Old Fashioned Chili Sauce

Old Fashioned Chili Sauce

makes about 3 pints

(America)

Ingredients

4 pounds ripe red tomatoes

2 medium green peppers

2 medium sweet red peppers

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped celery

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped onion

1 cup white granulated sugar

1/2 cup light-brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tablespoons salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon all spice

1/2 tablespoon mustard seed

1/2 tablespoon celery seed

1 1/2 cups cider vinegar

Preparation

prepare the vegetables:

1.  In a large pot, bring a large quantity of water to a rapid boil.  Turn off the heat and add the tomatoes, insure the tomatoes are covered with the hot water.  Allow the tomatoes to stand several minutes.  

2.  One at a time, carefully remove each tomato to a work surface, remove the stem and peel.  When all the tomatoes have been stemmed and peeled, empty the water from the pot.  Coarsely chop the tomatoes and place them into the  pot.

3.  On a chopping board, halve, stem, and remove the seeds and ribs from the peppers.  Coarsely chop the pepper and place them into the pot with the tomatoes.

4.  Add the chopped celery, the chopped onion, the white granulated sugar, the brown sugar, and the salt to the pot with the tomatoes.

cook the vegetables:

1.  Place the pot over medium heat and stir the contents until all the sugar is dissolved.

2.  Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil;  reduce the heat and simmer the mixture, uncovered for 45 minutes.

3.  Add the cinnamon, the ground cloves, the all spice, the mustard seeds, and the celery seeds.

4.  Continue simmering  the mixture, uncovered for 30 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.

5.  Add the vinegar and continue simmering for 1 hour longer, or until of desired consistency is reached.

prepare for canning:

 Meanwhile, sterilize your canning jars, lids, and seals in separate  pans of simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set rings aside on a clean, sterile surface leave lids and jars in the hot water until ready to use.  Hint: the glass jars can be sterilized in your dishwasher by running them through a cleaning cycle.

can the chili sauce:

1.  Working with one jar at a time, remove it from the sterilizing pan (or your dishwasher), emptying  any  water out of it and placing it, opening end up on a clean, flat surface.  Add  1 tablespoon of lemon juice per pint into each hot jar.  Ladle your still hot sauce into hot jars leaving about 1/2-inch headspace. With a clean, sterile knife, remove air bubbles from the jar,  wipe the rim with a clean cloth to remove any spillage from the jar rim (use a canning funnel to avoid spillage).  Center a hot lid on the jar while avoiding touching the unerside. Apply the jar ring and tighten until it is fingertip tight.  Repeat the process  for each jar until all the jars and hot sauce are used.

2.  Place the sealed jars in  a large pot of boiling, insure that the pot is deep enough to completely submerge the jar in and covers it by at least  1-inch.  Process the submerged  jars in the boiling water for about 35 minutes but not less than 20 minutes.

3.  Remove jars from the pot (using a canning jar lifter) and place,  lid side up, on a clean  dish towel  to cool. Check for positive seal after 24 hours. Lids should not flex up and down when center is pressed.  For any jars  that have not completely sealed, remove the lids and rings; dispose of the lids you've removed (you can only use rings once . . . if the seal fails the lids CAN NOT be reused).   Check  the jar(s) that haven't sealed for defects (chips on  the jar rim, warped rings, etc.) and correct (for chips on  the jar rim, sterilize a new jar and transfer the sauce to the new jar . . . dispose of the defective jar).   Sterilize the rings and new  lids  and center the hot lids on the jars, apply the jar rings and tighten them until they are fingertip tight.  Reprocess the jars as in  step 10 above.