Name: Tomato sauce in 1.5 litre (quart) jars
Prep time: 90 min
Cook time: 50 min
Ingredients: tomatoes; lemon juice ((bottled OR citric acid)); salt ((OR salt sub. Optional)); herbs ((dried. Optional)); basil ((fresh leaves. Optional))

The Ball / Bernardin Complete book has a tested recipe for canning tomato sauce in large 1.5 litre / quart jars.

The jars can really deal with a bumper crop of tomatoes like nobody’s business.

This recipe is designed for jars with two-piece lid systems. We used the 1.5 litre / quart Mason-style jars from Le Parfait, in their “Familia Wiss” line of jars. The jars are solid, high-quality glass as would be expected from the Le Parfait name, and the heavy-duty flat metal sealing lids provide a firm seal once the canning ring is removed.

To be clear, the USDA and National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) do not have access to the lab data from the testing on this size of jars, only Ball / Bernardin labs do, so you need to approach them with any questions, not the NCHFP.

For tomato sauce in regular-sized jars, see Canning plain tomato sauce.

Other 1.5 litre jar tomato recipes:

Tomatoes (whole, halved or quartered) in 1.5 litre jars

Tomato juice in 1.5 litre (quart) jars

Contents hide

1 Quantities of tomatoes needed
2 The recipe
3 Tomato sauce in 1.5 litre (quart) jars
4 Reference information
5 Recipe notes
6 Recipe source
7 Nutrition information
- 7.1 Regular version

Quantities of tomatoes needed

Thin sauce: You will need about 3.5 kgs (7 lbs) per 1.5 litre jar.

Thick sauce: You will need about 4.5 kgs (10 lbs) per 1.5 litre jar.

The recipe

Jar size choices: 1.5 litre (1.5 US quart)

Processing method: Water-bath canning

Yield: varies

Headspace: 2 cm (½ inch)

Processing time: 50 minutes

Tomato sauce in 1.5 litre (quart) jars

How to home-can plain tomato sauce in 1 ½ litre / quart jars. Directions from Bernardin Home Canning.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword Sauce, Tomatoes

Prep Time 1 30

Cook Time 50

Servings 1 varies

Calories 130kcal

Ingredients

tomatoes
lemon juice (bottled OR citric acid)
salt (OR salt sub. Optional)
herbs (dried. Optional)
basil (fresh leaves. Optional)

Instructions

Wash tomatoes. No need to peel or seed.
Take 6 of the tomatoes. Quarter them, and place in large pot.
Bring pot to a boil.
Use potato masher to crush the tomatoes to release the juices.
Lower heat to a steady boil.
Stirring the pot frequently, continue quartering and adding the remaining tomatoes as you quarter them.
When all tomatoes are in, let the pot boil for a further 10 minutes.
Tomatoes at this point should be juicy and soft.
Remove pot from heat. Let cool a bit if desired.
Strain the tomatoes a batch at a time to remove the skins and seeds. You can do this by pressing through a sieve or strainer, or passing through a food mill.
Put strained juice into a pot.
Bring juice to a boil, then reduce heat to a medium simmer, uncovered, until sauce reaches desired thickness.
For a thin sauce, reduce volume by one-third. For a thick sauce, reduce volume by one half.
This can take hours depending on the quantity of sauce you are using. The wider the saucepan or pot you have it in, the more efficient your evaporation rate will be. Aside from that, there really is no magic bullet to date to do this.
When the sauce has reached your desired thickness, you can proceed to can it.
ACIDIFY: To each 1.5 litre (quart) jar that will hold tomatoes, first add EITHER 3 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice OR ¾ teaspoon citric acid.
SEASON (Optional): To each 1.5 litre (quart) jar, optionally add 1 ½ teaspoons of either salt OR non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub.
SEASON (Optional): Add up to 1 ½ teaspoons of dried herbs. Suggested is either all of one or a mix of the following: dried basil, dried oregano, dried thyme, or Italian seasoning. Dried marjoram would also be acceptable.
SEASON (Optional): Add a fresh, well-washed, unblemished basil leaf to each jar.
Ladle hot sauce into jars.
Leave a generous 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
Wipe jar rims.
Put lids on.
Process in a water bath canner.
Process jars for 50 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.

Nutrition

Reference information

How to water bath process.

When water-bath canning , you must adjust the processing time for your altitude.

For salt substitute, non-bitter, non-clouding Herbamare Sodium-Free was used.

The steam canning researchers recommended that no canning over 45 minutes be done in the classic top-hat style steam canners because they might run out of water.

Recipe notes

The reason for what seems to be the painstaking way to add the tomatoes is actually to prevent separation of solids and water in the jars after canning. The gradual process kills an enzyme that would cause this.
The reason you add the lemon juice or citric acid first is that often in the “heat of things” while packing jars, people forget which jars they acidified and didn’t. By making it always your first step, you always know.
The book emphasizes, “These jars may be used to process tomatoes in a boiling-water canner, but only in those recipes for which a specific time is tasted for the size of jar. 1.5 L (quart) jars are not recommended for processing tomatoes or any food in a pressure canner, as suitable heat processing studies to determine safe processing times have not been established.”
Note this procedure is NOT certified for 2 quart jars, only 1.5 litre / quart jars.
The writers say, “Dried basil, oregano, rosemary or thyme and Italian seasoning mixes are excellent seasonings for this sauce. Use those preferred by your family. Add the dried herbs to each jar rather than trying to season the entire batch of tomatoes. Start with ½ teaspoon per pint (500 ml) jar — you can always add more when using the sauce.”
The writers also give you the nod to tuck a fresh bay leaf in :”Many families like to add a fresh basil leaf to each jar. This is acceptable but remember to use only unblemished leaves that have been thoroughly washed.”
All home-canned tomato sauce must be acidified or it’s not safe for consumption. The added acidity ensures a pH below 4.6, which prevents botulism spores from germinating.
There is no pressure canning alternative for this jar size.

Recipe source

Kingry, Judi and Lauren Devine. Ball / Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving. Toronto: Robert Rose. 2015. Page 362.

Modifications made:

none

Nutrition information

Regular version

Per 1.5 litre (50 oz) jar, with no salt added

810 calories, 219 mg sodium

* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com

* PointsPlus™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.