With my counter filled with tomatoes and peppers, I needed to get busy and do something with them today. My daughter, Amy, loved the sweet chili sauce I sent with her a few days ago, so I decided to make a double batch of that.
With Kleenexes, antihistamines and coffee at hand, I got the tomatoes washed and sorted, and ended up with my big soup pot full of ripe ones. I set them on the stove to simmer and soften.
Then I ran them through the colander to remove the skins and seeds.
I went out to the garden and picked all the remaining peppers from the potted plants I'd brought back from AZ last spring. These peppers never did get as large as those planted directly into the garden, but they performed pretty well.
With what I had left from earlier pickings, there were more than enough for the four cups of chopped peppers I needed for a double batch of sauce. Two large bags had to be stored in the refrigerator to be used for something else. None of my jalapeno peppers got hot this year, so I used all of these in the sauce. They are as sweet as red bells!
Tomatoes, peppers, onions, vinegar, sugar, salt and spices began simmering on the stove.
Two hours later, the sauce still hadn't thickened quite enough, so I transferred it to my largest crockpot and let it cook on high, uncovered, for the rest of the day.
By the time I got dinner dishes done, the sauce was ready to can. I could only find 2 pint jars and a dozen half pint jars, which turned out to be just barely enough. I now have one empty half pint jar in the entire house! This gives me 21 pints of sweet chili sauce for the year, which should be more than enough for both Amy and me. See that little vinegar cruet behind the jars? That is all that is left from the four gallons of vinegar I've purchased this summer!
With Kleenexes, antihistamines and coffee at hand, I got the tomatoes washed and sorted, and ended up with my big soup pot full of ripe ones. I set them on the stove to simmer and soften.
Then I ran them through the colander to remove the skins and seeds.
I went out to the garden and picked all the remaining peppers from the potted plants I'd brought back from AZ last spring. These peppers never did get as large as those planted directly into the garden, but they performed pretty well.
With what I had left from earlier pickings, there were more than enough for the four cups of chopped peppers I needed for a double batch of sauce. Two large bags had to be stored in the refrigerator to be used for something else. None of my jalapeno peppers got hot this year, so I used all of these in the sauce. They are as sweet as red bells!
Tomatoes, peppers, onions, vinegar, sugar, salt and spices began simmering on the stove.
Two hours later, the sauce still hadn't thickened quite enough, so I transferred it to my largest crockpot and let it cook on high, uncovered, for the rest of the day.
By the time I got dinner dishes done, the sauce was ready to can. I could only find 2 pint jars and a dozen half pint jars, which turned out to be just barely enough. I now have one empty half pint jar in the entire house! This gives me 21 pints of sweet chili sauce for the year, which should be more than enough for both Amy and me. See that little vinegar cruet behind the jars? That is all that is left from the four gallons of vinegar I've purchased this summer!
Looks like it turned out beautifully and is a nice way to productively use your over abundance of tomatoes and peppers. I ran out of pint jars this year too. I tend to use them alot of sauces etc because it is a better size for our families needs.
ReplyDeleteI was just looking at your sidebar and boy have you canned a lot this year. You need a total with how many gallons you canned. The mind boggles. I canned a bit of apple pie filling yesterday, but just four pints. I have one pint jar left and one half pint, but really I started with so few jars compared to you.
ReplyDeleteDang, granny...you've canned alot of stuff this year!
ReplyDeleteKitsap. Daphne & EG, yes, I've canned a lot this year. I've used all my jars, bought more jars, had jars gifted to me and given to me. I'm finished! I'm sure I'll never have a canning year like this one again, so I'll be drowning in a surplus of jars next year.
ReplyDeleteOh, no...Granny, please make it stop! LOL
ReplyDeleteErin, I wish it would!
ReplyDeleteHe he. I just spotted the tissues, coffee, and drugs on the counter behind the pot of tomatoes. You weren't kidding. I hope you feel better soon.
ReplyDeleteThat sauce looks really good.
LOL, Rachel...I didn't even notice them until I uploaded the photo. But they are always with me right now.
ReplyDeleteYou will find something to do with those jars, I bet. I have actually bought more than I've used so far, but we'll see how next year goes.
ReplyDeleteThat looks wonderful! I love sweet chilli sauce, but I didn't notice you put sugar in it - so why is it sweet?
ReplyDeleteMatron, yes it does have sugar, which I neglected to mention in this post. The recipe I use can be found at http://tinyurl.com/yasyvwp
ReplyDeleteNow I'll correct my error ;-)
you are a trooper!
ReplyDeletefeeling any better?
Kelli Ann, I actually do feel better this evening. I haven't taken any Tylenol, and for the first time in a couple of weeks I'm not running a fever and I don't feel achy. Yay!!! I think I'm finally getting over it!
ReplyDeleteHi Gran - it's amazing how abundant your harvests still are! I'm envying your non-New England weather right now. I can see how you're sad to have to leave your garden as it's still looking mighty productive.
ReplyDelete900 pounds of produce???! That's an accomplishment!
How did you get your peppers so big? And without much bug damage? Mine weren't that big at all and the ones that did come up got attacked by pests. I'm in awe of how much you grew and canned this year! What's a good resource to learn how to can tomatoes and tomato-based sauces?
ReplyDeleteKalena Michele, this was my best year ever for peppers! I started them all from seed, then just planted them out in the garden with no special treatment other than cutworm collars (after I lost two plants to those miserable worms). I guess it was just the compost rich soil and perfect weather conditions. I did have a bit of aphid damage early on, but they overcame it. The rich soil and abundant water were the wrong thing for the jalapenos though, as they never got hot. They were just as sweet as the red bell peppers!
ReplyDelete