Thickening Spaghetti Sauce

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I like to can lots of sauce, but have a hard time getting that super thick texture that is in the store bought sauces. I don't want to use tomato paste, as I would have to actually "buy" it!!! Usually I put it in a roaster in the oven overnight to let it cook down, but it still isn't really thick.

This morning I posted some spice mixture recipes here, and in the spaghetti sauce recipe it mentions using corn starch. I had never thougth of this to thicken the sauce. Has anyone tried it, does it affect the taste a lot? Is it a "healthy" ingredient? What do you all think????

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), April 04, 2002

Answers

I use corn starch for thickening. The only trick to it is that you MUST mix it with a small amount of cool water in another container (I use a measuring cup) before adding it to what you want thickened. Then, add corn starch and water mixture to your spaghetti sauce, stir, and heat till it thickens. Tinker with the amount of corn starch till you get it like you want. Start small.

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), April 04, 2002.

Melissa, when I can my tomatoes I like to scoop the seeds out into a seive set over a bowl, a lot of the thinner juice goes into the bowl and we love to just drink it. The rest of the tomato cooks down into a pastier consistancy in much less time. I put it in a heavy saucepan on the lowest heat and just let it go until it is pretty thick. You also might try growing some of the paste tomatoes such as Opalka, Polish Linguisa or Princepe Borgese, these are all heirlooms. If you go over to gardenweb.com and look on the tomato forum you will find lots of good info.

-- kim in CO (kimk61252@hotmail.com), April 04, 2002.

Those varieties sound interesting. I have one of those Victorio strainers, and I use the "salsa" screen, so it comes out chunky style with the seeds and skins pretty much ground up with it. I should just let it set for a while and drain a lot of the juice off and can it seperately. Now that I have a second refrigerator I can try that too.

I am getting lots of interesting ideas here and on the Cooking and Crafts site as well. That is what I love about these sites, so many things that I haven't really thought about!!!

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), April 04, 2002.


Melissa, Plant some varietys of plum tomatoes, these work better for sauce, Now a little trick I use for thickening is those instant potatoe flakes, they will thicken soup, and sauces, and not change the flavor. They have some in cans now, that have a lid, so will keep longer.

-- Irene texas (tkorsborn@ cs.com), April 04, 2002.

I do my final "cook down" for my sauce before canning in the crock pot, which allows it to get plenty thick without a lot of attention. But yes, in the past have used corn starch and it works just fine. I use it all the time when I make sweet and sour sauce.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), April 04, 2002.


Any grated cheese will also thicken any sauce and add to the flavor.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), April 04, 2002.

Also, you can dehydrate your tomatoes and then run them through a food processor and make a powder. You can get about 100 tomatoes in one quart jar. Then you just add some tomato powder to thicken it up. You can also grind up dried beans (like a great northern or something else on the bland side) and put a little bean flour in there.

-- Marci in NE Ohio (Marci@amazinggrazefarm.com), April 04, 2002.

My spagheti sauce isn't as thick as I'd have liked it to be, so I just added 1/2 can tomatoe paste, that I picked up in a damaged merchandise store for $.20 a can. It thickened it up really nice.

-- Kelle in MT (KelleMT@yahoo.com), April 04, 2002.

Melisia I plant and use only roma tomatoes for my spaghetti sauce . I run the tomatoes through my squezo strainer then put in plastic bags and frezee . Take out put in pot bring to a boil add spices and then add spaghetti by the time it is done the sauce is thick from the starch in the spaghetti. Hope this helps this has worked for me every time . Sorry for the spelling. Country Friend Jack Bunyard

-- Jack Bunyard (bunyard@cnz.com), April 05, 2002.

I read in (I think) an old Countryside that someone's mother made tomato paste by cooking the sauce down and then spreading it out on boards in the sun. She kept stirring it up and spreading it out until it was thick enough to roll into balls. The balls were then stored, covered in olive oil, in stoneware crocks--no canning at all. When she wanted sauce, I think she used just part of a ball mixed with water to the thickness she wanted.

-- Cathy N. (eastern Ontario) (homekeeper86@sympatico.ca), April 05, 2002.


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