once or twice and Memaw swooping me up under her arm and carrying me to the front porch. If we weren’t in the garden, we were in the kitchen canning or on the porch hulling peas or breaking beans.

Memaw got sick in 1989 and the garden slowly came to a halt. And life happened. I got a full time job and the garden life became a thing of the past. I still grew a few tomatoes over the years- that’s what southern women are suppose to do.

Today, I find myself with a little more time on my hands. In my 50s, I find myself reflecting on the things that bring me joy and vowing to do more of them. Sometimes the hardest part of doing what you love is determining what you love. I find the things I love to do are things that brought me happiness and wonderful memories as a child. My Memaw taught me how to cook and she loved feeding everyone. I love to cook and I love to have people over and cook for them. So it was only natural I would eventually find my way back to the garden.

When I had breast cancer in 2019, I found it important to take a long look at my food and what I was putting in my body. This led me to farmers’ markets and growing my own herbs and making a few tinctures. It wasn’t until 2023 that I went full out with 2 small raised garden beds in the middle of my small city yard. I began canning tomatoes which sparked a canning run of tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, roasted marina sauce, green beans, zesty bread and butter pickles, dill pickles, pinto beans, northern beans, corn, salsa… you get the picture. My canning run had a very positive impact on my weekly grocery bill. Full disclosure, I did not grow all the things I canned in my small raised beds, but they were all from local farmers. And I can’t even describe to you the joy I feel every time I pop a top of a jar of crushed tomatoes and smell the absolute vine ripened goodness before me. I also began preserving my bounty of herbs which I can’t believe it took me this long to do. When I tell you my dried oregano, thyme and frozen basil tastes like fresh, I really, really mean it. Not anything like the dried stuff you buy at the supermarket.

So this year I wanted to expand my beds. I am still on the raised bed learning curve. The beds I had last year were two 3X5 beds. Lesson #1: even number widths are better. 2 feet is a good width for 1 row, 4 feet is good for 2 rows. Not a solid rule, as you can plant things amongst your rows as you see fit, but for me I have decided to merge my two beds together to make it 6X5, still probably not the perfect size, but merging them was better than redoing the entire thing and it gives me more planting space.

My seedlings did not do well last year. I have a porch on the south side of my home so I do not have good indoor natural light. So this year I bought some fairly inexpensive grow lights from Amazon. I zip tied them to a wire rack and essentially made a growing rack. When I tell you the grow lights have been a game changer…my goodness. So this is where my joy overshadowed my logical thinking. There were so many tomato choices. And I remember my Papaw growing different types, so of course, I wanted to try so many because I can’t really remember my favorites.

In trying to educate myself, I have learned there are determinate and indeterminate tomato plants. Determinates are more “bushy” and have a determined height they grow to. Indeterminates are more like a vine and can be trellised.

I have also learned there are different ways to “support” tomato plants. There are tomato cages, which are my least favorite, there are trellises, there is a string method…the list goes on and on and there are lots of videos online to demonstrate.

So, back to the seeds. The first pack I grabbed were Early Girls. Hence their name, they are the first to produce. I also grabbed a pack of Brandy Wine, Better Boys, and Celebration. My favorites last year were cherry tomatoes, so I grabbed three varieties of those, Large Cherry, Super Sweet Cherry and Sweeties.

I already had many containers on hand to start the seeds, but obviously not enough, so I ordered a few more. Still a lot of joy…still short on logic.

Because of my joy… I also planted my seeds around Valentine’s Day. Which is pretty early for seed starting. Which meant yesterday, February 25, I already had to up pot them (move them from the small seed starting tray to a larger pot). And this was when I paused to count them…98 happy, healthy and strong tomato plants. Disclaimer- I also have other seedlings, basil, oregano, chives, cayenne pepper, thyme, dill… you get the picture.

So logically, I need more raised beds? Of course, I do. Instead of making them, I ordered a couple of 4X8 beds with excellent reviews and a decent price for the size. Did I mention I have also determined my original beds may not have been deep enough, so I am building them up making the depth 2 feet? Bottom line- I am going to need a pile of dirt in my near future.

As for my husband, Jay, I think I amuse him. He just laughs and asks me what I need. Although he did put his foot down when he saw a mason jar filled with water and banana peels on the counter. He said, “I love you, but whatever that is, I am not eating it.” And I just smiled and told him it was fertilizer for the tomatoes. I have hinted that some rock around the raised beds would look really nice and Saturday he asked me when we were going to get the rock. When I tell you he is my biggest cheerleader, I am understating that fact.

I have learned many things in my 54 years. I am learning to do more of what I love and I have also added digging in the dirt to my list. And if you see me at the farmer’s market this year in my overalls, selling tomato plants for $1, just smile and waive. I am still learning and full of joy.

Christy Young Goza

One response to “How I Ended Up With 98 Tomato Plants”

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March 4, 2024

nice article…. gave your blog a like !

Stay Blessed – Mel
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Canning Tomatoes

I grew up with a huge garden at my Memaw’s house, probably close to a full acre garden. Summer weekends were spent harvesting vegetables and preserving for year round use. We sat on the front porch breaking beans, topping strawberries, hulling peas and cutting okra. We couldn’t all fit in the kitchen, and with the canner going on the stove, it was hotter inside than out. Papaw Young wouldn’t let you turn the air conditioner on until the sun went down. That was a rule. So the front porch was where we all wanted to be.

I can remember many things about those days- except the actually canning. Memaw was always afraid the canner would blow up on me, so when the canning started, I was exiled back out to the porch. So I have always been terrified of a pressure cooker, until recently. The good news is you don’t need a pressure canner for tomatoes!

I have vowed to learn or remember all the ins and outs of preserving. It is amazing the memories that have come back to me over the last few weekends in the kitchen. Before we get into the actual canning of tomatoes, I need to share an old wives tale, which my entire family 100% believes- if a female is having her monthly period and is in the kitchen during the canning process, the tomatoes will not seal properly. I learned this the hard way when I was 15 years old, when my Memaw asked everyone in the kitchen if anyone was on their period, just to double check. I didn’t say anything…mom glared at me… and I said “me”, and I was banished from the house. I can promise you every tomato canning season from there on out, I said I was having my period, whether I was or not.

For beginners, you need to know there is a canning bible, it is actually the Ball Blue Book of Preserving/Canning. There are many updated publishings of it over the years and it contains lots of valuable info. In an effort of full disclosure, please know I have read three versions recently, dug out all my Memaw’s canning recipes, had a crash course of canning with my friend, Michael Poore, and watched hundreds of TikTok videos. In the last three weeks I have canned 58 quarts of green beans, 24 quarts of tomatoes, 28 pints of spicy bread and butter pickles and 12 pints of dill pickles. I am not an expert. I do not know everything there is about canning. But I would love to share what I know.

There is only one rule you need to know- You can’t put cold things in hot jars and vice versa. You can’t put cold jars in hot water and vice versa. Cold goes with cold. Hot goes with hot. I know this sounds like 6th grade science, but I promise you, I tested this a few days ago…it didn’t go well.

You will need supplies. I have two large dishpans, a water bath quart canner (it is not my Memaw’s, but it looks exactly like the one she had- black enamel with white specks). I also purchased a canning kit from Amazon that had a canning funnel, magnetic lid pick up stick, and several other things that have been extremely useful. And of course there are lots of canning books on the market. You will also need jars. When you purchase jars, they come with a lid and a ring. The jars and rings are reusable. The lids are recommended for one time use. So go ahead and buy some extra lids when you find them. I prefer Ball, Kerr or Golden Harvest jars. I have ran across some other brands that are less expensive but they also seem thinner.

Now, to the tomatoes. You want really ripe tomatoes. I picked up two boxes this weekend at the Delano Market. The slicing tomatoes (pretty tomatoes) were $20 a box. The canning tomatoes (not so pretty and not uniform in size) were $10 a box. You can yield around 12 quarts of tomatoes from a box. If the tomatoes are not really ripe, you can bring them home and set them on the counter for a few days to reach their peak.

The acid content in tomatoes is high, so you have your choice between several methods:

You can put your semi cooled tomatoes in the jars, put the lid on and water bath for 20 minutes.
You can put your boiling tomatoes in jars right out of boiling water, put the lid on and done (Michael Poore’s method).
You can put your semi cooled tomatoes in the jars, put the lid on and water bath for 40 minutes (canning bible method).

Due to the high acid content, pressure canning is not needed.

There are many controversies around canning. I am going to tell you what I do. And you do what you want to do.

Controversy #1: Sterilizing vs. Sanitizing. Some people sterilize their jars (submerge and boil them for several minutes). Some people sanitize their jars (dishwasher on sanitize cycle). When I do tomatoes, I sterilize the jars, because I want them extremely hot when I put the tomatoes in the jar to accomplish method #2. So I take the jar right out of the hot water and fill them.

Controversy #2: With the many varieties of tomatoes today, and the many different acid levels, the canning bible recommends adding citric acid or lemon juice to each jar. I don’t know if I buy into that theory, however just in case, I add 1 tsp of red wine vinegar into each jar. Red wine vinegar is fabulous with tomatoes and it couldn’t hurt.

Here are the steps I take to can crushed tomatoes in quart jars:

Wash the tomatoes. I dumped a box into the sink and filled it with water. You can even put a splash of vinegar in the water if you want them squeaky clean. Drain the water in the sink and then place the stopper back into sink. Leave the tomatoes in the sink.
Cut an X on the bottom of each tomato.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Pour the boiling water over the tomatoes in the sink and let them set for 5-15 minutes until the skin begins to peel off of the tomato.
Peel the tomatoes, core the tomatoes and cut into quarters, wedges, chunks, however you would like them.
Place jars into the water bath canner and fill with water, bring to a boil (if you have had water, add a splash of vinegar).
Place tomatoes in a large pot and cook on medium heat for 15-20 minutes, skimming the “tomato foam” from the top and discarding. Stir often.
Place your lids in a small pot of water to boil.
You can begin to can the tomatoes at this point, or you can use an immersion blender to make crusted tomatoes, or tomato sauce.
Remove hot jar from the water bath canner. Insert the canning funnel into the hot jar, scoop the tomatoes into the jar, leaving approximately 1 inch of head space at the top of the jar.
Take a paper towel and place a splash of white distilled vinegar on the towel. Wipe the top of the jar clean.
Add 1 tsp canning salt or kosher salt. Just make sure your salt does not contain iodine.
Add 1 tsp red wine vinegar (optional).
Add your warm lid, add your ring and use your fingers to tighten, not your whole hand. This is referred to as “finger tight”.
Set the completed jar to the side and do not move or touch for 12-24 hours. You will hear them pop and seal.
You can press the top of each lid the next day to make sure they have sealed. If for some reason, you have a can that did not seal, store it in the fridge and use the contents in the next couple of days.
If you find the tomatoes and the juice separate in the jar, just tip the jar upside down and back up. This will mix the contents back up and it will usually stay mixed.

Store your canned tomatoes, in a cool, dark place. I have a finished basement, and I have some large shelves there that are perfect for storage.

I hope you enjoy canning as much as I have. I love knowing exactly what is in the food I am serving myself and my family.