Fall is slowly making it’s presence known. The mornings are cooler, red and yellow maple leaves can be found on the ground , and our neighbor’s vines are loaded with ripening tomatoes. Growing up on a farm, fall signaled the beginning of the pickling season. The sweet aroma of stewing tomatoes filled our kitchen while my mother peeled, stewed and canned bushel after bushel of juicy red tomatoes.

Below is our family’s favourite tomato sauce recipe, Tomato Butter. It is too sweet for pasta, but it is a beautiful accompaniment to roast beef or a spicy sausage. The Chili sauce is also sweet and goes nicely with meat loaf. The Tomato Chutney can be served as a BBQ glaze or with grilled fish.

I am not sure where the urge to preserve is coming from, but I have decided to go with it and get into the sauce.

Cheers,

Julie

Tomato Butter

Ingredients

• 10 lb. Tomatoes (6 quart basket or 2 three litre baskets)

• 2 T. (tablespoons) whole cinnamon

• 1 T. allspice

• 1 T. cloves

• 5 C. Brown sugar

• 2 C. vinegar

• 3 T. salt

Directions

Scald tomatoes in boiling water and removed the skins and slice.

Add vinegar, salt and sugar and bring to a boil with the spices tied in a muslin cloth bag. (I use doubled cheesecloth which I buy at the bulk store).

Cook at least 3 hours or until mixture is thick. It burns easily so use a heavy bottomed pan and stir frequently. It will thicken a little more after it cools.

Pour into small sterilized jars, leaving a ¼ inch from the top. Clean any excess of the lip of the jars. Don’t tighten the lids until the butter has cooled, then tighten them. Keep jars upright.

Sterilizing

*Sterilize using a large pan such as a roaster on the stove burner with an inch of water in it and boiling for five minutes. Sterilize the lids in a smaller pot. Use tongs to remove them. You can reuse Mason jars, but buy new lids but make sure you sterilize them first.

Chili Sauce

Ingredients

• 20 ripe tomatoes

• 6 onions chopped finely

• 2 green peppers chopped

• 1 ½ cups white vinegar

• 4 cups white sugar

• 1 tsp. cinnamon

• 1 tsp. ground cloves

• 1 tsp. ground ginger

• ½ tsp. pepper

• ¼ to ½ salt

Directions

Cut out the stem end of the tomatoes and peel. Cook and skim off excess water. Add salt, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper. Bring to a boil and cook uncovered over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until thick. Ladle the sauce into hot, sterilized jars. Cover and seal.

Tomato Chutney

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar

• 3 cups cider vinegar

• 2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh gingerroot

• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt

• 1 1/2 teaspoons coriander seeds, crushed lightly

• 1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes

• 3 pounds plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and quartered

• 3 onions, chopped

• 1 cup golden raisins

Directions

In a large heavy saucepan combine the sugar, the vinegar, the gingerroot, the salt, the coriander seeds, and the red pepper flakes and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Add the tomatoes, the onions, and the raisins and simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until it is thickened. Let the chutney cool and transfer it to a bowl or jars. The chutney keeps, covered and chilled, for 3 weeks.

Makes about 3 1/2 cups.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2007 at 6:41 pm and is filed under Barbeque, Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.