Enchilada Sauce Canning Recipe

It's tomato season around here! The garden is producing which has me busy and not running about looking at wild plants. While this is not a wild edible recipe, it is a recipe that can be served with wild edibles in the future. It's also fantastic so I thought I would share!

I like a little spice so that is what this Enchilada Sauce has. If you go to Taco Bell and order the hot sauce for your burrito and not the mild sauce you will have about the equivalent spiciness. There is some tingle in the mouth but not an all out burn.

Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 bushel of tomatoes (about 25 lbs., it's the size of a case of paper)
2 heads of garlic
2 large onions
1 cup vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
3 T ground chipotle chili pepper
3 T chili powder (less for milder taste)
2 T cumin
2 T oregano
2 T salt
1 T cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions:

Wash and roughly cut up tomatoes and onions and place in four large baking pans (should fill up both racks in your oven).  Break up heads of garlic and add cloves to pan.  You do not need to take the skin off of the cloves. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours or until the tomatoes are all shriveled up and are floating in their own juices (will be clear).

Here is the important part and will keep you from having to wait all day while your sauce thickens! DRAIN your tomatoes in a colander.

You can either run your tomatoes through a food mill to extract the sauce and remove the skins and seeds or you can use the method I have which is actually very quick.  Take your tomatoes and blend in a blender. You will have to do this in sections. 

 

Pour sauce into a fine mesh strainer over a deep pot, agitate mixture (I also tap strainer on the top of the pot beneath) until the sauce falls below and the skins and seeds are left in the strainer. This really works. What you have left is a thick sauce ready for any final ingredients, and additional simmering to thicken further if you prefer.

 

Leftover tomato skin and seeds.  You can dehydrate this and grind to use as a thickener for soups and sauces or just add to compost!

Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Simmer 10 minutes or longer if you prefer an even thicker sauce.  Prepare your jars.  You will need approximately a dozen pint jars (varies depending on type of tomato, etc.).

Ladle hot liquid into jars, wipe edges with a damp paper towel and seal with lid and ring.  Water bath for 30 minutes.