This does look really good AND adaptable to lower sodium diets, unlike most of the recipes you see that start with ketchup, etc. Thanks for sharing!

BTW, as written, this will have about 2200 mg sodium per pint ouch lol.

Use only half the salt and it comes into a much healthier sodium range.

Just a thought from someone who has to watch sodium and canning has helped me do that.

Dede

Pete said:

I was planning to not add any salt at all.  We generally don't use any.  (It's always funny when we have to scramble to find some salt for guests who require it…)

That's great! It may need some, but you'll know by taste. I think I may make this canned with the burger. The recipe I used in the past for that was from the Ball website but it's really salty.

Dede

CindyP said:

If you started out with making your own juice, that would greatly reduce the sodium content, too!

Oh yeah absolutely.

dede

Finally, finally, FINALLY made this today!  It is VERY good!

Since I am totally unaccustomed to cooking in large quantity, I had a devil of a time getting it hot enough to cook!  Plus, I still am using an old stock pot with the thin stainless steel bottom, and fear burning whatever is cooked in it.  Sooo, this became a much longer project than it should have been, because I was barely adding any heat!

Ended up with nearly 15 pints, so you know I didn't cook it down nearly well enough.  But the flavor is quite amazing.  I'll do better next time, I promise!

(Pssst.  Don't tell anyone, but I cheated and added some clearjel at the end.  Only about 1/3 cup, and I hope next time not to need it.)

Nothing in there should keep it from being great frozen.  So many of us are trying to empty out the freezers from so much routine stuff and into jars instead that I'd never considered doing that!

Give it a try, and let us know how it goes.  We always like to hear back when someone tries a new way of doing something we like!

Since our first trial made a bazillion jars, I haven't needed to make this a second time yet!  But the good news is that when we finally DO need to make more, I now have a HUGE Dutch oven in which to make it!!

Love this new pan!  Not even sure how many quarts it holds, but it has more volume than any of the stock pots, and they are normal big sized.  It is terrific for making things like this, where you really would like more cooking surface than the normal stock pot.

Back to this recipe – it reminded me of what I'd had as a kid.  Never did care for the stuff from a can, and had never been able to replicate that childhood flavor.  Until this recipe!

I probably will reduce the amount of cloves just a little next time, though.  I like the flavor, but thought it was just a tad too much of it.  Not a lot – just a touch less sounds right.  Can always add more if that doesn't work!