Monday 3 September 2007

Grandma's Chili Sauce

6 cups chopped, peeled tomatoes
2 cups finely chopped onions
2 cups each chopped apples, pears, peaches
1 cup diced celery
2 sweet green peppers, diced
1 red pepper, sweet or hot seeded and diced
1-1/2 cup white or cider vinegar
1 tbsp pickling spice placed in a tea ball, or tied in a cheesecloth bag
2 tsp pickling salt
2 cups granulated sugar

Combine all ingredients except sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 hours. Add sugar and simmer for another 1/2 hour until desired thickness is obtained. Stir occasionally. Watch that the sauce does not stick, especially toward the end of cooking.

Place in hot canning jars. Process for 20 minutes in canner.

Makes 8 cups. ( I got just under 12 cups of sauce today after 2 hours and 15 minutes of cooking. I could have simmered it more with the lid off to make it thicker, but last year I scorched the pan and had to throw out some of the batch. Today's sauce is really good and is thick enough for me)

From the book Small Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard (a great book!)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know about making the chili sauce, but I think I could eat the raw ingredients there in the picture straight with a spoon. The vegetable equivalent of eating raw cookie dough? :)

Ruth said...

Actually, it is like a fresh salsa before it is cooked...very tasty, but it wouldn't keep through the winter.

Unknown said...

What do you suggest serving this with?

I'm giving it a go as I type, since I had most of the ingrediants already. Looks tastey!

Ruth said...

Hi Peter- I use Chili sauce like some people use ketchup. I like it on meat, especially pork and beef, and on eggs. I like it with slightly melted Brie cheese on Ryvita crackers. Hmmm...making myself hungry!

Unknown said...

Thanks Ruth. We used some for a southern style salad today as a dressing.

Lettuce, baby spinach, sliced red onion.

I put a flank steak on the cast iron and fried to medium doneness, and let it rest. Sliced against the grain into thin thin strips and included a few into the salad with lots of the chili sauce.

Yum!

Ruth said...

Peter- Sounds like you are a great cook!