Tomato Sauce for Canning

Directions

1.Prepare water bath canner, jars, and lids. Dont forgot to add 1/2 cup vinegar to canner water to keep your bottles looking nice.
1. Place a few tomatoes in a large stainless steel stockpot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Using a potato masher, crush tomatoes to release juices, stirring to prevent burning. Continue adding tomatoes and crushing them, working in batches.
2. When all the tomatoes have been added, boil for 10 – 20 minutes until tomatoes are super soft.
3. Press tomatoes through a food mill to remove skins and seeds (medium mesh). Discard skins and seeds.
4. Return the tomato sauce to a large shallow sauté pan (or electric skillet) and bring to a simmer. Boil until volume is reduced by at least one-third for a thin sauce to one-half for a thicker sauce.
5. Before filling each jar, add 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt into each prepared jar.
6. Fill jars with tomato sauce, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary.
7. Wipe rim and place hot lid on jar, screwing band down until fingertip-tight. Place jars in pressure canner. Adjust water level, lock lid and bring to a boil.
8. Vent steam for 10 minutes, then close vent.
9. Continue heating to achieve 10 lbs pressure and maintain pressure to process pint jars for 15 minutes (0 – 1,000 feet elevation). Refer here for different processing times and pressure for elevation.
10. Turn off heat. Let pressure return to zero naturally. Wait 2 minutes longer, then open vent. Remove canner lid. Wait 10 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.
11. Transfer jars to a towel-lined surface and let stand until completely cool, about 24 hours. Check lids and refrigerate any jars that are not sealed.]]>