It's probably acidic enough - but without the cornstarch. Add the cornstarch after opening. That is easy enough to do. You'll have to guess at the processing time as with any made up recipe and I am not usually comfortable with doing that. I guess if I had to do it I'd use the 15 min. required for most of the other acidic fruit sauces but that comes with no tested guarantees. The Clear Jel question I can't really help with as I cut Clear Jel by half to begin with if and when I use it as it is just too thick for my tastes. I can pie fillings and such without any thickener and add my preferred thickener - cornstarch - after opening when I can control the thickness I want. I agree with you on the appearance and enjoyment part of the canning. But some things just can't be canned no matter how much we may want to do it. And when there is a safety question about it, I'm not usually willing to trade safety for either of them. Especially when freezing is readily available and has no safety issues. It's your choice. :) Dave

There is ABSOLUTELY NO NEED to peel, or do ANYTHING ELSE to tomatoes if they are run through a food strainer. I only cut in halves, as most wont easily fit the hopper whole. I dig out seeds and the watery liquid only. The food strainer removes ALL skins and any seeds left. Peeling tomatoes before putting into the food strainer is simply extra work that is not necessary. NEVER add cheese to any home canned tomato sauces! Add it after you open, reheat and serve. Unless you doing just a couple of cups of tomatoes, a Foley, or Chinois is nearly worthless for high output with no excessive labor involved. I canned 52 quarts one year. I couldn't see myself putting all those in a Foley or Chinois or even a regular screened kitchen strainer. I also use mine to extract all the juices and pulp from red raspberries, by using the finer holed berry screen. Well worth the cost and will give you a LOT more from tomatoes with a lot less effort. Here is a link that might be useful: Villaware/Roma food strainers

I wouldn't worry about it since the recipe is safe either way. Not sure why other than measuring error as you mention as ending up with more that is thinner is usually safer than having less that is too thick. Dave

A tiny locally owned grocery store here in town has an old-fashioned meat counter in the back. A gentleman who looks like he might be Methusela's older brother cuts all the meat to order, grinds his own burgers, makes his own sausage, etc. He's been making and selling the family barbecue sauce for at least 50 years - and his folks sold it before him. It's dispensed from somewhere in the back and comes in whatever clean vessel he has on hand when you show up and ask for it - usually a mason jar or vinegar jug depending on how much you want. No idea what's in it (beyond the obvious vinegar, tomato paste and assorted spices), but it's fabulous. If Mr. Moats is closed, we'll buy Johnny Harris (a Savannah restaraurant who distributes their sauce to grocery stores regionally) bottled sauce in a pinch. It's not our favorite but it's better than the other commercially available sauces we've tried. We tend to find most bottled sauce too sweet and/or too "artificial smoke flavor added" for our taste. FWIW, "favorite barbecue sauce" is going to depend a lot on where you're from. South Georgia barbecue isn't cooked with the sauce, in fact it isn't even usually served with sauce on it. We dry-rub the meat, and serve the sauce from a bottle or gravy boat at the table as a do-it-yourself condiment. And it's traditionally a rather thin, spicy, vinegar and tomato sauce - never more than a hint of sweetness. Folks elsewhere use different types of sauces and add them at different stages of the process. Preferences are very regional.