"But actually it isn't all that difficult to know the approved ones as there are so few of them for spaghetti sauce since it is a low acid product. NCHFP/USDA publications, which includes the ones in So Easy to Preserve, and those in the Ball/Bernardin books. That's it. There aren't any in Small Batch Preserving." Well, it may not call itself spaghetti sauce, but there is "Chunky Basil Pasta Sauce" with fresh herbs and veges in Small Batch Preserving, and also "Roasted Vegetable Pasta Sauce" with both veges and fresh herbs in Small Batch Preserving, and also "Seasoned Tomato Sauce" with veges and fresh herbs that Small Batch Preserving suggests using in "pasta sauces, soups, stews, pizza, or casseroles." So, although the OP did leave the door open to reasonable questions about recipe safety, it is also good to take care in making broad statements about recipes which include such phrases as "there are no recipes which. . .", or "all approved recipes for (pasta sauce, salsa, whatever) MUST be. . ." since there may well be a safe recipe which allows such processing. For example: you CAN use fresh herbs in the approved NCHFP spaghetti sauce recipe, as this email from Elizabeth Andress states: Thank you for visiting the National Center for Home Food Preservation. > question -> Spaghetti Sauce without Meat: > 1. Can I eliminate the celery/peppers completely? > 2. Can I use fresh herbs or only dried? > 3. Can I add basil (fresh or dried)? > 4. Can I eliminate the sugar? For our particular procedures: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_03/spaghetti_sauce.html You can leave out the celery and peppers completely, leaving everything else the same. (The mushrooms are already optional, also.) If you use fresh herbs, make sure they are very clean. I can only recommend using the equivalent volume measures, though, and that may not give you the flavor you desire. Eg., instead of 2 TBSP dried oregano, use 2 TBSP minced fresh oregano. I do not have enough information to know the upper limit on how much fresh to add, so that's all I can suggest without testing. (which we cannot do). You can use basil as a substitute for one of the other herbs (eg, you may not want the parsley with basil). Or, if you are leaving out the celery and peppers completely, you could add 2 to 4 TBSP of basil. Yes, you can eliminate the sugar in this recipe. The chopped celery and/or peppers and the sugar add a little moisture/liquid in many recipes. In this particular sauce, however, it is cooked down to thickened consistency anyway, so the amount of liquid that would be added by these ingredients would not be important as it might be in other types of food products/mixtures. Best wishes, Elizabeth Andress -------------------------------------- Elizabeth L. Andress, Ph.D. Project Director, National Center for HFP Professor and Extension Food Safety Specialist Department of Foods and Nutrition The University of Georgia 208 Hoke Smith Annex Athens, GA 30602-4356 Phone: (706) 542-3773 FAX: (706) 542-1979 -----------------------------------------------

Ann, that is the ONLY way I'll eat pasta with a tomato sauce. I do it simply, I just toss hot whole wheat pasta (no white stuff, it's too much like eating paste in first grade!) with diced tomatoes, fresh basil and some parmesan. Sometimes I get a wild streak and add julienned fresh fennel and green onions or shallots or leeks, whatever I have. For straining tomatoes, I use one of these. It's called a Squeezo, my old one is all stainless steel, the newer ones are more plastic and are called "food mills". Villaware makes a nice one but they are far more expensive than that $2.99 sieve. Mine was the right price, my mother gave it to me because she doesn't use it any more so it was free! I liked my Foley food mill, but gave it to Doucanoe when I got the Squeezo, I didn't need both. That looks more like a sauce pan, with a crank handle. It has feet so it sits on the side of a bowl, you crank it and the seeds and peels stay in the bowl and the juice and pulp goes through the bottom of the strainer and into your bowl. I don't have a picture but if you search for "Foley food mill" you'll find a bunch of them. Annie

I usually can this one but it can be frozen too. It's from the "Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving." I've taken out one clove of garlic and added a teaspoon of crushed red pepper for zip. Chunky Basil Pasta Sauce Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 8 cups (2 L) coarsely chopped peeled tomatoes -- (about 9-12 tomatoes or 4 lb/2 kg) 1 cup chopped onion -- (250 mL) 3 cloves garlic -- minced 2/3 cup red wine -- (150 mL) 1/3 cup red wine vinegar (5 % strength) -- (75 mL) 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil -- (125 mL) 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley -- (15 mL) 1 teaspoon pickling salt -- (5 mL) 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar -- (2 mL) 1 6-oz/156 mL) can tomato paste Combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, wine, vinegar, basil, parsley, salt, sugar and tomato paste in a very large non-reactive pan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes or until mixture reaches desired consistency, stirring frequently. Remove hot jars from canner and ladle sauce into jars to within 1/2 inch (1 cm) of rim (head space). Process 35 minutes for pin (500 mL) jars and 40 minutes for quart (1 L) jars in a BWB. Yield: "8 cups"

You can make a wonderful pasta sauce with romas and grape or cherry tomatoes. One was is to roast as Ginger says...but I cut the grape or cherry in half and the romas in quarters... Place on a baking sheet in one layer and top with very skinny slices of onion and some grated garlic....and sweet pepper strips if you like. Sprinkle all with Kosher salt and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. I roast at 300 for well more than an hour...things shouldn't brown but become syrupy a bit caramelized. Rough chop and toss with cooked pasta and top with lots of fresh grated parmesan cheese. Or you could do a more traditional sauce....I did a huge pot last week. I sauteed an onion and a sweet green pepper in a couple of tablespoons of EVOO. added 4 or 5 bug cloves of grated fresh garlic....and while that was sauteeing I started blanching and peeling the romas. I cut them in half and tossed them in the pot and cut the little tomatoes in half and just cooked a bit.. Cooked some pasta and put it all into a pasta bowl, topped with fresh grated parm and sopped up the juice with some home made bread. If I had cooked it longer, it would have thickened up....but I just cooked about 30 minutes total including the sautee time of the onions. Oh and lots of fresh cut basil and parsley on top! and invited the neighbors in! Linda C Here is a link that might be useful: Roasted cherry tomatos and pasta