RCP Chile Sauce

I just had too many tomatoes this summer. I decided to try to make a "Heinz style" chile sauce but without the sugar and corn syrup.

Chili Sauce

1 qt. peeled, cored and chopped tomatoes,
1 qt. cherry or grape tomatoes
1 cups chopped sweet red peppers, cored with seeds and white removed ( I used pimentos and, Italian frying)
hot pepper/peppers, any color,cored with seeds and white removed chopped, to your heat preference ( I used 2-3 jalapenos cut mild and chopped)
1 cup onion, chopped
1 TBS kosher salt
1-2 TBS pickling spices, depending on your taste (2 TBS –geo)
1 TBS celery seed
1 TBS mustard seed
1 cup vinegar ( I like a combination of cider and white)

In a blender, blend together the 1 qt cherry tomatoes with everything but vinegar and the remaining tomatoes . Add to saucepan with remaining chopped tomatoes and vinegar. Simmer until right thickness. Cool to room temperature and place in freezer containers. Top containers and freeze. It seems to freeze okay.

My Mom used to make it. I just buy the Heinz these days. I especially like it mixed with horseradish and lemon juice for shrimp cocktail sauce.

My Mom used to make it. I just buy the Heinz these days. I especially like it mixed with horseradish and lemon juice for shrimp cocktail sauce.

Howie:

What's on the Heinz label?

I especially like GeoC recipe for its lack of sugar. Wish I hadn't already used up the tomatoes. Maybe GeoC has a few remaining he could mail...

[Robin Garr]

I'm not Howie, but you got me interested:

Heinz Chili Sauce
12 oz
Tomato Puree (Tomato Paste, Water), Distilled White Vinegar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Salt, Corn Syrup, Dehydrated Onions, Spice, Garlic Powder, Natural Flavoring.

This bugs me because I don't like HFCS in principle, and I know the old Heinz Chili Sauce that I grew up with didn't have it. On the other hand, I really do like it as a umami ingredient, and I guess since I'm using it in condiment quantities it's probably not going to make me grow a third eye in the middle of my forehead.

It does p!$$ me off, though.

Not a lot of nutrition, fairly high in sodium, but again, I'm talking about using it as a spice, so that stuff isn't a killer as it might be in something I ate a lot of.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1.0 tbsp (17 g)
Servings Per Container 20
Amount Per Serving
Calories 20 Calories from Fat 0
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0 g 0%
Saturated Fat 0 g 0%
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 230 mg 10%
Potassium — —
Total Carbohydrate 5 g 2%
Dietary Fiber 0 g 0%
Sugars 3 g
Protein 0 g
Vitamin A 4%
Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 0%
Iron 0%
Copper —
Folic Acid —
Iodine —
Magnesium —
Niacin —
Phosphorus —
Riboflavin —
Thiamin —
Vitamin B12 —
Vitamin B6 —
Vitamin D —
Vitamin E —
Zinc —

Robin,

I learned to read food labels many years ago because I don't want a lot of the crap that's added and I don't like paying for crap that's added--it's value/price thing.

Generally, I avoid packaged foods as much as possible.

I think using the grape and cherry tomatoes and maybe the dead ripe tomatoes made it possible to omit any sweetener. I know next year when I make it again I will again use the cherry and grape tomatoes!

Concerning umami, I think the concentrated tomatoes provide a sufficient amount. Commercial products use corn syrup also as a thickener so they can use less of the main ingredient. It also shortens the cooking time needed. All the thickeners reduce the product cost.

I didn't process the sauce since I had no processing time levels for a sauce with that ratio of ingredients. I am very happy so far with the result after being frozen.

I think using the grape and cherry tomatoes and maybe the dead ripe tomatoes made it possible to omit any sweetener. I know next year when I make it again I will again use the cherry and grape tomatoes!

Concerning umami, I think the concentrated tomatoes provide a sufficient amount. Commercial products use corn syrup also as a thickener so they can use less of the main ingredient. It also shortens the cooking time needed. All the thickeners reduce the product cost.

I didn't process the sauce since I had no processing time levels for a sauce with that ratio of ingredients. I am very happy so far with the result after being frozen.

Why were you frozen?

Why were you frozen?

Hey this is Minnesota everything begins to freeze this time of year.

i make my mother's recipe which presumably was from her mother. it uses a small amount of sugar to balance the vinegar. my recipe calls for cinnamin, cloves and dry mustard. i've found that with the high acid, freezing isn't necessary. refrigeration works fine. i use it for smoked pork, beef or pork hash and for pot roast. cooking it every fall reminds me of my mothers kitchen.

I took my first container out of the freezer, thawed and opened up. It tasted fine except I can see the advantage of using a spice bag and removing it when the sauce was done rather than reducing the amount and throwing it in the blender. The flavor of the pickling spices is stronger than I would like. Next time I will bag the spices and remove them when the sauce is finished.