It's that sacred time of the year again –when large Italian families gather outside their driveways, garages, or back patios at 6 am in their oldest clothes and old stained aprons (that they’re not afraid to ruin), pulling out their huge steel pots, giant plastic tubs and plastic crates full of mason jars, old bedsheets, and large wooden spoons. It's time to jar tomato sauce! Or as my nonna would say, "fare le giare!"
Growing up Italian, I've been blessed with many traditions, but jarring tomato sauce has always been closest to my heart. I feel fortunate that I am still able to share this joyous ritual with my parents – and now, I get to watch my niece and nephews join in on the fun. This late-summer ritual truly captures the essence of the season, family, and generations of Italian traditions – all in a jar!
Jarring tomato sauce (ph courtesy of Daniela Savone)
With summer ending in August, that means the tomato season is coming to a close, as well. So we preserve their freshness and seasonality year-round by jarring them! At home, we never had store-bought tomato sauce, but our basements were always stacked with these essential pantry staples, so we have a jar of passata on hand whenever we put a pot of sauce on every Sunday.
On the day we jar the tomatoes, you must be prepared to sweat through the August heat and humidity to put in a long day of lifting, stirring, washing, rinsing, cutting, crushing, and boiling. It's a very intricate process of breaking down plum tomatoes through cooking and puréeing, in order to preserve the tomato’s flavor year-round. But no one ever complains – because we all want to be there and take part in the oldest tradition of Italian households. But most importantly, we all want to enjoy a meal of pasta and fresh homemade tomato sauce.
Daniela in action! (ph courtesy of Daniela Savone)
As a child, on one Sunday at the end of every summer, I would wake up to piles and piles of bright red tomatoes spread all over the back patio, huge colanders with steaming hot boiled tomatoes, giant tubs lined with old bedsheets, and hundreds of squeaky cleaned glass mason jars all lined up along folding tables, each containing a dash of salt and a few leaves of our homegrown basil waiting to be filled with ladles of fresh tomato sauce.
Italians do it by the "bushel-full.” It's a massive undertaking – so the more family members there are to help, the better, though certain tasks are traditionally assigned only to specific members of the family. For instance, my dad is in charge of setting up the outdoor gas stove and boiling the enormous pots of water, tomatoes, and sealed jars of tomato sauce. My mom is the only one allowed to salt the large bowl of puréed sauce once it comes out of the 'passatutto' or tomato purée machine. It's a culmination of patience and physical endurance, but also seriously rewarding: The end results are so good, and we all love love love “Nonna’s pasta and meatballs” on Sundays – so much so that now even my niece Mila and my nephews Luigi and Aldo truly understand that you haven't put in a hard day of work unless you have tomato stains all over your clothes and tomato seeds in your hair.
Little Daniela Jarring in front of tomato plants (ph courtesy of Daniela Savone)
When my sisters and I were old enough to use paring knives, we were allowed to clean the tops and blemishes off that tomatoes, but my nonna used to be very particular about how we cut the tomatoes – so as kids, we were yelled at all the time for ruining her "pomodori." We soon graduated to crushing the tomatoes with a plastic masher through the "passatutto" (the tomato purée machine). Years ago we lived in our old house in the suburbs of NY just outside the Bronx, where my nonna had a massive tomato garden in our backyard that left us barely any room to run, play, or (God forbid) kick a soccer ball around, because if the ball went into her precious "giardino," you’d better be ready to run for your dear life. She and my dad were very proud of their garden. Back then, every Italian in our neighborhood competed for who could grow the tallest tomato plants and produce the most tomatoes. We used to use some of our own homegrown tomatoes when it came to the jarring day, but now that my nonna has passed, my dad’s tomato garden has reduced in size and we supplement homegrown plum tomatoes with bushels of market-bought imported San Marzano plum tomatoes. But most importantly, the tradition lives on.
Crashed tomatoes (ph courtesy of Daniela Savone)
The tradition that has been such a precious part of my life and my family's. One of those memories I'll always associate with summer and childhood. And even if it only comes around once a year, the day is about so much more than just filling jars with tomato sauce. Rather, it's a day filled with so much joy, laughter, and memories that will last a lifetime. This is the true heart of jarring tomatoes.
If you want to partake in the simple joys of life with your family and “get your hands dirty” (and your arms and elbows, too), here’s how to “fare le giare.”
All set up for jarring tomato sauce (ph courtesy of Daniela Savone)
What you’ll need:
-5 bushels of 50 lb imported San Marzano plum tomatoes (makes about 70 jars)
*You can order the tomato bushels through your local Italian delicacy store or gourmet market (I recommend Rega Rega D.O.P Pomodoro S. Marzano dell’Agro Sarrese- Nocerino tomatoes)
-Fresh basil leaves
-Sea salt
-Sterilized glass mason jars & lids
-1 large pot & a heat source (like a stove or outdoor burner)
-A few large bowls, paring knives, a funnel, a ladle, a large colander, a large wooden spoon
-An electric tomato crushing/puréeing machine (In Italian, we call it the passatutto.)
-Old bedsheets or towels
Cooking tomato sauce (ph courtesy of Daniela Savone)
Instructions:
1. Set up the burner outside & rinse all of the tomatoes.
2. Use a paring knife, remove the green stems on each end & any blemishes.
3. Cook the tomatoes in a large pot of boiling hot water. (They will quickly begin to break down & the skin will start to open & come off, meaning the pot will start to fill with tomato juice.)
4. Remove the tomatoes with a large colander & pour them into a large oversized tub lined with an old bedsheet & allow to drain & rest for a few minutes
5. Pour a ladleful of cooked/drained tomatoes, one at a time, into the tomato crushing machine or 'passatutto.' (This is the messiest part of the process.) With a potato masher, crush the tomatoes into a mesh strainer, where the peel & the seeds will separate from the rest of the tomato.
6. Run the extracted tomato pulp through the machine 3 times to fully extract every bit of moisture, leaving the peels behind (The filtering section of the machine needs to be cleaned every few minutes to keep things moving smoothly – and you can just discard the peels.) The machine will then pour out the crushed tomatoes, which should be caught with a large bowl at the bottom.
7. With each full bowl of sauce, add a touch of salt & stir. Once the sauce is ready, the jarring process begins.
Together is better! (ph courtesy of Daniela Savone)
8. Line up your sterile mason jars, insert 2-3 leaves of fresh basil & a tsp of salt in each jar *.
9. Use a funnel & ladle to gently pour the sauce into the jar, leaving about 1/2 inch empty from the top.
10. Place lids & rings on the jars & securely tighten.
11. Fill the bottom of the large pot with a dish towel (to keep the jars from banging around too much). Fill the pot with as many jars as you can, top with water & bring to a boil. (Boil the jars in this water bath for about 45 mins.) After 45 minutes, turn off the heat & once the boiling subsides, remove the jars from the water.
12. Let the jars cool at room temperature for 24 hrs with a blanket to cover them.
Jarring tomato sauce: mission accomplished! (ph courtesy of Daniela Savone)
13. Make sure each jar is tightly sealed. The center of the lid must be indented. (If the center of the lid is still up, the jar did not seal properly & must be used right away.)
14. Wipe the jars clean & store in a cool, dry place. (These jars will keep for a couple of years.) Now, you’ll have fresh homemade passata tomato sauce year-round – the Italian way!
*The day before (Saturday), carefully wash the jars with soapy water.