Homemade Jars of Sauce

[scrappydappydoo]

I was think about about making my own jars of pasta sauce to store in the cupboard not the freezer.
We have some jar left over from jam making so I'd use those but do I have to do anything to the sauce to make it suitable to store in a cupboard?
Also what other things can I make apart from pasta sauce?

I would have thought you'd need to use preservatives if you want to keep pasta sauces in the cupboard. Not sure what they are are or how you'd go about doing it though. Is there a reason why you don't want to put them in the freezer?

I make chutney as we get through quite a lot. Plus i give it to family & friends too. Or you could try pickling? Onions or beetroot perhaps?

Just lack of room in the freezer and also being able to take them camping. Plus I thought it would make me look all domesticated

You probably won't be able to just 'keep' it in the cupboard unless you can get the jar and lid sterilised and the jar sealed.

You'd need to put your oven to a high temperature, wash the jar in very hot soapy water, rinse it, and then leave it in the oven for 10 minutes to sterilise it. Meanwhile, put the jar lids in some boiling water for 10 minutes.

Once that's done, heat the sauce thoroughly (so that it's too hot to eat).

Take the jar from the oven and put the sauce in to it. Best to use a jam funnel for this. Then take the lid from the boiling water, dry it and close the jar up. Wipe it down with a dry cloth and leave to cool.

It does depend on the quality of the glass and the quality of the lid as to whether or not the jar survives and the food stays sterile. If it does they'll keep for weeks.

A better solution IMO are Kilner jars or Parfait jars, which you can buy at lots of places (such as Lakeland). The same washing and sterilising approach applies.

Preserving stuff is very efficient so long as you've got the cupboard space. For some other useful tips I really recommend Marguerite Patten's "Basic Basics - Jams, Preserves and Chutneys" which is full of handy ideas.

Isn't there a preserving technique where you have to boil the sealed jars with contents so that you create a sterile vacuum? (Disclaimer. Could have dreamt that one...)

hmm - might have to make room in my freezer after all. I just thought it might be an idea as I sometimes find it so much easier to open a jar than make a sauce from scratch every time..

You need to google bottling foods for preserving.

Way back before freezers were common my mum used to bottle fruit in order to preserve it. Sometimes it used to ferment and the results weren't pretty.