I love a good barbecue sauce, and while I’ve made many over the years just for the meal I was making, I’ve only canned it once many years ago. As the tomatoes are starting to go crazy in the garden, I was looking for various different sauces based on tomatoes that I could have on hand that would make mealtime quick and easy.

I pulled out my Blue Book Guide to Preserving (copyright 2013) and found a barbecue sauce that sounded good. One of the changes I made to the recipe was I didn’t use celery. I don’t think celery belongs in barbecue sauce, but that’s my opinion, and you’re free to use it if you like it. The other thing I did was I didn’t peel and core the tomatoes before cooking them. I washed them really well and cut them up. Since I knew I was going to be running everything through a food mill to puree the veggies, I knew I didn’t need to do an extra step when the food mill would take care of the skins, cores, and seeds. I also used chipotle powder instead of the cayenne pepper because I was out of cayenne. The beauty of canning recipes is that as long as you don’t mess with the proportions of veggies to acids (in this case the vinegar), if you want to tweak the spices called for in the recipe, feel free to do so. It doesn’t affect the safety of the recipe whatsoever.

Cooking time will obviously depend on how thick you like your sauce. The recipe calls for it to be the consistency of ketchup. I probably had a total cooking time of 5 hours, including cooking down just the puree before adding the rest of the ingredients. Cooking times will also vary depending on the types of tomatoes you use. I used mostly globe/slicing tomatoes and a few paste tomatoes that I had on my counter. If you use primarily paste-style tomatoes, the cooking time should be considerably less because paste tomatoes have less juice.

As is typically the case, the quantity of what you get and what the recipe says you will is different. The recipe says yield is 4 pints. I had double that and measured my tomatoes, so make sure you prepare extra jars just in case.

Barbecue Sauce

4 quarts chopped, peeled, cored tomatoes (about 24 large)

2 cups chopped celery (about 3 stalks)

2 cups chopped onions (about 2 medium)

1-1/2 cups chopped sweet green or sweet red peppers (about 2 medium)

2 hot red peppers, finely chopped

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 cup brown sugar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon dry mustard

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 cup vinegar (I used 5% apple cider vinegar)

Combine tomatoes, celery, onions, and peppers in a large saucepot. Cook until vegetables are soft. Puree using a food processor or food mill. Simmer puree until reduced by one-half. Tie peppercorns in a spice bag; add spice bag and remaining ingredients to the tomato sauce. Simmer until sauce is the consistency of ketchup. As sauce thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Remove spice bag. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust 2-piece caps. Process half pints and pints for 30 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Yield: About 8 half pints or 4 pints

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