We are currently harvesting tomatoes faster than we can eat them which is a very pleasant problem to have. The solution to this is simplicity its self. Get out the Ball Blue Book and bottle away. Last year I bottled the last of the tomatoes as chutney which I will do again at the end of the season but until then I am making tomato sauce as the Americans call it or Passata here in Australia.

The recipe is too easy. Just sweat some garlic and onion until clear. Add tomatoes and simmer for 20min. Then puree how ever you like (I did it in a blender), strain out skins and seeds (I didn’t do this as it seemed a shame to give all that yummyness to the chooks), place back in pot with a handful of chopped basil and reduce by half. Then place in hot bottles and bottle in a hot water bottler for 35min. You are supposed to add a tablespoon of lemon juice to each bottle but I forgot so we will see what happens.

With a bit of luck we will get a years worth of passata before the frosts come.

Cheers

Franky