AWESOME TOMATO BASIL MARINARA FOR CANNING

I have been looking forward to tomato season. Oh yes thank goodness it is here in abundance.   I needed my tomatoes to do well because I really used a lot of my marinara, salsa, tomato sauce and canned tomatoes throughout the year.  

We put our garden in rather late this year due to all the spring rains we had here in NC.  At the time I was concerned that we would not get enough growing time to get the produce I needed in order to can the stuff I was short on or out of.  My tomato plants were growing good but nothing was turning red.  Fast forward and we are back from vacation and I was so happy to see while we were gone was big beautiful red tomatoes.  I know it sounds weird but I was thrilled to be able to harvest enough to make 19 pints of salsa and start making my favorite marinara sauce.  

I think I have the very best recipe for marinara.  Just smelling it cook will drive you crazy.  My house has smelled so Italian.  Even better, all my herbs come from my own herb garden.  Nothing like canning something when almost everything came from your garden.  The recipe I use was given to me by an acquaintance a few years ago.  I have since found you can find it online with a google search.  

Funny story, I was looking at some tomatoes.  One pile were of gorgeous looking heirloom tomatoes and the other pile was of hybrid canning tomatoes.  Of course, I was interested in the heirloom varieties because this is what we grow.  The lady next to me said, you do not want to can with those tomatoes and pointed to the others and said these make better canning tomatoes.  Well, me being me had to set her straight.  I told her funny, I had just canned some marinara with some heirloom tomatoes and the flavor was out of this world.  I did not go on to say this is how I make my marinara every year.  SMH, at people who have no clue how wonderful an heirloom tomato taste. 

My recipe is simple but time-consuming.  However, if you want a good marinara you want to take your time so the flavors marinate to give you the best taste.  

I was fortunate that my San Marzo tomatoes were so large and beautiful.  This is the first year they have been so large.  Most were over 3 inches and so red and just plain gorgeous looking.  

For my marinara, I cut up my tomatoes and toss them in a large pot.  

Start by chopping tomatoes, just a rough chop.

You need a stockpot large enough for a lot of tomatoes.  As you can see I used heirloom and San Marzo tomatoes.  I find this gives it a better flavor.

I rough chop basil, parsley, thyme, oregano and garlic cloves.

Toss all that in the pot with my tomatoes.

I add brown sugar, kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, and balsamic vinegar to the mix.

Add the spices and vinegar to the tomatoes.

Allow this to cook and break down the tomatoes. 

I then put it through my food mill to remove the peels.

Then I put it back into a pot and allow it to cook down to the consistency I desire.  I go low and slow and this entire process takes me up to 24 hours.  

Once the marinara is thick it is time to can.  My recipe makes 6 pints.  Yes, this sounds like a small amount but it takes a lot of tomatoes to make a good marinara.  You need to put a tablespoon of bottled lemon juice in each jar.  Ladle the marinara in sterilized pint jars.  Make sure your water bath canner is at a boil.  Once you have added lids and rings you can put the pint jars into your water bath canner. 

Pint jars go 35 minutes.  Once this is done allow the jars to sit in the canner with the heat cut off for another 5 minutes.  If you chose to do quarts please use 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice and water bath time is 40 minutes.

Take out and allow to cool. All jars should seal in 24 hours.  

My jars look so rich and yummy.  

I love homemade marinara.  I was down to my last 2 pint jars.  I have another batch going as I type.  I hope to finish it tomorrow.  Even though I am only getting 6 jars per run that will add up.  I really want at least 30 jars this year and if I am lucky enough more.  

I still need to can more Black Bean and Corn Salsa. Although I just canned some in June it is almost all gone.  My daughter loves it and we use it around the house quite a bit.  Hopefully, my tomatoes will continue to do well and I can get some canned tomatoes done as well.  

TOMATO BASIL MARINARA 

Ingredients

• 12 pounds tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons kosher or sea salt
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 2 cups fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup mix of oregano leaves, thyme, and parsley
• 6 to 8 cloves garlic 

Directions

• Wash tomatoes. cored and rough chop then put into a large stockpot.  You do not have to peel them because you are going to use a food mill later to get the seeds and skins off.  
• Wash and rough chop basil, thyme, parsley and oregano and put into the stockpot with tomatoes
• Rough chop garlic cloves and add into the stockpot.
• Next add, brown sugar, salt, balsamic vinegar and black pepper. 
• Bring to boil then reduce heat and allow to simmer at least 4 hours.
• Run tomato mixture through a food mill to remove seeds and skins.  Do not throw this away.  See note.
• Place marinara into a clean stockpot and allow to cook until thickened.
• Sterilize jars.  This makes 6 pints.
• Put 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into each pint jar.
• Ladle marinara into pint jars and place lids and rings on to finger tight.
• Put into water bath canner for 35 minutes.  Quarts go 40 minutes and require 2 tablespoons lemon juice.
• When time is up turn off heat and allow to sit an additional 10 minutes before removing.
• Allow sitting for 24 hours.  Jars should all seal in this time frame.  If they do not you can re-process or put in the fridge. 

I really just rough chop everything because I run it through a food mill and this will finish crushing the cooked herbs, tomatoes, and garlic. 

I clean my stockpot prior to putting in the finished marinara from the food mill.  You do not want anything left in your stockpot when you are cooking down your marinara.  I have a couple of stockpots but one is my favorite.  

The 10 minutes without the heat is to help from any boil-down and loss of liquid (marinara). 

NOTE:  If you keep the skins and seeds you can dehydrate this and make a powder out of to add to stews, soups, or oils.  

If you wish to take your skins off, the easy method I have found is by roasting them in the oven until the skins just start to blister and brown.  As soon as you take them out of the oven remove the skins with tongs and keep because you can dehydrate them to make a powder as well.  

A lot of times I double this recipe.  I also can some quart jars because in a lot of my recipes I need more then a pint so this works easy and helps on space on my canning shelves.

ENJOY!!