Canning Tomatoes by the pound! Spicy BBQ sauce

Writing this post gives me a sense of satisfaction after tackling 109lbs of tomatoes and realizing how much fun I actually had doing it. I had planned on doing just two recipes; Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce and Bloody Mary Mix, but the Big Ball Book and still staring at about 24 lbs of these beautiful tomatoes put me in the mood to adapt a BBQ sauce and an Italian Herbed Tomato Sauce which I will post next.

This sauce has the great flavors of a classic mop sauce you would use to baste your chicken or ribs. The sweet and spicy of the brown sugar and jalapenos leave a really lingering flavor with eat bite. I think it's one of the better sauces to use for the purpose of basting. Note: the more you cook down the sauce which is true of all of these tomato base sauces the thicker they will get. Enjoy!

Spicy Barbecue Sauce

12 lbs tomatoes for tomato puree*
1 cups chopped celery
1 cups chopped onions
3/4 cups chopped seeded green bell peppers
2 jalapeno (for hotter use seranos or habeneros) peppers, seeded and chopped (I left seeds in for hotter sauce)
1/2 t. black pepper - fresh ground is best
1 1/4 cups white vinegar
3/4  cups lightly packed brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 T.  dry mustard
1 T.  paprika
1/2 t. kosher salt

1/4 t. red pepper flakes

Preparation: Prepare 8 pint jars, lids, and rings. Sterilize the jars and keep them in the hot water till it’s time for processing. Make sure to fill your water bath canner and get the water to a simmer.
* Core your tomatoes but you don't need to peel or seed. Run the tomatoes through a Victorio or Kitchen aid or use a food processor and strain the pulp through a fine mesh strainer to remove the peels and seed. If you want to leave the seeds and peels that is ok also.  Cut all the veggies and measure out the spices. Set aside. 

Cooking: In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine tomatoes, celery, onions, green

peppers and jalapeno peppers.  Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently.  Reduce heat, cover and boil gently until vegetables soften, about 30 minutes. Working in batches, transfer mixture to a blender or food processor fitted with a metal blade and puree until smooth. You can also use an immersion blender to complete the process. 

Return pot to heat and low boil, stirring occasionally, until the sauce reduces by half, about 50 minutes.  Add vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, and spices to the  tomatoes.  Increase heat to medium and boil gently, stirring frequently, for about 20 minutes. Using the process before in batches you will again blend till smooth, return to the heat until its the consistancy of a commercial barbecue sauce, about 1 hour.

Filling the jars:  On a dishtowel place your hot jars and using your funnel in each jar fill  leaving  1/2”  headspace.  Remove air bubbles and refill to the proper headspace if necessary. Taking a clean papertowel wet it with warm water and wipe the rims of the jars removing any food particles that would interfere with a good seal. Using your magic wand extract the lids from the hot water and place them on the now cleaned rims. Add your rings to the tops of each of the jars and turn to seal just "finger tight".

Processing: Make sure your rack is on the bottom of the canner and place the jars in the water bath making sure that the water covers each of the jars by 1 to 2 inches.  Cover the pot and turn up the heat under the canner and wait for the water to start boiling. Once the water has come to a boil start your timer for 35 minutes. Remove the jars and place them back on the dishtowel in a place that they will sit overnight to cool. Do not touch or move them till the next morning.

Sealing: Sometime in the next hour your jars will be making a "pinging" or "popping" noise. That is the glass cooling and the reaction of the lids being sucked into the jar for proper sealing. Some recipes may take overnight to seal. Check your lids and reprocess any jars that did not seal.

Labeling: Make sure to label your jars after they have cooled with the name of the recipe and the date canned. If you want to use the shrink labels in the picture you can order them Here!