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Recipes

How To Make Homemade Sauce Better Than Your Nonna

This article is written by a student writer from the Spoon University at St. John’s chapter.

Every Sunday afternoon you wait for the smell of Sunday sauce to fill up your house. You can’t wait to sit down at your big family dinner and shovel in the delicious meal. Sunday dinners have become a tradition for many families over the years, but what if there was a way to bond over not only eating Sunday sauce, but making it as well.

Not much consideration is put into how sauce comes to be so delicious. But, what many don’t know is that by following these few steps your family can have a large enough sauce supply to last all year:

1. Buy Bushels of Tomatoes

Sauce apple cherry
Nicole Gallina

First and foremost sauce cannot be made without tomatoes. When making sauce in this quantity it is necessary to buy by the bushel. Approximately three bushels should last your family all year. A few local supermarkets should sell bushels in your area. Make sure to give them a call before you swing by to make sure they have them ready for your pickup.

2. Clean The Tomatoes 

Nice and simple. No one wants to eat dirty tomatoes! 

3. Boil the Tomatoes 

The next step is to boil the tomatoes. Place one or two large pots on the stove in order to make the process move quicker. These pots will be used later on as well. By boiling the tomatoes, they become softer which will make the next step a whole lot easier. It is recommended to boil the tomatoes for approximately 20-25 minutes. 

4. Run The Tomatoes Through The Tomato Strainer

Sauce steak coffee
Nicole Gallina

A tomato strainer may sound odd, but it is quite easy to use. You must simply put the tomatoes in the top part of the machine and begin to squish the tomatoes through the strainer. This machine keeps all the juice that is used to make your future sauce and removes all the excess material. Place one of the large pots that you used before underneath the machine so that you can catch all the tomato sauce. Continue this process until you fill up the pot. There is a link attached at the bottom of the article to show where you can purchase the tomato strainer. 

5. Boil Sauce 

Once you have filled one of your pots with the sauce that you now have as a result of the strainer, you must carefully move the pot to a burner for the sauce to boil. Make sure to constantly stir the sauce in the pot.

6. Jar the Sauce 

Sauce marmalade jam
Nicole Gallina

After allowing the sauce to boil for about 20 minutes you can begin to jar up the sauce in mason jars. This step can be a tad tricky since the sauce is already hot. In order to make this transition smoothy you can use a set of tongs so to pick up the hot jars. You can also wear oven mitts to keep your hands safe. 

7. Let The Jars Sit Until You Hear The Jar Pop

Once you have moved all your sauce into the mason jars the only thing left to do is wait. It takes a few hours but slowly you will hear every jar pop. Once you hear the pop the sauce is ready to go!

See, it’s that easy! Although this is an all day affair you will be swimming in all the sauce you have by the end of it. You and your family will be set for months of Sunday sauce. 

Nicole Gallina

St. John’s '19

Nicole is always seeking out new adventures and pushing her limits. Whether she's hiking on a forest trail that leads to a hidden waterfall, riding a zip line, or simply tasting her way through a food truck festival, a day spent with Nicole is a day you'll never forget. the word boring is not in her vocabulary. Tag along for a journey full of unique destinations and delicious meals.