Canning 101: Tomato Sauce and Peach BBQ Sauce

Wow, 40lbs of tomatoes doesn't sound like much but believe me, it is! Especially when you have to get it all done in a day. I'm in the process of canning tomato sauce today using a recipe that Barbara Kingsolver shared on her website. It looked much more simple, and productive, than any in my canning book so I decided to give it a try.My mom SO graciously purchased a new 16qt stock pot for me to make it all in. Thanks Mom! It smells really good! It takes a while to reduce (we're talking hours here people) so I don't have it canned up yet.

I also canned up some "Zesty Peach BBQ Sauce." This is a little twist on conventional sauce because instead of using tomatoes, it uses peaches (which I also have about 40 lbs of!)

Here's the recipe:
Zesty Peach BBQ Sauce

6 cups finely chopped pitted and peeled peaches
1 cup finely chopped seeded red bell pepper
1 cup finely chopped onion
3 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp hot pepper flakes
2 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp salt

In a large saucepan combine every everything and bring to a boil. Reduce and stir frequently until it is the thickness of commercial BBQ sauce. About 25 minutes.
In boiling bath canner process for 15 minutes for 1/2 pint jars or 20 for pint jars.
(I took about half of my sauce and put it through the blender to create a smoother, less chunky sauce- but that is up to you on how you'd like the consistency.)