This tomato sauce recipe came down through one family for generations, it was so special that our friend had to swap her great Nana's tomato relish recipe to get it! We've cut down on the sugar content, and think it's pretty perfect now.

It's really easy to make and also adapt i.e. chilli tomato sauce. When tomatoes are in season, make a pot of this sauce to last through winter, although fair warning: it gets eaten pretty quickly!

Recipe:

• 5kg of tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1kg of onions, roughly chopped
• 1.2kg raw sugar
• 450mls vinegar
• 5 tablespoons salt
• 5 tablespoons whole allspice (must be whole, not ground)
• 2 heaped desertspoons cornflour

How to make

1. Put the tomatoes, onions, sugar, vinegar and salt in a large pot. Put the allspice in a muslin bag (I have a square of muslin that I put the whole allspice in & then tie that area together with plain cotton string, before adding to the sauce mix and tying the muslin off on a handle of the pot. You can see the floating muslin 'bag' of allspice in the picture to the right). 
2. Boil all of the ingredients together for 3 hours, stirring regularly so it doesn't stick the pot. The sauce will reduce and thicken.
3. Mix the cornflour with enough water in a bowl to make a paste, then add to the pot of sauce, stir constantly until combined well.
4. Blend the sauce with a handheld blender/mixer until all combined well.
5. Bottle the sauce while it is hot into sterilised glass bottles.

Options

You can add chillies or cayenne pepper to the sauce also, we used 10 fresh chillies or approx 2 TSPs cayenne pepper, but adjust to your taste preference.

Enjoy your delicious homemade tomato sauce, yum!