Canning Chili Sauce Recipe

I am about to introduce you all to a legit Pioneer recipe!  This recipe has been in my family for generations.  Literally.  My Grandma's Grandma's Grandma was making this Chili Sauce and it probably goes back even further than that.  Many generations of my family have enjoyed Chili sauce and I know you will too.  It's a bit sweet with a little savory mixed in and hugged by spice.  My favorite way to eat it is with Eggs.  Any kind of Eggs and you are in business..Scrambled, Fried, Ham & Egg Wreath, Egg in a Hole, Ham and Crescent Casserole, or your favorite Egg dish.

You will need Tomatoes, onions, Half Pint Jars (or whatever size you like I actually have Quart in the picture but those were used in another recipe) Pickling Spice, White Vinegar, Salt & Pepper, Sugar...

Cheese Cloth,

Cinnamon, Cloves, Ginger, and Nutmeg.  You do not need a second Pickling spice..I just like it so I photographed it twice.

and you will need a steam canner.

We always reuse bottles so if you are reusing bottles make sure you have new lids.  The rings can be used over and over but not the lids.

Wash the Tomatoes really well.

While washing the tomatoes start a big pot of water on to a good hot simmer.  Place clean tomatoes in the water and make sure they are fully submerged.  Allow them to simmer a few minutes until the skin starts to peel away from the fruit.

Remove the tomatoes and place in a cake pan and allow to sit until they are cool enough to touch.

Remove the core with a parring knife.

Then peel the skin off.  We just let the skin and peel hang out in the cake pan and clean it out after every batch.

Very nice.

Now slice the Tomato up into smallish chunks..about 6-8 pieces depending on the size of your Tomato.

Start a very large pot over medium heat.

You want to add 4 Quarts of Tomatoes.  We did a double batch.

Chop up your onions.  Go ahead and have a nice cry while you are at it.

Add the Onions to the Tomatoes and allow to cook for a few minutes.

Add in the Salt & Pepper.

Now combine the Ground Ginger, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, and Cloves.

Get your Cheesecloth ready and a piece of clean cooking twine or string.

Pour the Pickling spice onto the Cheesecloth.  Remember I doubled the recipe so I used the whole bottle.

Pour the Nutmeg Mixture on top of the pickling spice.  No need to mix this is just for flavor.

Gather the corners and make a cute little spice bundle.  Tie together with the string or twine.

Toss it into the Tomatoes.  Stir it around and make sure it gets submerged.  You want that flavory goodness all up in these tomatoes.

Add in the Sugar

And White Vinegar.

Give everything a good stir.  Check out the spice Bundle..looking great.

You want to stir frequently to avoid burning.  Nothing is worse than burnt Chili Sauce.  I like to squish the spice bundle up against the pan with the stirring implement to help release flavors when I stir.  Cook for about 4 hours allowing everything to reduce down.

4 hours later..oh boy, this is getting good.  Now that everything is reduced down and lovely we are ready to start on the bottling.

Start a small saucepan on to boil and add the lids (just add the amount of lids for the bottles that will fit in the steamer at one time.)  Boil according to package instructions.  I just let them boil until I'm ready for them.

Grab the measuring cup and trusty funnel and fill the half pints up to the bottom of the ring zone.

Oh yea!  Notice that the rims get a bit on the messy side.  This is not good.

Grab a paper towel and get it moist.  You don't want it super soggy..just moist.

Run it along the rim making sure to get inside and outside the bottle clean.  Otherwise you will have a real mess on your hands.  I skipped this step one year and luckily the bottles sealed..not so lucky they were very hard to open and a gooey mess.

The lids will be hot so I just grab them with a fork and put them on top of each filled bottle.  Tighten the rings around each bottle and stick in the steam canner.

Fill the steam canner bottom with water all the way up to the bottles.  Turn it on Medium high and wait for the magic to happen.

Once you've got a good steam coming out you can set the timer and allow it to steam for 65 minutes.  If you do more than one batch make sure you fill the water up before each batch.

When the steaming is done turn the bottles over onto a towel on a heat resistant surface.  We one put the bottles on a table and it burned into the varnish a little bit.  Learn from our mistakes.

When you turn them over make sure they sealed and label the bottles with the year.  Enjoy!

Canning Chili Sauce Recipe
Source:  Pioneer Relations

4 Quarts Tomatoes, sliced
1 Pint Vinegar
1 C Sugar
2 C Chopped Onions
2 TBSP Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Cloves
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
1/2 Bottle Pickling Spice

Wash the tomatoes thoroughly.  Add to a simmering pot of water and remove once the skin starts to peel away from the fruit.  Remove the core and skin from the tomatoes and cut into smallish chunks.  Add Tomatoes to a Large pot over medium heat.  Add the chopped Onions, Vinegar, Salt & Pepper, and Sugar.  Using a piece of Cheesecloth (or a clean foot of a nylon as my ancestors used to do) create a bundle with the spices and Pickling Spice.  Tie with a string or cooking twine and stir into the Tomatoes mixture.  Stir often to avoid burning.  Allow the mixture to cook for 4 hours uncovered to reduce.  Press the spice bundle against the side of the pan to help distribute spice flavor.

When cooking is done place the Chili Sauce into clean mason jars.  I use half pint but if you have a larger family you may want to use larger jars.  Meanwhile bring a small sauce pan of water to a boil to soften the lids.  After filling the jars make sure to wipe the rims clean to ensure proper/clean sealing of jars.  Top with a softened lid and close tightly with rings.

Place the Steam Canner over Medium-Medium High Heat and fill with water all the way to the top.  Add the Mason Jars and Place lid on.  Once you have a solid steam coming out of the Canner set the timer for 65 minutes to allow the jars to steam.  Once the time is over take the bottles out carefully as they will be very hot.  Turn them over on a towel on top of a heat safe surface and allow to cool.  Make sure to label the Bottles with the year so they don't get mixed up.

Enjoy!

Canning Stewed Tomatoes Recipe

My Mom has canned Stewed Tomatoes for basically as long as I can remember.  As a kid I always hated helping my Mom with canning but as I grew older I didn't mind it as much.  Now I love canning and bottling because it makes me feel so domestic.  I love Stewed Tomatoes because they are super versatile and can be used in so many different things.  I use these babies in place of store bought tomatoes in the can and they always taste so much better.  They are just so fresh and nice and have no tin after flavor at all.  Home bottled tomatoes are perfect in Spaghetti sauce, soups, chilis, pretty much anything that calls for store bought tomatoes in a can.

You will need a box of ripe Tomatoes, Lemon Juice, and clean Quart sized Mason Jars.  We always re-use our jars from year to year so we have a real variety of bottles.

*Special Equipment* You will need a Steam Canner.

If you are using new Mason Jars you won't need these..but if you are recycling you will need some of the Lids because those cannot be re-used.  The rings can so no need to buy those unless you don't have enough.

Start by washing all your Tomatoes really well.

Look how pretty all these nice washed tomatoes are.

I love farm fresh produce because you can always find some real funny looking items.  These two made me happy.

Bring a big pot of water to a boil and then turn the water down to a simmer.  Place in a bunch of Tomatoes until the skin begins to peel away from the fruit.

Move the tomatoes to a cake pan and let them sit until they are cool enough to handle.

Using a parring knife cut out the core. 

The skin should peel off easily using a parring knife.  We just leave the core and peel in the cake pan to help things move along quickly.  Then you can just dump it once it gets full.

Cut the peeled and cored Tomato into 8 or so chunks and place them in a separate bowl.

Pour the sliced Tomatoes into a giant pot that is on medium heat.

You will cook the tomatoes about 3 hours to get them cooked down a bit.

As you can see the tomatoes are very soupy at this point and have cooked down a bit.  There aren't many big chunks left but you will want to take a potato masher to them and break up whatever is left.  Some chunks are good but you want everything really broken up and liquidy.

Oh yeah!

At this point you will want to get your lids ready.  Put a small pot to boil and you will want to simmer the lids to soften up the seal for a bit.  Follow the package instructions.

Now we need to use the Lemon Juice.  You could use fresh but we take the easy road and use from concentrate.

Measure 1 TBSP of Lemon Juice per mason jar.

Just pour it in the bottom of the jar.

We like to create a pouring station like this.  Big funnel in the Jar on top of a pie plate.  It helps reduce mess by doing this.

Just use a measuring cup to pour the Stewed tomatoes into the mason jar.

You don't want to overfill so go to just under the part where the rings will go. 

Just grab a paper towel or a wash cloth and get it wet.  Ring it out well because you don't want it to be soggy.

The jars get very messy.

Wipe all the mess off to avoid heartbreak and sadness later on.

By now the lids are ready to go.  They are hot so I use a fork to pick them up and place them right on top of the Mason Jar.

Press down a little.

Top with the rings.

And turn to tighten pretty well. 

Fill the bottom of the Steam Canner with water.  You want the water to come all the way up to the bottles so you don't run out during the steaming process.

Put the lid on and get things going on Medium-Medium High heat.

Once the steam is really coming out, which is difficult to see in the picture, you want to set a timer for 80 minutes.  **Before you start your next batch make sure you fill the water up in the steamer!

When you first get the tomatoes out you will want to turn them upside down on top of a towel.  This isn't a necessary step..but my Mom does it so you should too.  Be aware that the bottles will be very hot and you will want to be careful of the surface you put them on to cool.  We put them on a wood table and there is still an impression of the hot bottle tops that melted it's way into the varnish.  After they have had a bit of time to cool you can flip them over and write the year on the lid.

Check out these babies ready to be made into all manner of delicious things!  (We used 2 full boxes and got about 28 Bottles)

Canning Stewed Tomatoes Recipe

Tomatoes
Lemon Juice

*special equipment*
Mason Jars
Lids
Rings
Steam Canner


Start a large pot on the stove over medium heat and bring it to a boil and then allow to simmer.  Wash your tomatoes thoroughly and place in the pot so they are fully submerged in stages.  Allow to simmer until the skin begins to peel away from the fruit.  Move to a cake pan and allow to sit until cool enough to handle.  Using a parring knife remove the core and skin.  Cut the tomato into 8 chunks and move into a very large pot. 

Warm the very pot over Medium-Medium High heat.  You will cook the tomatoes stirring occasionally for about 3 hours.  You want the tomatoes to cook down, lose their shape, and become liquidy.  If you are stirring and notice the tomatoes are burning on the bottom stir more often and/or turn down the heat.

When the Tomatoes are done cooking you will want to bring a small saucepan of water to boiling and add in the lids for the number of bottles that your steamer can do at one time.  Allow them to simmer according to package instructions.  Now take a Potato Masher and mash up the tomatoes in the large pot to break up any big chunks of tomatoes.  You don't want to make it totally smooth but you also don't want huge chunks.

Add 1 TBSP of Lemon Juice to each Mason Jar and then pour the cooked tomatoes on top of that until it reaches the bottom of the place where the rings will go.  Using a damp paper towel or wash cloth clean the top of the bottle off in case any tomatoes splashed during the filling of the bottle.  Take a hot lid out of the small saucepan and place it on top of the jar and top with the ring.  Make sure the ring is screwed on pretty tight. 

When the bottles are done you will want to place your Steam Canner on the stove top and fill it full of water.  Place the bottles on and set the heat to medium-medium high.  Place the lid on and wait for steam to build up.  Once it is steaming good and hard you will set the timer for 80 minutes.  Once the time is up transfer the HOT bottles from the steamer to your countertop.  You will want to place them upside down on top of a hand towel.  *Be aware of table finishes we put them on a table once and the rings will show up until that table is refinished* Let cool.  Make sure the lids seal then put the year on each lid so you can keep track. 

Happy Cooking!