We don't even get started with a 5-gal bucket, not worth it. We make tomato juice (very thick) for chili, try to get about 50-60 qts, spaghetti sauce (another 30-40 pints&half), some diced tomatoes with onions/peppers (misc recipes, about 50 1/2 pints). We don't use alot of tomatoes, but try to have enough canned of any 1 crop to last 2 years. We do this because we never know if the next year's crop will be a success or not. Have done this for years, so every other year or so, we'll do tomatoes, another year-beans, another year-corn. We do peas and beets whenever we can get a good crop or deal. I raised 3 boys back in the 70-80s and kept my food budget down to about $20-30 per week, with help from the garden. Now we live on less than $1200 per month for EVERYTHING.

Then if you aren't adding the spice pack and if your organic ketchup has no added thickeners, it is your choice. But you'll just have to guess at the processing time needed. You mentioned that you are new to canning. The first rule of canning is that cooking and canning recipes are two different things and that most cooking recipes cannot be safely canned. We all have favorite recipes we would love to be able to can. But we have to accept that isn't usually possible. When you can something you create an anaerobic environment in the jar that allows bacteria, if present, to grow. How hazardous that is all depends on the type of bacteria. To keep that from happening you must know the pH of the food and the density of the food and the length of processing time needed to kill the bacteria. We know none of those things with this recipe. As Carol said, it may well be safe to do. It may not. It just isn't possible to know that for sure as it has never been tested. So it is your choice, your risk to take. But gifting it to others is a whole other matter when you can't be assured of safety. Dave

Deborah, we love the Ball recipe. Before I came to Gardenweb Harvest Forum, and unknowing of which sources not to use, I had done two recipes from other sources I no longer consider safe. But we didn't care for them that much. And fortunately for me, I can not get the same ending volume that the BBQ sauce recipe indicates (if it says 6 pints I will end up with 3) so I don't have a lot of the questionably safe sauces sitting around. I have plenty of tomatoes and remaining ingredients to do the Nchfp recipe next. But unless that one excites me more, the Ball recipe is just perfect for my household. I assume my reduced volume is due to my cooking it down to get a thicker sauce along with not using paste tomatoes to start off with. Doesn't matter if I cook it slow or cook it fast. I use a Dutch Oven. I'll never have to buy BBQ sauce again. That makes me smile. :-)

I would use it to spice up tomato juice coctails, spaghetti sauce, chili, Brunswich stew, hot salsas, catsup, and other things where just a little hot is needed and the sweetness is not gonna become predominant. It would also be good sprinkled on collards, turnip greens, mustard greens, and spinach, all of which need vinegar, hot pepper, and a tad of sugar to complement the bitter edge. Peace in the Pepper Patch, Bill