Ugly Tomato Sauce

At yesterday's farmer's market we bought a paper grocery bag of tomato seconds—ugly tomatoes in house parlance—from a Willow Creek farmer, about 12 pounds for $6. Busting out my canning setup, I washed off the fruit, trimmed out the bad spots and cubed the rest:

From left to right, my pot of bubbling tomatoes, my white enamel jar boiler, a colander holding a very small portion of that 12-pound score, and my tongs and jar-lifter.




I had half an onion, some dried basil, a zucchini, and a large red bell pepper, all left over from a bag of goodies my neighbor gave me last week from an unclaimed CSA box. I chopped those up, too, and added them to the pot along with some salt and pepper and the last third of a bottle of Two-buck Chuck:

I let them cook down over medium-low heat while we got ready for, then played, our weekly Saturday night Pendragon game. After four or five hours I turned the heat off and covered it for the night. Canning would just have to wait for Sunday morning.



While we read the newspaper I brought the ugly tomato sauce back up to a boil, then turned it down to simmer while I sterilized the jars. Filled, cooled, and stored now, I have 14 pint jars of fresh vegetable tomato sauce to enjoy over the coming months. We also had enough tomatoes from the bag to use some in BLTs for lunch and cut up in a tossed green salad with dinner tonight. Total cost (not including my time):

1 case canning jars, $10.35
12 lbs tomatoes, $6.00
1/3 bottle of wine, $0.66
Assorted vegetables and herbs, $free from my neighbor

Total cost per jar: $1.22

Just for fun, go see how much a jar of spagetti sauce costs at the supermarket.