Summertime and time for the art of canning. Farmstands are bursting with tomatoes, so dust off your jars and go get some new lids.
Here is a chili sauce that belies its name: it has no hot peppers and you don’t make chili with it. This is a sweet and sour condiment that my grandmother used to make. Back then, us kids thought this stuff was incredibly scarce and valuable. It was reserved for special occasions only, and when we got some we felt like we hit the jackpot. Little did we know that this sauce was mainly a way to use up all those extra tomatoes that come around late in the summertime.
This recipe may owe some of its former popularity to The American Woman’s Cookbook, where it appeared circa 1939. It was showing up in newspapers and other cookbooks by the 1940’s; was common on the table in the 1950’s and ’60’s and then, when canning fell out of favor, it almost disappeared. But just like jazz, this sauce never died; it just took a waystop in the hall of old preserves. Now it’s enjoying a bit of a revival thanks to the local food movement and the resurgence of canning.
Serve chilled with anything hot off the grill. Be sure to keep some for wintertime roasts.
You will need: 1/2 bushel very ripe tomatoes for canning. Get them from a farm stand or farmer’s market, not from the grocery store. You want tomatoes that are fully vine-ripened and have never been chilled. It’s OK if they have bad spots. You will be cutting those out.
Cooking Time: Hours. Don’t start this if you don’t have a good half day to get the job done.
Equipment: Canning jars, quart or pint. Lids for jars. Jar lifter tool. Ladle. Funnel. Large kettle to cook the sauce. Large covered pot to process the jars by the boiling water bath method.
Ingredients:
1/2 bushel vine-ripened tomatoes
10 small or 6 large ordinary onions
4 green bell peppers
3 Tbsp ground cinammon
1 Tbsp ground nutmeg
3 pints white vinegar
2 lb white sugar (or more, to taste)
1 Tbsp ground dry mustard
1/2 cup coarse salt, or to taste
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Directions:
Scald, peel, core, and chop the tomatoes to 1/2-1″ cubes.
Remove any bad spots before scalding
Peel and chop the onions.
Core and chop the green peppers
You can peel these also and get a better product, but it’s not absolutely necessary.
Use the same technique to peel the peppers as the tomatoes
Combine the tomatoes, peppers, and onions in the large kettle and slowly bring to a boil uncovered. Keep to a low boil, stirring frequently to prevent scorching. Keep boiling until thick (as long as 2 hours).
When tomato mixture is thick enough, add spices, vinegar, and salt. Stir thoroughly. Add sugar a cup at a time and stir in thoroughly.
Return to a boil and allow mixture to thicken. Skim off foam periodically. Be careful not to let this mixture scorch.
Mixture is done when it has the consistency of a thin syrup.
Taste and adjust seasonings as desired before canning.
To can, ladle hot mixture into clean hot jars and process using the boiling water bath method.
Red Hot Tomato 