So which of the approved-for-canning Spaghetti Sauce recipes have you tried and found them too sweet? The BBB, NCHFP, Small Batch Preserving, the Mrs. Wages or Ball packaged mixes? No point in us giving you recipes you have already ruled out. :)

Sugar is what makes it sweet and it is optional (EX: the NCHFP recipe calls for brown sugar but you can leave it out) but the variety of tomatoes used can have a little effect too.

Otherwise you can't just make up your own recipe and can it safely since you have no control over the pH or the density.

Dave

PS: linked several previous discussions about spaghetti sauce below

Here is a link that might be useful: Spaghetti sauce discussions

Most commercial sauces have sugar or high fructose corn syrup in them, which I'm sure you taste. Avoid grated carrot in recipes as that's a natural sweetener used in some recipes.

Also avoid non-canned recipes that call for chicken parts or pork as these meats also sweeten the sauce.

Below is the NCHFP safe-tested recipe with meat. The site also offers a meatless version. Delete the brown sugar. That doesn't affect safe processing. For more tartness or zing add some dry red wine. That's acid so won't affect safety either. Alternatively you could add just a bit of citric acid or a tablespoon of lemon juice.

Ellie Topp's recipe, which is posted on this forum, is a meatless basil pasta sauce with red wine that's plenty zingy and is safe for boiling water bath. I think you'll find it on the Favorite Recipes thread.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Spaghetti Sauce with Meat

Dave, lady,
Thanks for the info, exactly what i needed to get started choosing a recipe. Ill be looking through all the resources yuns reccomended...and i will probably have questions after that!

No worries Dave, i know better than to can my own creations. Im a very by the book girl when it comes to food safety.

Thanks again!

Please heed Carols warnings about the grated carrots - I've disappointed myself more than once by including the full amount in a recipe, then found the final product more sweet than I wished :) A slow learner, but I think I've got it now and haven't repeated that for a while.

The time that stands out in memory most was a cooking recipe, not canning, a Beef Bourguignon I was making to leave in the refer at my SILs when she returned with her family from an overseas trip. I added the grated carrot per recipe and was so disappointed in the final outcome, nothing I did to it disguised the sweetness or returned it to a more savory beef dish.

This is still my favorite. From Ellie Topp's Small Batch Preserving.

CHUNKY BASIL PASTA SAUCE
8 cups coarsely chopped peeled tomatoes -- (about 9-12 tomatoes or 4 lb)
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup red wine
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon pickling salt
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 6-oz can tomato paste

Combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, wine, vinegar, basil, parsley, salt, sugar and tomato paste in a very large non-reactive pan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes or until mixture reaches desired consistency, stirring frequently.
Remove hot jars from canner and ladle sauce into jars to within 1/2 inch of rim Process 35 minutes for pint jars and 40 minutes for quart jars in a BWB. Makes 8 cups.

Steve

Morz,

Thanks for the first hand account with carrots, but im sorry you had to have the experience in the first place!

Steve, its saturday night, i dont have to work tomorrow... so i may just give this a shot! Thanks a lot!

Just as something to think about. I have made the Ellie Topp recipe many times. It's one of my favorites and I routinely double or triple it.

However, for my taste the basil is too strong, especially after resting on the shelf a while. (Maybe the variety I used.) So I reduce the basil and increase the parsley, which I like much better. I just make sure the total amount remains the same.

Carol

I agree with Carol on that particular recipe - too much basil. I only use 1/4 cup. You can reduce it with no safety issues but you can't increase it.

Also, when you are looking at recipes, don't just check the ones labeled 'Spaghetti Sauce'. There are several really good seasoned tomato sauce recipes in the Ball books.

Dave

Carol, dave,

Thanks for the tip on basil. I grow sweet basil and i like it in small amounts. Im sure ill appreciate a sauce more with a light basil flavor. So, if i decrease the basil, i need to sub in an herb to meet the total amount of herbs called for in the recipe is what i understand carol to be telling me.

My mouth is watering already!

No, that's what I chose to do because I like parsley in this sauce, but just reducing the amount as Dave suggested and leaving the parsley at 1 T. is fine too.

Fresh herbs are low-acid, so reducing the amount only makes the sauce more safe. (If an already safe-tested recipe can be called "more safe".)

Carol

Carol, dave,

Thanks for the tip on basil. I grow sweet basil and i like it in small amounts. Im sure ill appreciate a sauce more with a light basil flavor. So, if i decrease the basil, i need to sub in an herb to meet the total amount of herbs called for in the recipe is what i understand carol to be telling me.

My mouth is watering already!