Jesse’s Spaghetti/Marinara Sauce

Ingredients

• 12 pounds tomatoes
• 2-3 medium onions (about 3.5-4 cups chopped)
• 2 red bell peppers
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• (In 2021 I used a bunch of banana peppers instead of just bells)
• 3 (6oz) cans tomato paste
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1.5 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar packed
• 2 T salt
• 5 cloves garlic chopped or minced
• 1.5 T oregano dried
• 1.5 T basil dried
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 bay leaves
• lemon juice for jars

Instructions

1. Fill a large pot or Dutch oven half-way with water, bring to a boil. Using a slotted spoon, add tomatoes one at a time until you can’t fit any more.
2. Boil for 1-2 minutes. Remove tomatoes one at a time with slotted spoon and plunge in an icewater bath. Peel and quarter tomatoes.
3. In a food processor, cover and process green peppers and onions in batches until finely chopped.
4. In a large stockpot, combine the tomatoes (do not discard excess juices from the tomatoes), onion/pepper mixture, tomato paste, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, salt, garlic, oregano, basil, pepper flakes, and bay leaves.
5. Fresh tomatoes in a skillet
6. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 4-5 hours, stirring every 15 minutes or so (tomatoes burn easily so keep an eye on it). Discard bay leaves.
7. Taste and add Italian seasoning or more basil/oregeno if desired.
8. If you want to make your sauce thick and smooth, use an immersion blender to blend the tomatoes until smooth with no large chunks (you can also blend it in batches in a blender).
9. Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice to 5 or 6 hot 1-quart jars (depending on how much sauce you have). Ladle hot mixture into jars, leaving 1/2-in. headspace at the top. Remove air bubbles; wipe rims and adjust lids.
10. Lemon juice is being added to glass jars prepared for canning
11. Process for 40 minutes in a boiling-water canner for altitudes of 1,000 feet or less.