Pizza Sauce

This recipe is from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. You can fiddle with the amount of spices, and even add others if you wish, but do not alter the proportion of tomato purée to lemon juice, as this could make it unsafe to water bath can. The recipe calls for plum tomatoes, but I think you could use others if you like. The length of the "Preparation Time" depends on whether or not you have a food mill or Victorio strainer. If you do have one of these the prep will probably only be about 20 to 30 minutes. If you don't the prep will probably take about an hour. "Cooking Time" includes processing time.

• Ready In: 2 hrs
• Yields: 8 half pints

Ingredients

• 9  lbs tomatoes
• 1⁄2 cup bottled lemon juice
• 2  teaspoons dried oregano
• 1  teaspoon black pepper
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1  teaspoon garlic powder

Directions

1. Make the tomato purée: Cut the tomatoes into quarters, and pass through a food mill or Victorio strainer. If you do not have a food mill or Victorio strainer, blanch, peel, core, seed and chop the tomatoes. Place in a colander and let stand for 15 minutes. Discard liquid and purée tomatoes in a food processor fitted with a metal blade.
2. Measure out 13 cups of the tomato purée. If you have more than 13 cups, save or freeze the remainder for use in another recipe.
3. Place half of the tomato purée in a large stainless steel pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Maintaining a constant boil, add the remaining tomato purée, 1 cup a a time. Stir in the lemon juice, oregano, pepper, salt, and garlic powder. Boil hard, stirring frequently, until the mixture is the consistency of a thin commercial sauce, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat.
4. Ladle the sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars with damp paper towels to remove any sauce which got on the rims or the threads. Place the lids and the bands on the jars, just tightening the bands fingertip tight.
5. Process in a boiling water bath for 35 minutes, then remove and let sit, undisturbed, for at least 12 hours before checking seals. It is important to let them sit undisturbed for 12 hours because the sealing compound on the lids is still cooling and hardening, completing the seal. While the jars cool, you will hear a "plink" type sound from each jar - this is the jars completing the vacuum seal as the final air escapes the jar. After 12 hours have passed, remove the bands and check the lids - press down in the center of the lid. If you cannot push the lid down any further, the jar is sealed. If the lid "gives" a bit, and you can push it down, the jar did not seal. Place any unsealed jars in the fridge and use within 2 weeks.