June's traditional tomato sauce

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June’s traditional tomato sauce

Tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish (rather than as a condiment). Tomato sauces are common for meat and vegetables, but they are perhaps best known as sauces for pasta dishes.

Tomatoes have a rich flavour, high liquid content, very soft flesh which breaks down easily, and the right composition to thicken into a sauce when they are cooked (without the need of thickeners like roux). All of these qualities make them ideal for simple and appealing sauces. The simplest tomato sauces consist just of chopped tomato flesh (with the skins and seeds optionally removed), cooked in a little olive oil and simmered until it loses its raw flavour, and seasoned with salt.

Water (or another, more flavourful liquid such as stock or wine) is sometimes added to keep it from drying out too much. Onion and garlic are almost always sweated or sautéed at the beginning before the tomato is added. Other seasonings typically include basil, oregano, parsley, and possibly some spicy red pepper or black pepper. Ground or chopped meat is also common.

In countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom, the term “tomato sauce” is used to describe a condiment similar to that known in the United States as ‘ketchup’. In some of these countries, both terms are used for the condiment.

The use of tomato sauce with pasta appears for the first time in the Italian cookbook L’Apicio moderno, by Roman chef Francesco Leonardi, edited in 1790. But how about making your own tomato Sauce…

June Schneller’s vege garden bursts with produce.

If you keep it full, little weeding is required, offers the cheerful 81-year-old. Tomatoes are a summer standby – those she needs for the tomato sauce recipe passed down by her mother-in-law Vera Schneller.

In the past week June’s been cutting cabbages; broccoli is also growing, alongside carrots, parsnips, and celery.

There’s a stock of potatoes that June dug earlier in the year.

Next month, she will put down a new crop of winter spuds, covering them with frost cloth to protect from winter chill. The potatoes are one of her trademarks.

“My potatoes go around the place, up to Auckland, down to Wellington [to extended family].”

A mother of four, grandmother of 12, and great-grandmother to eight, June maintains gardening is good therapy. Cooking and knitting also keep her busy.

“I don’t do a lot of baking now. I don’t eat a lot of sweet things. If there’s something for Rural Women I’ll do something special.”

She’s been making the tomato sauce passed on by Vera for years. When her family was young she made and bottled enough to last a year. More recently, when husband Roy was alive, she made smaller quantities.

JUNE’S TOMATO SAUCE

Mix together in a big pot:

1.13 kilograms tomatoes
350 grams of apples
350 grams onions
85 grams of plain salt

Place all the following ingredients in a muslin bag and tie the bag up: 14g of ground ginger, 14g allspice 14g black peppercorns, 14g, whole cloves knob of garlic chopped peppers and chilli (optional).

Sit the muslin bag in the pot with the tomatoes, apples and onions. Boil and then simmer for two hours. Then use hand blender or food processor to combine mix. Add 350g of sugar and 400ml of vinegar.

Boil the new mixture for 20 minutes; pour into sterilised jars and seal.

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