Tomato Sauce.
When tomatoes start to ripen in their dozens, what can we use them for? A favourite in our home for many years has been to make them into tomato sauce.

So far this year we have been eating our tasty tomatoes almost as soon as we pick them off the bushes so we decided buy a case of tomatoes for sauce making. These cases can be bought from your local greengrocer for between $10.00 and $15.00 for ten kilos. If you live in Bendigo, you can also travel down Carpenter Street, heading away from town, go past the cemetery and look for the tomatoes for sale sign on the left hand side of the road. Here you will find a chap who sells tomatoes for sauce and chutney making at $10.00 for 1O kilos. I bought a case last weekend and got a dozen large jars of sauce from the tomatoes. You need to use these tomatoes as soon as possible or store them in a cool spot (such as a very large fridge!) as they are already very ripe.

The process of making our sauce is quite simple, however it is something that requires a few hours at home and it is best done on a cooler summer day as you spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

You will need:
4 kg tomatoes, 2 Granny Smith apples, 700 grams sugar, pinch of salt, 1 ½ cups Apple Cider Vinegar, 2 tblpsn of Italian herb mix, glass jars with suitable lids, recycling old sauce jars, pickle, jars etc is an easy way to get these jars..
Wash and roughly shop tomatoes, cutting out any blemishes, Place into a large heavy based saucepan. Roughly chop and core apples and add to tomatoes.
Bring to the boil on top of stove, stirring mix with wooden spoon. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and cook tomato mix until the tomatoes have lost all shape and are quite mushy, stirring regularly. (this can take about 1- 2 hours.)
Sticklers for smooth tomato sauce would now strain the mix, removing all skin etc. before going onto the next step. We like our sauce with texture, so instead, I turn off the stove and get a potato masher and run this through the tomato and apple mix until it is mashed to a texture I like.
Turn the stove back on and add the sugar, vinegar, salt and herb mix, stir well, increase heat until mixture is boiling again, reduce and simmer until the sauce has reduced in quantity by a 1/3 to a ¼. As to how long you cook it will depend on own personal taste, do you like a thick sauce or a runny one? You decide, either way the sauce will taste good.
While the tomatoes are cooking, you will need to wash the jars and lids in warm soapy water, rinse in warm water and place the jars only into a pre-warmed oven (160 degree Celsius) in order to sterilise the glass. I like to keep the jars in the oven for at least 1/3 an hour.
Once sauce is cooked, carefully pour into jars, you might find a soup ladle and spout will help here. Recently I bought the best silicone oven mitts that proved really useful here, not only did they protect my hands, they washed up easily after.
Place lids on top and tighten. Allow to cool before washing off any sticky residue on the sides, labelling with date and storing in a dark cupboard. Enjoy!

Variations: add garlic or other herbs instead of the Italian herb mix.