Mother's Chili Sauce
This chili sauce is from my childhood. It is a sweet chili sauce and I have altered the recipe somewhat over the years. Originally it was made with white sugar and white vinegar. I now use brown sugar and cider vinegar. I have also increased the amount of cayenne pepper for a touch more heat. I used to peel the tomatoes but I have stopped doing that. It just adds too much prep time and the product does not seem to be affected adversely.
This chili sauce is from my childhood. It is a sweet chili sauce and I have altered the recipe somewhat over the years. Originally it was made with white sugar and white vinegar. I now use brown sugar and cider vinegar. I have also increased the amount of cayenne pepper for a touch more heat. I used to peel the tomatoes but I have stopped doing that. It just adds too much prep time and the product does not seem to be affected adversely.
- Carbohydrate 18.4322498220163 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0.0257982 g
- Fiber 0.217332006053925 g
- Protein 0.162864600026911 g
- Saturated Fat 0.0068706 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (33g)
- Sodium 842.719267739766 mg
- Sugar 18.2149178159624 g
- Trans Fat 0.0054294 g
- Calories 72 calories
Step-by-step
- Dice the tomatoes, onions and green pepper. Place in a large canning kettle and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Stir the mixture a little. Cover and let stand overnight.
- Drain the accumulated liquid and place the mixture back into the canning kettle. Add the vinegar and spices to the mixture and boil gently until the desired thickness is achieved. This will probably take four hours if you want it thick. I boiled withthe lid on for a couple of hours before I reduced the volume.
- Once the desired thickness is achieved turn off the heat and stir in the brown sugar until dissolved. Place in sterilized 500 ml bottles and seal as you would if you making pickles.
- Store in a dark cool place. The sauce does improve with age. This recipe yields 12 500 ml bottles.
That nine-litre volume of diced tomatoes, onions, and green peppers hides a massive water weight challenge that no standard ingredient list can convey. Drawing out that moisture requires a deliberate overnight rest with coarse salt acting as an osmotic agent to pull internal juices from the cell walls. Skipping this foundational drainage step leaves you with a watery soup instead of a clinging condiment, yet many makers fail to realize that simply dumping the vegetables back into the kettle starts a four-hour evaporation marathon. Boiling down nine litres of produce demands heavy-bottomed canning vessels capable of distributing heat evenly across prolonged periods without scorching the natural sugars.
Assessing doneness visually replaces guesswork when thermometers fail to provide reliable metrics for thick fruit-and-vegetable purees. Dragging a wooden spoon across the bottom of the pot should leave a clear path that fills back in slowly rather than instantly flooding with liquid. Achieving this distinct channel requires maintaining a gentle, rolling simmer rather than a violent boil, which risks burning the brown sugar added at the final stage. If the mixture bubbles too aggressively near the end of the four-hour reduction window, reduce the heat immediately and stir constantly to prevent acrid caramelized pockets from ruining the batch.
Leaving the skins on the tomatoes saves significant preparation time without altering the final texture adversely, provided the dice remains fine enough to break down during the prolonged simmering process. When cheesecloth proves unavailable for the pickling spice, a clean metal tea infuser suspended securely from the pot handle fulfills the exact same purpose of flavor extraction while keeping loose seeds out of the finished jars.
