Can someone fix this chili sauce recipe so I could figure out how to make it? It was my mom's..?

Question

this was my mom's recipe (she is dead now)and it was very good and very mild sauce, good on hot dogs, kind of sweet.

Chili Sauce

1 Bushel of tomatoes
3 mangoes
2 banana peppers
½ hot pepper
1 ½ stalks of celery
5 lbs onions
salt, cinnamon and ground cloves
2 tsp. mixed pickling spices (in a strainer bag or cheesecloth)
2 cloves garlic
½ box brown sugar
¾ qt. white vinegar

that is all I could find of the recipe...

not exactly sure of the amounts of the salt, cinnamon and ground cloves...

I have a feeling the celery is 1 1/2 bunches not sticks.

we had a garden so not sure how many tomatoes in a bushel?

3/4 qt is how much cups?

She cooked it in a very large pot (20qt?).

I think she blanched the tomatoes and then put them thru a twirly sieve thingy that squished them and left the skins behind. what is the name of the twirly sieve thingy?

thanks lots of l...that is some help..yes a food mill..that was it.

mee maw, thanks I did wonder about the mangoes, because we never bought any wierd stuff, but we did grow sweet peppers and she maybe did call them mangoes...

sorry, that was mrs. momma who came up with the mangoes are really bell peppers idea..thanks..I had forgotten her calling them that and the mangoes had me scratching my head..

mee maw, thanks for the smaller recipe to try..will substitute bell pepper for the mangoes..I believe that my mom did call bell peppers mangoes, now that mrs momma reminded me of that.....

note- I could be wrong on the food mill..could have been used for tomato sauce....

yep, we are from ohio...good guess lots_of_ l..

Answer 1

Mangoes = Bell Peppers ??? Your mom from Ohio or Kentucky?

1. twirly seive thingy = a food mill
2. 3/4 qts is 3 cups (since 4 cups make a quart)
3. 1 bushel of tomatoes is about 53 pounds of tomatoes. That sounds like a lot of tomatoes...
4. I, too, think celery can be increased, but maybe not to 1 1/2 bunches of celery... I don't think you'd want to over-power the sauce with too much celery. It's one of those things where a little goes a long way and you'll end up with more of a tomato sauce than a chili sauce... Hmmm... looking at the ketchup recipe... maybe 1 1/2 stalks (not bunches) is correct.

Below is a website that has tomato canning tips... you can use it as a guide especially for the salt, cinnamon and ground cloves. Based upon the use of cinnamon and cloves, I'd recommend looking up recipes for homemade ketchup... this will probably give you the closest to what you're looking for.

Here's the ketchup recipe from the link below:
Tomato Ketchup
24 lbs ripe tomatoes
3 cups chopped onions
3/4 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)
3 cups cider vinegar (5 percent)
4 tsp whole cloves
3 sticks cinnamon, crushed
1-1/2 tsp whole allspice
3 tbsp celery seeds
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup salt
Yield: 6 to 7 pints

Please read Using Boiling Water Canners before beginning. If this is your first time canning, it is recommended that you read Principles of Home Canning.

Procedure: Wash tomatoes. Dip in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds or until skins split. Dip in cold water. Slip off skins and remove cores. Quarter tomatoes into 4-gallon stock pot or a large kettle. Add onions and red pepper. Bring to boil and simmer 20 minutes, uncovered. Combine spices in a spice bag and add to vinegar in a 2-quart saucepan. Bring to boil. Cover, turn off heat and hold tomato mixture for 20 minutes. Then, remove spice bag and combine vinegar and tomato mixture. Boil about 30 minutes. Put boiled mixture through a food mill or sieve. Return to pot. Add sugar and salt, boil gently, and stir frequently until volume is reduced by one-half or until mixture rounds up on spoon without separation. Fill pint jars, leaving 1/8-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process according to the recommendations in Table 1.

Answer 2

Your salt, cinnamon and cloves are probably measured by taste, cinnamon and cloves are usually added to greek dishes to give them a slightly sweet (cinnamon) and spicy (cloves) flavor

There are 53 lbs. of tomatoes in a bushel if you were to purchase them, according to commercial guidelines.

Your guess on celery being 1 1/2 bunches is probably right according to the huge amounts of everything else.

4 cups = a quart, so you would need 3 cups of vinegar for your recipe.

I noticed mangos listed at the top, these are probably bell peppers not the fruit mango, a lot of people call bell peppers mangos.

The pickling spices you can put in a tea ball, if you do not have cheesecloth or strainer bag and remove before serving. The purpose is to get the flavor from the spices without actually adding them to the pot for the finished product.

And your twirly sieve is called a sieve with a crank.

Sounds like she was making this sauce after too many tomatoes were left over after canning! Because this is part of the process of canning tomatoes.

I'm not sure how long to tell you to let this simmer (low, constant heat), but the longer the simmer the better, to let the flavors marry. 1/2 a day maybe.

Hope I helped, good luck!

Answer 3

OK. Let's see if we can figure this out. Let's divide the recipe by 3.

If 1 bushel is 53lb of tomatoes and it was 1 1/2 bunches of celery. I am thinking the garlic was probably 2 heads instead of 2 cloves 1/2 box of brown sugar is 8oz, and 3/4 qt. of vinegar is 3 cups. Let's give it a try!

Chili Sauce

17 1/2 lbs of tomatoes
1 mango
1/2-3/4 banana peppers
just a touch of jalapeno
1/2 bunch celery
1 1/2 lbs onions
salt, cinnamon and ground cloves to taste
1/2 tsp mixed pickling spices in strainer bag or cheesecloth)
1/2 head garlic or a couple of cloves (you decide)
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1 cup white vinegar


The purpose of blanching the tomatoes (dipping them in boiling water and then removing them) is so the skin will slide off easily. You can skin them before putting them in the sieve. All of the other ingredients could be pulsed in a food processor to chop.

Hope this works and you make lots of good Chili Sauce. I may give this a try myself it sound kind of like a recipe my mom made when we were kids----we called it red stuff. It was great on peas!

Personally, I would put the tomatoes (after skinning) in the food processor rather than a food mill and pulse it to leave the tomatoes chunky.

You did not say you wanted the recipe cut down in size, my bad. I still think I will make this smaller batch to see how it turns out. Then I don't have to worry about canning a lot of something we don't like. Thanks for the recipe.

Answer 4

check out a website like www.cooks.com.
You can find recipes that are similiar to yours. You can only guess at amounts. Try one batch - I think adding half of the spices to begin with. when it's cooking, taste a little. Don't cut back on the vinegar and you will need to have salt in it.

The thingy is a food mill. Handy device.

Answer 5

I wish I could help you... That Chili Sauce does sound good though :) Sry I'm no help. Good luck!

Answer 6

YOUR COCA COLA RECIPE DIDN`T TASTE VERY GOOOOD!
& IT WAS SOOOOO EXPENSIVE >=[