Bottling pasta sauce...?

[Jessiebean]

I have a few of those tall glass bottles that tomato puree/pasta sauce comes in- they have a vacuum seal "pop top" sort of lid. I now have a few ingredients which I would like to make into a tomato pasta sauce and was wondering if I made it and then bottled it when hot (both jars and sauce) so the little buttons on the lid went down would it keep for a while? It can go in the fridge.
I am very new to all this putting stuff in glass jars bizzo but he relish and jams I have made have been good enough so far!

[Odsox]

We bottle lots of tomatoes every year both whole toms and purée, and have had no problems at all and they keep for at least 2 years.
The acid content of the toms stops any nasties or fermentation apparently.
We put hot tomatoes into sterilised jars and then seal the same as jam and as soon as it cools the lids "pop" down, although you can bottle them properly with the "hot bath" method.
Well worth doing, and in fact I grow varieties of toms just for bottling.

[patR]

I make pasta sauce the same way, i make sure the bottles are in a sink full of boiling water, make the sauce bubbling, then hoik the bottle out of the water, and ladle in the sauce while hot as poss, I always put a small layer of olive oil on top to act as a seal and mine keeps all winter...

[Jandra]

Mark the difference between pasta sauce and tomato sauce.

Tomatoes alone should keep all right with the hot bottling method, especially if kept in fridge. I'd check out the websites giving extra pasturisation instructions for after hot bottling. But if you add onions and other ingredients the acidity of the sauce plummets and I wouldn't want to keep that for longer than a few weeks in the fridge when hot bottled.

Low acidity=chances for the botulin producing bacteriae to multiply=danger. In chutneys and jams you have vinegar or sugar preventing bacterial growth, so that's usually safe.

Jandra

[theabsinthefairy]

I make lots of different sauces all year round from whatever we happen to have a glut of.

I bottle passata and pasta sauces with various different flavours - basil, garlic, oregano, chilli etc etc.

My method is to use jars and bottles (with the pop tops), I sterilise these by placing them in the Rayburn oven until they are hot.

Take out of the oven AND LET THEM COOL a little (handhot) before you put hot sauce in, otherwise the jars will explode, because the sauce and the glass heat/cool at different rates.

It is no fun when a jar of beetroot relish explodes against a white wall I can tell you.

Fill to the top - ensure that the jar you use has a lid that shows no corrosion at all on the inside otherwise the contents will spoil really really fast - screw on lid securely and turn upside down, then after about an hour cooling time, turn back over, and the top will pop.

I find my jars keep for months in the cool pantry, we are still using tomatoe sauces from September harvests now with no signs of spoiling.

I also make soups and curry sauces and store in the same way.

[Jessiebean]

Thanks for the replies, I was concerned about the keeping abaillity of a pasta sauce but I will do as suggested and keep in the fridge as well, we usually use a bottle of pasta sauce a week so shouldn't have it for too long!

[Cassiepod]

I don't know if this is a daft question or not, but when I make excess sauce I bung it in the freezer to keep rather than in bottles.
What's the benefit of bottling rather than freezing - does it keep longer or is it just the reduction in freezer space required?

[patR]

For me its the reduction of freezer space, and the quickness of just being abale to open a jar. I use the pop top lids as well, and only keep them in the larder area , its a stone barn so reletively cool even during a Portuguese summer. Mine keep for a year till next lot are ready...
Mind you I did have a nasty experience with a jar of pickled beets... the lid must have been faulty in some way, when we opened it, a huge cloud of tiny tiny flies enveloped the whole dining room.... yuck...I never dreamed they could live in vinegar..

[theabsinthefairy]

Bottling over freezing purely for freezer space - I struggle to get my meat in the freezer as it is, which is why I am still feeding some very big ducks instead of feasting on them!

[kiwirach]

We bottle lots of tomatoes every year both whole toms and purée, and have had no problems at all and they keep for at least 2 years.
The acid content of the toms stops any nasties or fermentation apparently.
We put hot tomatoes into sterilised jars and then seal the same as jam and as soon as it cools the lids "pop" down, although you can bottle them properly with the "hot bath" method.
Well worth doing, and in fact I grow varieties of toms just for bottling.

Tony, what varieties do you grow?. i'm interested in growing toms for sauce. i'm trying Amish Paste this year.

[Odsox]

Tony, what varieties do you grow?. i'm interested in growing toms for sauce. i'm trying Amish Paste this year.

I tend to grow a different variety every year ... still searching for the "perfect" tomato, although I don't think it really exists.
The year before last I grew Costoluto Fiorentino, last year it was Super Marmande and this year I am trying Brandywine.
I prefer something with a bit of a kick in the flavour rather than bland vaguely tomato taste.
One day ....

Other varieties I'm trying this year are Tommy Toe & Black Russian, but they are for eating fresh.
Let me know how you get on with Amish Paste and what you think of the flavour.

[theabsinthefairy]

Black Russian are lovely fresh and make fantastic salads and sauces too.

[Green Aura]

Have you tried Heinz Tony? (The tomato not the sauce ) We grew them one year, specifically for bottling. Pretty good, we got them from the States.

http://www.seedman.com/tomato.htm

[Odsox]

No I haven't Maggie.
What I like is the more acid types with a sweet after taste.

BUT ... I shall be back to growing more varieties from now on as I have just about finished refurbishing my greenhouse (more on that in another thread with pictures soon)
But then again, the two of us can only eat so many tomatoes in a year.

[Luath]

I don't know if this is a daft question or not, but when I make excess sauce I bung it in the freezer to keep rather than in bottles.
What's the benefit of bottling rather than freezing - does it keep longer or is it just the reduction in freezer space required?

I bottle produce because it's an energy-free storage method. Worth getting to grips with for uncertain times. Get your jars now!