Homemade Tomato Sauce

[Mayhaw Man]

Here in South Louisiana we can usually safely start planting tomatoes around the end of February. I did, and the weather did no damage freeze wise (we didn't even have a hard freeze this year). The results of this good luck is that I now have 24 tomato plants (primarily big boy, best boy, hawaiian, and creole) that are loaded with tomatoes. A real bumper crop of the things.

Outside of the tremendous amounts of rain that we have gotten this week (15 inches and currently raining) it looks like I will be pulling red, ripe tomatoes by the end of the week. These will immediatly become table fare and gifts for friends, but many of them will have to be preserved. I usually put up lots of tomato sauce and a few jars of red tomato relish ( I make green tom relish as well, but I usually order those at the farmers market by the case). I will cook some of it down into pizza sauce which is so much better than anything from canned tomatoes and usually I can get enough to last through the year.

What I am looking for is a few good recipes for tomato sauce. I generally end up making most of it italian style (basil and oregano in the jar and the cooking process), and a little of it on the spicy side (seeded and split tabasco peppers in the jar).

Do any of you gardener/chefs have any great ideas that I can use?

This is my only gardening success story so far this year (aside from a great looking bunch of giant sunflowers that my kids planted around the edges of the vegetable garden). My okra was eaten by killer rabbits and my bell peppers, were they children, would be put in "special classes". There are no bee keepers in my neck of the woods (nearest ones are 4 miles away) so my cucumbers look (as always) stunted and weird. I plant them anyway because I like to run the vines up the trellises as it makes the garden more pleasant to look at. THe hot peppers (in pots) look pretty good though. They should make all summer if I remember to keep them watered. The garlic is looking pretty good I guess, if you can judge from the thick green tops.

On the other hand, the flowering side of my big, old yard has been a wonder to behold this year. My hundred years old 7 Sisters Rose bloomed better than it ever has and I have all sorts of lillies blooming right now. The irises were gorgeous, especially the little oriental ones that I showed in my blog. They are still blooming for some reason-they should have stopped by now.

[Mabelline]

PICTURES, MAN, PICTURES!!!! please

[binkyboots]

mmm... I can smell tomatoes reading this, you know, wet earth & warm tomato(the best smell after cinnamon buns!)

are they hard to grow, I keep reading books that describe growing your own and feel enthused and ready to try, head for my garden centre and get confused and scared by the variety and run away, lol.

recipe wise I like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's tomato sauce/chutney recipes in his river cottage cookbook.

[Suzanne F]

How about some Tomato Chutney?

[foodie52]

OK: I know this is kind of different and not really answering your post, but what about sun drying some? Couldn't you get some screening and lay a bunch out to dry?

Also, ( and this is realllyyyy a stretch! ) Boggy Creek Farm

here does smoke dried that are killer.

[Mayhaw Man]

you know, wet earth

I live in a swamp. The soil right now could best be described as humus based mud.

We have had an unusual amount of rain, even for here-one of the wetter places in North America. Coupled with the fact that we are pretty much just above sea level (the water table on my property is somewhere around four feet, in terms of mud running into holes that you are trying to dig).

I don't really have any good, broad pictures of my place-but these shots of The Louisiana Nature Conservancy's Abita Creek Flatlands Preserve are a pretty good substitute. Throw in flower beds, old pecan trees, mosquitos, and an old BMW (hey, I live in the rural Southern US-semi functional vehicles are a charming part of our landscape plans here ) and you will probably get the idea. This place is about two miles from my house. Well worth part of a visit to the Northshore is you are getting out of New Orleans for a visit to the rural part of the area for a day or two.

This link is to the UCM Museum, the quirky but fascinating pastime of my quirky but fascinating friend John Preble. The place is, to put it mildly, oddly enthralling.

[foodie52]

That link is fascinating.

Last week we visited the Fountainbleau State Park just north of the Lake That Is Impossible To Spell Correctly ! It has a boardwalk as well, out into marshland. That's all you see all around you. It was wonderful.

[Mayhaw Man]

That link is fascinating.

Last week we visited the Fountainbleau State Park just north of the Lake That Is Impossible To Spell Correctly ! It has a boardwalk as well, out into marshland. That's all you see all around you. It was wonderful.

Ponchatrain

Not nearly as difficult as Tchopitoulas.

Just be glad you don't live in Mississippi. I have always thought that maybe one of the reasons that their illiteracy rate is so high has something to do with kids giving up on the first day-when their teachers tell them to spell the names of the counties. Some of them would be pretty tough.

[Singapore]

Have you checked out Alton Brown's recipe for pantry friendly tomato sauce? It calls for canned, but I'm sure you could substitute those nice, ripe, homegrown tomatoes in their place. Yum!

Alton Brown's Pantry Friendly Tomato Sauce Recipe

[Suzanne F]

If you can't sun-dry them (as I suspect right now you can't ), you can always do it in the oven. Cut in half, empty of seeds and stuff, place on parchment-covered baking sheets in the lowest temperature oven you can manage. Leave for as long as it takes to get them as dry as you want, turning them over from time to time. Store in freezer or fridge.

[jackal10]

or half dry and store in oil

or make tomato paste fom the half-dried tomatoes

[slbunge]

I always can tomatoes and then make sauce through the winter rather than canning the sauce. One of the reasons that I do that is because my Grandmother did the same, and my mother does also. Another reason is that on a cold day there is nothing better than getting the house to smell like a batch of red sauce.

The sauce I make is really a base sauce that may be used in all sorts of ways. Sweat an onion and a few (or a fistful) of smashed garlic cloves until soft. Add salt, dried thyme, dried red pepper (either a whole pepper split or flakes) and about a pint of canned tomatoes. Cook over reasonably high heat to promote evaporation. While that is cooking, strain 1 1/2 qt of canned tomatoes (recipe needs 2 qt tomato total, including what is in the skillet) through a food mill. Add 6 oz of tomato paste and bring up to gentle simmer. When most of the liquid in the skillet has evaorated and onions are very soft, strain through a food mill into the simmering tomatoes in the pot. Cook at slow simmer until it reaches desired thickness (I usually go a couple of hours and gauge doneness by waiting until the sauce texture is like velvet and the liquid volume has reduced by 1/3).

Another storage technique when we are knee-deep in tomatoes in September is to slice them, dry them in a low oven overnight, and freeze them.

[balmagowry]

Oh, Brooks, you lucky devil. Yes, please do post pictures - though I'm not sure I can bear to look at them. My tomato seedlings are showing true leaves and are just about ready to be potted up, but it'll be a good three weeks before they even go into the ground. August-September is tomato time here, and it seems a long way away. The more so, as last year was a lousy tomato year in most respects (problems with both weather and verticillium wilt - ugh, the despair and the disgust).

The fortunate exception was plum tomatoes, of which I grew three varieties. I'm painfully reminded how far behind I am on posting pictures myself - my 2003 tomatoes played a small supporting role in the Pizza Night at JosephB's, and a few of the pictures in that spread (I haven't forgotten! I'm going to post 'em soon, I swear!) illustrate my own favorite tomato sauce trick.

This will only work with plum tomatoes, the eating kind being too watery to be worth cooking up (except for desperate end-of-season dregs). When I pick them, if I don't have any immediate sauce plans, I just put them straight into the freezer - do not pass GO, do not collect 200 dollars, do not do nothin' fancy - adding the day's pickings to the cumulative harvest of the season, which lives in a large ziploc bag (or two... or three...) labeled with the year.

'Vantage Number one! I call this the Convenience Food for the Ages - convenient not only to use but to put up. I know me. I don't have the patience for canning, season after season. I'd do a great job of it the first year, then get frustrated or bored and start skimping; still in love with the idea, but short of time for the process.

Then whenever I want to make tomato sauce, I haul out a mess of tomatoes from the freezer. 'Vantage number two: they are much easier to peel when frozen! Dip each tomato in cold water for a few seconds; when you take it out the skin will practically pop right off in your hand.

Once they're peeled - 'Vantage number three: they're still pretty frozen, so it's very easy to cut them evenly. I often like a slightly chunky sauce, and dicing a frozen tomato is child's play compared to a fresh or canned one.

Defrosted tomatoes will of course give off more liquid than fresh ones. But hell, liquid reduces.

My usual quickie light tomato sauce goes something like this: I dice up a small onion or two - sometimes shallots instead, sometimes also a few mushrooms if I happen to have any handy and to feel like using them, maybe also a little celery and/or green pepper, maybe not - cook in EVOO until soft. Sometimes at this stage I throw in some wine - usually white - simmer until considerably reduced. Throw in the tomatoes, bring to a boil, simmer, stirring often, until... well, until it looks and smells and feels and tastes like sauce. If the tomatoes have been cut into medium dice they will hold some of their shape and texture; if cut smaller or sliced they will pretty much disintegrate, making for a smoother sauce. Then it's dealer's choice - or Cream of Refrigerator - what else gets thrown in. I like to add capers and black olives, and whatever herb I happen to be in love with at the moment (also from the garden, often by way of the freezer). Lots of tellicherry pepper.

Heartier variation on this theme (The Boy always likes to have "something dead" in his food): before doing the onions/shallots/mushrooms/etc I'll quick-brown some chopped meat; remove it from the pan and use its fat, along with the OO, for softening the vegs. Then proceed as above (though if using meat I usually put in red wine instead of white), adding the meat back in after the tomatoes have kind of settled in.

YMMV, of course - the beauty of it is that you can do whatever you damn well please, on as large or as small a scale as you like. And the flavor... the FLAVOR! There's nothing like having a bit of the garden available year-round. This year we'll just be scrambling to finish off the 2003 harvest as the 2004 tomatoes start to ripen.

When I post the Pizza Night pictures (Yes! Soon! I promise!) you'll see how they come out and how they cook down.

EDIT for emphasis

Edited May 15, 2004 by balmagowry (log)

[Mayhaw Man]

We have two tomato seasons.

Plant in late Feb-early March and harvest in late May and June. I then gets too hot and while the vines will flower a little if coddled, the flowers just drop off in the heat, so no fruit.

Plant again in Mid August and Harvest in October up until sometimes as late as Thanksgiving.

It rarely freezes here. With any luck the bananas in my yard will actually make a bunch or two, although we will occasionally freeze on the Northside of the Lake (In New Orleans you will notice that bananas that are cared for and protected from the cool winter wind almost always make-there are lots of huge banana plants all around town).

Thanks for all of the tomato sauce tips.

Currently I am leaning towards a drying attempt, and a smoking project. It should be interesting. I will keep you up on progress.

[Suzanne F]

BANANAS?!?!?!?!?!?

[agnolottigirl]

This is a bit OT, as it's about bees rather than tomatoes. But re your lament about the bees in your initial post: have you considered orchard mason bees? They're great pollinators and it couldn't be simpler to give them a place in your garden.

You buy 'em in winter or early spring in paper tubes/straws. Store in the fridge until it gets warm enough. Then put the tubes outside in some kind of container on a sunny wall, together with about 3 times as many more tubes (you buy more, of course, or you can just drill holes in scrap wood) for the mama bees to lay eggs in. That's IT. . . they aren't honeybees, so there's no smoking/gathering/etc. involved, and they are completely non-aggressive. Kids are fascinated by them.

It's early yet, but so far it looks like we have much more fruiting on all our trees this year--pears, plums, apples, and cherries.

Feel free to PM for more info.

[Mabelline]

Ahhh, Mayhaw Man, you are a lucky soul indeed. Those pitcherplants were gorgeous!

How about a chutney? My gram made what she called a tomato jam, that we ate as a side dish, that I now know was a chutney. Yum.

I believe you have single-handedly saved Mississippi MILLIONS of bucks in school budgets, trying to figure out illiteracy problems there...as well as giving me three new words that no one will be sure whether I'm sneezin' or cussin': OKTIBBEHA---YALOBUSHA--NOXUBEE...Thanx!

[Mayhaw Man]

BANANAS?!?!?!?!?!?

Yeah you know, yellow skin-kinda curved-easy to peel-soft white flesh. They're quite good. I'm sure that you can get them where you live. Usually they are in a bin near the rest of the produce.

Actually, they grow pretty well in the parts of the Gulf South that don't freeze very often. New Orleans is, in fact, nothing if not the northern most city in the Carribean. We have alot more in common with the places South of us than we do even with the rest of the state of Louisiana. It's a strange and wonderful place.

In the extreme southern part of the state (the toe of the boot on the map) you could grow them 9 out of ten years as it virtually never gets below 32 for more than a few hours per winter (if that much). The ones that I have were picked up as plants out of the middle of the railroad tracks at the end of Napoleon Ave. They used to grow all over the railroad as up until we screwed it up we were the biggest banana port on Earth. Now it is all devided between Mobile, Biloxi, New Orleans, and Houston. We can get them to make on the Northshore sometimes, but not if we have had a freeze the previous winter.

This is a bit OT, as it's about bees rather than tomatoes. But re your lament about the bees in your initial post: have you considered orchard mason bees? They're great pollinators and it couldn't be simpler to give them a place in your garden.

You buy 'em in winter or early spring in paper tubes/straws. Store in the fridge until it gets warm enough. Then put the tubes outside in some kind of container on a sunny wall, together with about 3 times as many more tubes (you buy more, of course, or you can just drill holes in scrap wood) for the mama bees to lay eggs in. That's IT. . . they aren't honeybees, so there's no smoking/gathering/etc. involved, and they are completely non-aggressive. Kids are fascinated by them.

I have to admit - I had no idea that

a) these bees existed

b) that I could do this.

I know that it sounds kinda nuts, but this sounds like fun, if for nothing else as a cool experiment. It's not like there is a shortage of beekeepers around here (the guy at the alligator farm that I occasionally link has a big pile of hives, but he is a little far away "as the bees fly" for them to bother with a dozen or so cucumbers). I will p.m. you if you don't mind. I just discussed this with boy #2 and he is into it (he would be-at night his room contains a hamster, a yellow eared map, 2 bettas in two tanks, a 30 gallon fish tank full of fresh water tropicals, and the dog sleeps on the floor by his bed). He is good for a few bees I think

This might make for a fall crop of cukes.

[agnolottigirl]

Hiya, Mayhaw Man--

I just stuck more information on the orchard mason bees (including links) on the Gardening thread here:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...00entry604755

But if you have more questions, feel free to PM away. . . they're so cool!

[JSD]

Here in South Louisiana we can usually safely start planting tomatoes around the end of February. I did, and the weather did no damage freeze wise (we didn't even have a hard freeze this year). The results of this good luck is that I now have 24 tomato plants (primarily big boy, best boy, hawaiian, and creole) that are loaded with tomatoes. A real bumper crop of the things.

I'm envious. I just planted my tomatoes yesterday. They are about 4 inches tall. I wanted to plant them last Sunday, but fortunately I was too busy: it snowed on Monday!

As to sauce, I agree with Balmagory. When you have a deluge of tomatoes, just put them directly in the freezer, in a ziploc bag, and cook them later. As she says, the skins come off without any effort, and they're already in nice little portions.

I also cook them, stewing them a little, and then I run them through a food mill to remove the skins. I put these in ziploc bags also, in 4 cup quantities, and lay flat in the freezer. They can stack in the freezer, and when I pull them out, they defrost quickly, especially if you put the bag in a bowl of water. If you season later, you have more options open. I love pulling out one or two of these bags, and making fresh tomato soup in the middle of winter.

[sandra]

Another way to make a sauce:

halve tomatoes and pack them into a roasting tin, drizzle with lots of evoo and chopped or sliced garlic, some fresh herbs, rosemary, oregano, maybe some chiles, etc... salt and white pepper and a sprinkle of sugar - put this in a low oven for 2-3 hours or longer depending on how caramelized you want them - chop them or put through a food mill and put in jars.

[NulloModo]

I prefer to make tomato sauce very very chunky. I will start by sauteeing some onion (rather large dices) with a ton of garlic in some EVOO (or meat droppings if I am using meat), and then add more raw big chunks of onion, okra, mushrooms, bell pepper, celery, and whatever other vegetables I am feeling like at the moment after the tomatoes have been added and it is all simmering.

[mudbug]

foodie52,

I've heard about those smoke dried tomatoes and they're supposed to be incredible!

Mayhaw Man,

In addition to responses here, try posting your question at this Harvest Forum. Most of those who frequent the forum have been gardening and preserving most of their lifetimes and always have fabulous, unique recipes to share regarding their home grown produce. You may be pleasantly surprised by the responses you receive.

>Do any of you gardener/chefs have any great ideas that I can use?

Sliced tomatoes, oven roasted, layered to the top in a jar with salt and pepper, fresh herbs, (fresh garlic if for quick consumption) and filled with olive oil (heated herb infused olive oil which has been allowed to cool - even better) to the top. Absolutely fabulous on crostini, in a salad, as an appetizer, garnish, etc.

From Good Eat's "Tomato Envy" Episode:

"...add a cup of white wine—I like a nice cheap chardonnay—and bring to a boil over medium heat.

    Why bother? Because tomatoes contain alcohol-soluble flavors that can only be delivered to your tasting mechanisms in the presence of alcohol. Now you could use vodka for this but wine also brings a nice fruitiness to the party. So let that come to a boil, then drop the heat to a simmer, stirring often. Let it go for about 5 minutes, just long enough for most of the alcohol to cook out. But remember, alcohol never ever cooks out all the way. So if you've got an aversion, skip this step. The sauce will still be great."

Roasted Tomatoes Recipe

Tomato Jam

7lbs seeded, peeled, coarsely chopped ripe tomatoes (slicers preferred)

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

loads of fresh ginger minced

loads of fresh garlic minced

Simmer for 1.5 hours on medium to medium high heat until thick.... it's wonderful. No spices no herbs unless you want some. Great on chevre or cream cheese. Can like you would a jam.

>Currently I am leaning towards a drying attempt, and a smoking project.

>It should be interesting. I will keep you up on progress.

Looking forward to the updates.

Mabelline,

Here is a tomato gallery of pictures for you: Tomato Forum Gallery

binkyboots,

Tomatoes aren't any more difficult to grow than most vegetables. They just need good soil rich in organic matter, water, and room - just like anything else and there are many easy ways to attain this.

If you're intimidated by varieties, browse this Growing Tomatoes Forum. Many experts in tomato varieties including Dr. Carolyn J. Male and Craig LeHoullier frequent this forum. They have have literally grown thousands of varieties of tomatoes). They'll advise you to skip the pretty "Yellow Pear" tomato which is so often found now because it simply lacks flavor.

And if you inquire nicely, you're likely to find someone on the forum who will be happy to send you free seeds for a couple of stamps of rare heirloom varieties (which Alice Waters is certainly a supporter of) that have so much flavor you won't believe it until you taste them.

My personal favorite (having grown over 50 varieties within the last couple of years), as well as a favorite among a majority of home tomato growers is the "Cherokee Purple" Tomato. This coming from someone who has never, ever liked tomatoes in my life until I grew them myself and jumped straight into heirloom varieties which tend to have the best flavor. I'm particularly looking forward to trying the "Black Cherry" Heirloom Tomato this year.

The absolute best source for tomatoes is the Seed Savers Exchange which lists nearly 4,500 varieties. Over 3,000 of those are heirlooms.

Other excellent sources include:

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

http://www.rareseeds.com

Charles Wyatt (The late pioneer in heirloom tomatoes.)

http://www.heirloomtomatoes.net

Sandhill Preservation

http://www.SandhillPreservation.com/

Tomato Growers Supply Co

http://www.tomatogrowers.com

Cook's Garden

http://www.cooksgarden.co

Victory Seeds

http://www.victoryseeds.com

To anyone else interested in growing tomatoes or other vegetables, check with your state's Extension Service. Each county should have it's own Cooperative Extension Office which provides free publications and information for the asking. They can tell you what the recommended varieties of vegetables are for your area and the average last frost date for your area and ideal planting times for specific crops and varieties in your area. They'll have information on how to get started.

The following two images are excerpts from the Vegetable Planting and Planning Calendar for Missouri (download the pdf complete with spring and fall planting dates, how much to plant per person, etc. Just call up the office in your county. Look under the "Government" section (usually blue pages) of your phone book under "Extension". They will have valuable vegetable/gardening tables available specifically for your area from data they've collected from growing those crops in your state.

[JSD]

This year, for the first time, I started my tomatoes from seed.

They were from Tomato Growers in Florida. I have the following:

Stupice

Silvery Fir Tree

Fireworks

Gregori's Altai

Tommy Toe

Lemon Boy

Brandywine

The only one I've had before is Brandywine, which is widely available at nurseries here. A friend visited Tomato Growers and bought the seeds. I have them in Walls of Water, and I checked on them a little while ago, and one had collapsed and crushed the plant. I think my dog was nosing around the compost we added.

[snowangel]

binkyboots,

Tomatoes aren't any more difficult to grow than most vegetables. They just need good soil rich in organic matter, water, and room - just like anything else and there are many easy ways to attain this.

They also need warmth. Living in MN, I know that they don't do squat until nighttime and daytime temps are pretty consistently above 55-60 degrees.