I am not a big canner myself either but let me try to answer you question(s) the best I can:

ONE: in canning process (let us just stick to tomato products), first you boil(cook) it for a certain length of time to kill most bacteria.

TWO: Most bacteria cannot reproduce or produce toxins in a solution with certain minimum acidity. They measure the level of acidity by pH scale. For example, maximum pH should not be over 4.6 (Just for the sake of argument), to assure that the bacteria will not have a chance to grow in it and produce toxins.

IN YOUR CASE:
The canned tomato (whole, minced, sauce) has already been canned to meet the the above requirement. That is , it has already correct acidity. So then you should not worry about re canning it, if you do not add fresh vegetables to it. Dried herbs (oregano, basil, parsley ..garlic powder ) do not change the acidity.
About Sugar:
Sugar is added just to hide and overcome the sour taste and it is a mature of personal choice, not a requiremen. So are pepper and salt.

So, as long as you do not water or fresh vegetables to it, you can make your own spaghetti sauce and can it using HOT WATER BED. That is, you do not need a pressure canner.

This recipe from NCHFP (the site you were thinking of?) calls for 1/4C of brown sugar but that can be omitted. Also calls for 1/4C=2oz=4Tbsp of vegetable oil so oil is not always prohibited. But it uses 30lbs of tomatoes vs 1C onion, 1C peppers or celery, 5 cloves of garlic and 1lb mushrooms for 9 pints - just under your 5 quart yield.

I think as long as you keep the low-acid veggies (and oil) to less than those amounts while still producing same or greater yield you'd be OK. I have no idea how many cans of tomato/tomato sauce you'd need to make up the 30 lbs of tomatoes (which are then reduced by half, but it sounds like you are reducing it quite a bit too). Red wine and other acids (vinegar) are fine to add, dried herbs are OK (but may change taste in storage). The big unknown is the density of your sauce vs the tested recipe.

Sounds like a lot of sauce to be making all at once when all the ingredients are coming from the grocery store and could be made at any time of year. I realize you are cooking this for hours and don't always have the time, but without knowing the density I don't know if you could use the NCHFP processing weight/time. Could you just make less and continue to freeze it, make more when you run low?

And since you do want to add onions, mushrooms, etc. to it then you do need to pressure can it if you do it. Just make sure it's "sloshy" and not thick.

Here is a link that might be useful: Spaghetti Sauce without Meat

My roaster is a 18 qt and I use about 60-75 lbs of tomatoes to make my juice, then cook it down til 1/2 of the pan, it makes about 14-16 qts of juice, but 7-8 qts of sauce. So 30 lbs of tomatoes, for me, would make about 3-4 qts otherwise 96-128 ounces. You can figure out how many cans of SAUCE to use from that. This will depend on whether the tomatoes are slicing/juicing or paste tomatoes. Paste tomatoes, for me, will reduce quicker and I don't cook them down as much, I get 5-6 qts of sauce out of the Roma type (not romas, but another variety better than roma).

The simple easy answer to your questions would be no, you cannot can it because one of the foundation rules of safe home canning is

"You cannot safely can your own made-up recipes because you have no idea what the density or the pH is so processing type and time cannot be calculated. Personal recipes should be frozen, not canned."

That's the simple answer from the approved guidelines and it is strongly encouraged that new or inexperienced home canners abide by that guideline.

Does everyone abide by that guideline? No. As long as you recognize and accept you are moving into a potentially risky area you are free to do as you wish within some limitations.

While canning already canned food is not recommended for several reasons, it is possible. The pH with already canned tomato products is usually ok as they add citric acid. But the density is still a possible issue.

So my first question would be what is the exact recipe you want to make with specific measurements?

Otherwise as already mentioned, yes you can always leave out any low acid ingredients you don't want but you cannot substitute others for them. Sugar (except in jams/jellies) is normally optional and can be left out. In personal recipes oil should be eliminated whenever possible or at least kept to a very bare minimum. Wine helps the acidity level so is no problem.

All the pre-cooking isn't relevant to the canning safety and has no effect on the processing time required. So density - the thickness of your sauce when it goes into the jar - is the big concern when it comes to determining the PC processing time.

Hope this helps.

Dave

It is not ever recommended to can your own recipes. There are cooking recipes and canning recipes. The two are not the same at all.
Your sauce should be frozen, not canned, or use a safety tested recipe from the BAll Blue book or any USDA/extension site.

I'm looking at the NCHFP recipe again. Yes, that was the site I couldn't remember the name of and I was posting from my phone at the time and didn't have the link handy.

So I can safely omit the sugar and the celery, right?

The mushroom and garlic proportions are the same to my recipe. I use one lb of mushrooms and about 5 cloves of garlic. Approx one cup onion. My herb proportions are the same as well.

I don't use that much oil though.

I guess I just have to figure out how much 30 pounds worth of tomatoes in in terms of canned tomato products.

My sauce cooks down to about the same thickness as any typical storebought spaghetti sauce like Ragu or Prego. I like to make it in bulk because I usually don't have the time to spend 8 hours simmering sauce just for dinner that night. I also have severely limited freezer space due to a teensy tiny apartment fridge.

That's why I was hoping that I could remove the sugar and celery and use commercially canned tomato products so I could pressure can my own.

Thanks for the advice!

Yes you can leave out the sugar and celery. And you don't have to use the oil either. A 1 lb. can of tomatoes should be approx. equal to 1 lb. of fresh. I don't buy them so I don't know how they are labeled - in lbs. or oz. or what but you should be able to translate the weight. And if you don't want to make that much then just cut the NCHFP recipe in half.

Dave

Yes you can leave out the sugar and celery. And you don't have to use the oil either. A 1 lb. can of tomatoes should be approx. equal to 1 lb. of fresh. I don't buy them so I don't know how they are labeled - in lbs. or oz. or what but you should be able to translate the weight. And if you don't want to make that much then just cut the NCHFP recipe in half.

Dave

According to the NCHFP, 35 pounds of tomatoes will yield 7 quarts of sauce. That's 1 quart per every 5 pounds of tomatoes. So in the NCHFP spaghetti sauce without meat you would need 6 quarts of sauce to equal the yield from the 30 pounds of fresh tomatoes called for.

Sugar and celery can be omitted. Wine can be added. Oil can be reduced but not increased. Dried herbs can be added at will but fresh ones must not be increased beyond amounts indicated. The same is true of the mushrooms, onions and garlic.

Your recipe will be more economical if you find a store where you can purchase institutional-size cans of tomato sauce. A #10 can would hold approximately 12-13 cups of product. Do read the label and make sure it's straight tomato sauce, which would be comprised of tomatoes, citric acid and possibly calcium chloride (a natural firming agent) and salt. No oils or thickeners or herbs (as canned pizza sauce might have).

Your finished sauce should be loose enough to move around in the jar a bit not excessively thick so don't cook it down too far. You could always further reduce it at the time of service and not need anywhere near 8 hours.

Carol