Pasta sauce...is it practical?

[allenwrench]

I made some pasta sauce from s few of my tomatoes. I didn't weigh them, but it was a market produce bag about half full. I made about 22 ounces of strained tomato puree. I boiled it down to make sauce and ending up with about 7 ounces. Seems like one would have to grow tons of tomatoes to make large jars of sauce? Anyone do it for a year's supply? If so how much toms do you plant and what does it yield you in pints or quarts?

[Emerald]

I can give you roughly what my tomatoes from last year did--I used 50 lbs of paste and some regular tomatoes and I got 8 quarts of sauce with just a few batches making 8 quarts and a pint and some for just tasting. I made 30 quarts of sauce last year and I recorded all that I used and that is about the average.
Now a bushel of tomatoes should weight 56lbs-- you should get close to 8 to 9 quarts of sauce per bushel But you get better results if you have paste tomatoes-- I know that the one batch that I did I only got 7 quarts as I was using up the end of the year maters and they were mainly big beefsteak and salad maters. I had to cook them longer too-- get rid of that water.
I know that the same amount of tomatoes from a bushel made 15 quarts of stewed tomatoes with a few pints thrown in. Stewed maters don't cook for as long and have much more liquid..
Now this is my home made sauce-- I do not cook it down to the same thickness as the store bought kind as I like it a bit thinner. to me the store bought stuff is too thick-- most of it is made from tomato paste, so it is thicker.. now if you want to have the thick sauce you could (I wouldn't tho) buy some thick tomato paste (organic preferred) and thicken your sauce-- but that would defeat the purpose of growing the best produce and saving it for yourself.

[Denninmi]

Allenwrench, I see this was cross-posted on Gardenweb, I answered this there, so I'll just summarize and say that, yes, it takes quite a few, but it is very do-able, like Emerald says, you do better if you use paste types, there is a big difference in final yield.

[thegreatgarden]

allenwrench I answered this same question last week on organic gardening message board.
You will need 6-8 lbs of tomato to make 1 quart of sauce.
You will need to have between 3-11 plants to produce enough ripe fruit at given time to produce 1 quart tomato sauce.

[LuvsToPlant]

I use 2-3 lbs of fresh tomatoes, three small cans of tomato paste (adding about 3 cans of water per can)
plus the garlic and seasonings (secret) ....simmer for 4hr.
I come from an Italian family :)
Sooo. I only freeze up about 2-3 lb. of tomatoes per freezer bag.
Tomato paste when you can buy them 3 small cans for a dollar, it takes so much time and work out of making paste.
This makes up a couple quarts.

[ScarlettO'Herring]

I have 100 tomato plants. More than half of those are paste and preserving, the rest are cherry and slicer types for fresh eating. This year I have put by 22 pints of pizza sauce, 48 quarts of spaghetti sauce, 22 half pints of paste, 36 pints of varietal preserves and about 24 quarts of stewed tomatoes (with onions, fennel, and garlic). I have also made 15 pints of salsa, 24 half-pints of sandwich relish, yellow tomato honey butter, and tomato chutney. It is enough for my immediate family for the year plus we share with friends and extended family. I also can for my grandparents, parents and aunt because they can't do it for themselves. I still have at least 2-3 more batches of (about 50lbs each) tomatoes I hope to harvest before the first frost.

I guess it depends on what you mean by practical. For us it makes both financial and lifestyle sense, but I am sure this isn't true for everyone.

The only things I have store-bought towards our sauces and preserves are seeds, canning lids, sugar, salt, a few spices I can't grow (like mustard seed and Bay leaf), lemon juice and the energy to prepare and can them. We have the jars saved year to year, so this is rarely a big expense anymore, usually I buy a case or 2 second hand every year to replace broken or chipped jars and add to the available store. We grew everything that went into them, fruit, veggies and herbs. Yes, it is hard work, but to purchase at a store the amount of stuff I put away, I would have to work out of the house at a regular job for many many more hours than I actually spent canning, and that's not taking into account the organic and all-natural premiums I'd pay for this quality and purity.

Growing and putting my own food by means that I can work for our food while I attend my family. I can "earn" our dinner by chopping tomatoes and onions while I help my son at a chemistry problem or listen to my youngest read a story. I also know exactly how the food was grown and prepared. I know I washed my hands, and my ingredients. I know getting it to my family didn't unnecessarily contribute to the polluting of our Earth, because I carried it in a basket from my garden to my kitchen. I know it was really fresh when it was canned and I don't have to worry about the mass food poisoning scares, because I know exactly how the food was handled every step of the way.

I like doing it. I like knowing what we are putting into our bodies and that we did not have to rely on somebody else to put our food on our table. I enjoy growing it, I enjoy making it. I really love looking at the beautiful rows of cans lining the pantry this time of year, it makes me feel like I have provided for my family directly. So yes, for us at least, I think it is very practical.

ScarlettO

[GardenMamma]

I made my first spaghetti sauce with fresh tomatoes last week. The best ever! I didn't simmer it down really thick though because the hubby likes a garden style sauce. I threw in half a yellow zuke, and an onion from the garden, then some mushrooms. ohhh, hubby doesn't want the store bought stuff anymore.

[RozieDozie]

...........I like doing it. I like knowing what we are putting into our bodies and that we did not have to rely on somebody else to put our food on our table. I enjoy growing it, I enjoy making it. I really love looking at the beautiful rows of cans lining the pantry this time of year, it makes me feel like I have provided for my family directly. So yes, for us at least, I think it is very practical.ScarlettO

ScarlettO, I love what you wrote (the whole thing, I just deleted some to fit here better). I read it to Hubs and he smiled and smiled. That's exactly how I feel, too, about my garden and my stuff and my life. I'm going to email it to my sister and friend because they will love it, too.

[JackiP]

We grow our own maters, some onions & of course, green peppers along with hot peppers & herbs so what I put into our spaghetti sauce is mainly out of our garden as well. My recipe calls for 25-26 lbs of tomatoes & I think I get 9-10 quarts of sauce. I do use some paste but also use a large variety of the other tomatoes. Cutting off the top & squeezing out the seeds/juice first helps thickens stuff w/o having to cook for quite so long. We make several dz jars of salsa, ketchup, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes & juice as well. I agree with Scarlett! Plus, I know what goes into my jars & therefore into my kids' mouths.

[herb girl]

Wow Scarlett, you ARE where I WANT to be! That's amazing! And I thought I was doing well with my measley 10 jars of sauce and 7 jars of salsa.
We didn't have a good tomato year so I will forgive myself.
Your post was inspiring.

Do you produce enough food for your family for the year? Or at least come close?

[Pharmerphil]

Very nice post Scarlett, with the time, energy, electricity, buying of lids...
not sure we save much money...
But we know whats in our meals is safe.
Two of us here, 43 mator plants...pantry, basement and cupboards..almost to the bursting point...

I love making sauce this time of year, the cool weather makes the house a bit chilly in the morning...nothing a 22 quart sauce pot a simmerin won't take the chill off of.

fact is, todays task is Tomato paste, from Amish Paste tomatoes...ummm, rich and darned purty in the jar too!

[allenwrench]

Thanks for everyone's help.

One responder said they had 100 tom plants. I've got 14 and that is about all I can have unless I convert entire garden to toms.

What sort of method do you use to get the tom strained for sauce making?

Was told about a method that uses the entire tom (seeds and skins) by mixing them in the blender. Supposed to yield much more sauce per tom. Anyone try blender method?

[Emerald]

Thanks for everyone's help.

One responder said they had 100 tom plants. I've got 14 and that is about all I can have unless I convert entire garden to toms.

What sort of method do you use to get the tom strained for sauce making?

Was told about a method that uses the entire tom (seeds and skins) by mixing them in the blender. Supposed to yield much more sauce per tom. Anyone try blender method?

AW- my mom used to just cut the core out and chop the tomatoes roughly into quarters-skin and seeds- and then add the few veggies, like bell pepper, onion, celery, a bit of garlic and then stew them all down until the tomato was falling apart and the veggies were very soft-- then she had something called a 'food mill' it had a crank and the bottom was mesh and you put the tomatoes in and turn the crank and the juice and pulp would come out the bottom and the seeds and skins stay in the top-- to get the seeds and skins out you just turned the crank backwards and dump them-- if you want just juice you would bring it to a nice boil and then can. If you wanted sauce you just cooked it farther down and then canned.
I have seen that some of the posters here have what my Gran had a "squeez-o" type food mill- it looked more like an old crank handled meat grinder but it had different screen sizes for different foods-- load the cooked maters into the hopper and turn the crank and the juice came out the side and the seeds and skins come out the end (or visa versa :o I haven't seen one in years, and I was little when Gran used it!)
I hate to say this but no matter what way you use-- it still is a bit of hard work-- but in the dead of winter and you pry the lid off from a jar of your own homemade tomato sauce-- it takes you right back to that summer day and when you picked it! Not to forget the yummy taste and sense of satisfaction you have--knowing that it is good for you and you did it yourself!;)

[ScarlettO'Herring]

Wow Scarlett, you ARE where I WANT to be! That's amazing! And I thought I was doing well with my measley 10 jars of sauce and 7 jars of salsa.
We didn't have a good tomato year so I will forgive myself.
Your post was inspiring.

Do you produce enough food for your family for the year? Or at least come close?

Aw, shucks. :o That's why I can only get on here about 2-3 times a week right now, because I am up to my armpits in canning jars and dehydrator baskets.

We've been moving towards this in fits and starts for years, maybe I'm just further along the road than you are, that's all. Though I was brought up with growing and preserving and putting by, I spent a bit of time in my teens and 20s rejecting all of that, being all slick and urban. We have gradually moved from trendy inner-city loft to urban apartment to suburban house to exurban small homestead. We are looking for a proper farm right now!

Veggie wise, we are getting closer to self sufficiency every year. This year has been weird. Cold and short growing season, yet I had a bad year for peas, greens and broccoli, but great for tomatoes, potatoes, carrots and beans. Go figure, it really ought to have been the opposite. I have had a surprisingly productive year, except for the stinking squash bugs! Destroyed my pumpkins and keeping squashes entirely. grrr. :D

I still can't quite manage enough grains or fruit without buying from the Farmer's market and the grocery store. Fruit-wise, I have raspberries, strawberries, wild plums, frost grapes, Quince, Elderberries and Gooseberries on our property. Just planted couple of new ones, Sea Berries and Honeyberries, can't wait to see how they are in a few years. I'm trying to be really careful to make everything look as attractive and landscapey as possible to minimise complaints, so we weave the edibles into the landscaping. I also have old fashioned roses out back, which create the big hips. Those are perfect for preserves or syrup, and so good for you. About an ounce has enough vitamin C for one person for a whole month! Most of these fruits are mostly good for putting by but not really for fresh keeping or eating out of hand though, so I buy fresh fruits at the market or grocery most of the year. I guess I don't have to, but my kids eat a lot of fresh fruit, and they get cranky if they can't have an apple or orange sometimes. If I can't grow it, I at least try to buy as much locally and in-season as possible and put by the things I can, either in the freezer, root cellar, or by canning.

I can't do meat, eggs or dairy at all right now. We won't be able to until we move to a larger place with less restrictive rules about what I can and cannot have roaming my back lot. Hopefully, we will be able to make this happen soon, we are looking for a place all the time. As an aside, why is a coop with a few chickens considered a problem in town, and a dog run isn't? My neighbour's dogs are WAY more smelly and noisy than a handful of Bantys ever would be! :rolleyes: At least, a handful of Banty's minus the cockerel! ;)

We are considering the possibility that it would be easier to obtain forgiveness than permission regarding the chickens. I have been looking at kids' playhouses and thinking how easy it would be to convert the cute wood ones into a really nice small coop. I am thinking that if I buy one on clearance now, and set it up so it's in the back yard all winter, then in the spring my kids do a biology experiment that involves the life cycle of birds, and we just HAPPEN to hatch our own chickens, and they just happen to become pets... It's a pretty rural area we live in even though we've been incorporated into a small town, I think we can squeak some layers by in the yard if they A. aren't crowing and B. are odd breeds so they appear exotic (more pet, less livestock).

OK, enough time away from the stove, I still have about 50 pounds of Frost grapes to be made into jam! And wine...:cool:

ScarlettO

[Zinniagirl]

...What sort of method do you use to get the tom strained for sauce making?



I inherited from my Mom one of the "Squeezo's" that Emerald mentioned. I love it, but it still is hard work and the arm/shoulder can get pretty tired.

Found a picture here. Don't know anything about the company that is selling it. Thankfully, my Mom got the whole set years ago and I didn't have to worry about extra screens, only had to order the gaskets for the screens and don't remember where I got them.

http://www.homesteadhelpers.com/get_item_sqd_deluxe-squeezo-strainer.htm

[Pharmerphil]

I'll try to remember to get a pic of my tomato device later...it's a antique for sure

[spud]

Comparing apples to apples is one thing, we not buying sauces from organic sources, we need to compare the price of organic sauces, more like 4 to 6 bucks a quart. My wife said she likes the taste of aldi's and it's only a buck a quart, two of the top four ingredients are corn sryup and high frutose corn syrup. I guess I need to add some sugar to my sauce ye? I'm planting more determinite roma's next year, who many slicer's can one eat fresh?

[Zinniagirl]

... My wife said she likes the taste of aldi's and it's only a buck a quart, two of the top four ingredients are corn sryup and high frutose corn syrup. I guess I need to add some sugar to my sauce ye? I'm planting more determinite roma's next year, who many slicer's can one eat fresh?

My husband also used to prefer store bought sauce. When I started adding a small amount of sugar to mine, he was okay with it. While I would prefer not to add the sugar, I think this is a good compromise.

I also have thought I will plant many more paste tomatoes and only a few slicers next year.

[allenwrench]

Aw, shucks. :o That's why I can only get on here about 2-3 times a week right now, because I am up to my armpits in canning jars and dehydrator baskets.


ScarlettO


On another note. If I dehydrate toms, do you think I should bother to clean the dried tom residue from the screens between batches? My drying sessions are extended over a few days to a week between uses.

[Eric]

I grew 7 varieties this year and anywhere from 4-10 plants of each and this produced more than enough for my immediate families needs.
I generally just make a basic sauce (tomatoes, garlic, onions, maybe something sweet like apples/pears and then some mild to hot peppers) and from there use it for whatever I wish, pizza, chili, pasta etc.
I stew this up for an hour or so, and then blend it all up and strain out the seeds and skins. Then simmer for a number of hours depending on variety and desired thickness. I've tried deskinning and seeding them prior but its too much work. I'd love to try one of those devices being mentioned here, but I've only seen a few in mags and none looked very functional for the cost.

So far this year I figure I have about 20 quarts. I use and reuse some 2c containers and freeze all of my sauce, later moving them from the 2c containers to freezer ziplocks. We use at least one of these 2c blocks a week for various things, so I planned on making at least 10 quarts. With a lot less plants and less stored last year we only needed to buy a few jars of store bought sauce. This year there is little chance I'll run out, and I've already stopped making more despite a ton of tomatoes still growing. I also make a lot of fresh sauces during the summer, just a few cut up tomatoes in a pan with some olive oil and other herbs and such.

I wouldn't mind hearing how some of you are making your different sauces.

[Zinniagirl]

...I'd love to try one of those devices being mentioned here, but I've only seen a few in mags and none looked very functional for the cost.

I don't think I would have bought a Squeezo myself, I was sure glad my Mom had. It really does do an excellent job. It works great for berries too. I pick wild black raspberries which are so seedy they are almost useless unless you remove the seeds from a good portion of them in each recipe. I was very surprised when I went online and saw the price! :eek: Maybe you will be lucky enough to come across a used one.

[Emerald]

I found a picture and site that has the food mill that my mom had.
http://www.thekitchenstore.com/072075500242.html
It worked fine but was a bear to clean.:eek:

[Zinniagirl]

I found a picture and site that has the food mill that my mom had.
http://www.thekitchenstore.com/072075500242.html
It worked fine but was a bear to clean.:eek:

I got one of them from my mother-in-law when she went into assisted living. I have tried it several times but just can't get the hang of it, so was very glad to inherit my Mom's Squeezo :D

[plot_thickens]

I'm afraid I'm a little more slapdash than most everyone on here. I blanch the maters and then let them sit to cool while the next batch is blanched. Then skin and quarter them all on a board that's at an angle over a clean bucket. The quarters are squeezed into the bucket and set aside, and then all the juices in the bucket are boiled vigorously until they thicken up, then sieved to remove most of the seeds. Then I throw the quarters back in and begin canning.

The lack of skins and canning means that they break down wonderfully later in a slow simmered bolongnaise (sp?) sauce, are perfect to make a couple batches of mexican rice, add umami to a roast, or the base for a quick marinara.

[ScarlettO'Herring]

On another note. If I dehydrate toms, do you think I should bother to clean the dried tom residue from the screens between batches? My drying sessions are extended over a few days to a week between uses.

Well, I have been drying smaller tomatoes, and though it does take a little bit longer for them to finish I always halve them and set them skin-down on the screen so there's not so much mess and stuff sticking to the screens. I always give the screens at least a rinse and wipe between batches, and a proper washing if I'm changing food (like going from tomatoes to herbs say) or if they look particularly encrusted. :p I don't usually dehydrate really big tomatoes that I'd have to make several slices, I imagine this would create way more mess. I do have an old Vita-Mix continuous process dehydrator with 20 trays though, and that's different because I don't have to rotate the trays. I can just slip out the bottom trays as they finish, wash them off, load them up and bung them back on the top. I love it, I wish they still sold these. It can dehydrate a halved cherry-size drying tomato in a couple of days, even skin side down.

ScarlettO