Uli can i ask for your advice please

ive got some left over tomatos that wont fit in my relish pot and ive done the first part of roasted sieved tomatos now i want to make hughs tomato ketchup recipe BUT i notice on the bottom of the recipe it says will keep in fridge for 4weeks? is there any reason why it cant be bottled and kept in pantry? (i. e botulisim etc) http://www.guardian.co. uk/lifeandstyle/2007/aug/18/recipes. f
oodanddrink

Your link doesn't connect purplegoanna. Now remember I am not being ungrateful as you have just bagged me for being, I am just saving you some time. Check the link, you may have left something off. If you haven't then maybe you could actually post the recipe here so uli doesn't have to use up her own broadband allowance.

For what it is worth, I did Hugh Fearnely Whittingstall's oven roasted tomato sauce, bottled it hot, in sterile bottles, waited till they cooled and the lids 'popped', before storing in the cupboard, and have not yet been poisoned.

Botulism is mostly a concern with bottled meats and seafoods.

Of course, once I'd sieved the sauce, I did reheat it to boiling hot again, before bottling.

I saw your other thread and the ketchup will keep in sealed, sterile bottles. He should have added, in the recipe, that once it is opened, it will keep for 4 weeks in the fridge.

I hope my help is not too unwelcome. If so, say so. I still have time to delete.

Roast tomato ketchup

Another one where the spice mix is yours to customise - but please don't kill off the essential tomatoeyness of it. Makes about a litre.

1 litre roast tomato sauce (see preceding recipe)

100g soft brown sugar

100ml cider vinegar

Pinch of salt

1 tbsp ground black pepper

Pinch of ground mace

Pinch of cayenne pepper

½ tsp ground allspice

½ tsp ground coriander

2 bay leaves

Put the tomato sauce into a large saucepan and add all the other ingredients. Cook over a low heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer gently, stirring frequently so the mixture doesn't stick, for about 45 minutes, or until the sauce is reduced, thick and rich - it doesn't have to be as thick as bottled ketchup, though. Taste and adjust the flavour as necessary with a little more salt, sugar, cayenne pepper or vinegar. Leave to cool, then pour into sterilised bottles and seal. The ketchup will keep in the fridge for up to four weeks.

Here is the full link for buzzy110 (the link went over into the next line and wasn't "activated")

http://www.guardian.co. uk/lifeandstyle/2007/aug/18/recipes. f
oodanddrink

After reading the recipe I would think that I personally would bottle it "properly" if I wanted to keep it for longer - however 1 liter wouldn't last more than 4 weeks here anyway :)

With bottling I mean that the tomato sauce goes into jars and then the lids and bands get screwed on and then the whole lot is cooked in a water bath until the contents bubbles (=cooks). At that stage I check the time and simmer it for another 30 minutes. Once the time is up I lift the jars out onto a double folded towel and put another one over the top, so the jars cool down slowly and evenly and suck in the lids.

Then you can happily keep it in the pantry for years and just put the jar you have opened into the fridge.

The beauty of that method is that it doesn't matter if the jars haven't been held in boiling water etc, as the whole lot gets boiled again.

I know that in NZ "bottling" goes the easy way: filling a hot jar with hot tomato and sealing it. However if you do that then you need to be extra clean, as otherwise any bacteria inside the jar will multiply over time. Especially at pantry temperatures.

I have never bottled that way except for times when I made jam with half fruit and half sugar and nothing will grow in that stuff ...

But if I would have to do it that way I would probably do the following: jars and lids coming straight (and still hot) out of hot dishwasher together with the ladle so its all really clean. Then ladle the boiling sauce into the hot jars and seal.

I wouldn't use any dish cloth to wipe the rims, no spoons that were hand washed or jars that were hand washed and dried.

Good luck with your sauce!

ange164 - that is the recipe we talk about LOL :)

I would err on the side of caution. I wouldn't bottle that recipemyself. Hugh is right, not to suggest you could.

Could you freeze it as an option if unsure or inexperienced in bottling?

thanks guys... . its so similiar to a tomato relish base with the sugar and vinegar it made me wonder why he mentioned it had to be used within 4 weeks hence my question... . i got just over 2ltrs which will last us a while... ... btw my bottling process is washing the already clean jars & bottles in extremely hot soapy water then placing in hot oven with lids until dry (15mins), i then use oven mitts to pull them out one at a time fill them with the hot mixture and place the hot lid on, everything stays in the oven until its ready to be used, then any that dont pop down get given to family for immeadiate use... . . havent had any problems so far but theres no reason why i cant reboil the jars/bottles after. Another Q along a slightly diff line but if my stored jars of preserves are still popped down does that meant theyre still safe? put another way cans botulisim etc grow in a perfectly sealed jar? (Biddy you will note i was laughing in the other thread! )

my freezer is tiny and already jam packed, ive bottles for years but never made or bottled tomato sauce and thought it odd the recipe i found said to use within 4 weeks and no option for bottling. hence asking... . .

Tomato and sauce are fine to bottle the way you usually bottle fruit, they're fruit and fairly acid. Botulism is a risk with non-acid foods, especially proteins such as meat, fish and shellfish.

I bottle plain tomato puree using the overflow method, but as Uli says, with the lids, bands and utensils freshly boiled and clean hot, well heated bottles - 100 deg for half an hour or so - boiling tomatoes, and a clean no-touch technique.