This week, Roy decided to make something which most kids love, but assume comes straight out of a packet or bottle. He had lots of things to choose from, but in the end he decided that there are lots of tomatoes around now, but the season is ending so he'd like to make something with them. Now the question was, what to do with all the tomatoes. The obvious answer was make tomato sauce. Tomato sauce is very easy to make, and homemade tastes great! It also makes a great gift and is a fantastic way to use up excess tomatoes. This might be particularly useful if you grow your own (it doesn't matter if they aren't quite ripe or look a bit funny). In the past, it was also a way of preserving tomatoes for when they weren't in season.
Tomato Sauce
You will need:
- 1 and a 1/2 kilograms of tomatoes (Roy bought his from Mary's farm in Galston)
- Boiling water (for skinning tomatoes)
- 2 green apples, peeled
- 1 onion
- 1 and a 1/2 cups of white sugar
- 2/3 cup of brown vinegar
- Cayenne pepper to taste (Roy and I used about 1/4 of a teaspoon). This won't make you tomato sauce 'hot', it will just add a depth of flavour.
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1/3 of a teaspoon of ground cloves
- Garlic to taste (Roy and I used about 10 very small cloves of mild Australian garlic)
- A knife
- A bowl
- Tongs
- A big saucepan
- a wooden spoon.
- Jars or bottles, sterilised in the same way as when Roy made
strawberry jam (click here for the instructions)
Method:
- Cut a small cross in the bottom of your tomatoes and place them in a bowl of boiling water
- Leave stand for a minute or two until you can see the skin
lifting.
- Pull the tomatoes out of the boiling water with tongs and allow them to cool a little or drop them in cold water.
- When the tomatoes are cool enough to touch, peel. The peel should come off easily.
- Roughly chop your tomatoes, onion and apples.
- Put all the ingredients into your saucepan
- Bring to the boil
- Reduce the heat and simmer until the mix is soft and liquid, stirring occasionally
- Taste and adjust seasonings as you like.
- If you like you can use a whiz or a potato masher to make your mix more smooth. Roy likes his chunky!
- Bottle
- Keep in the refrigerator.
- Enjoy!