Quick! Tomato sauce question!

[koru]

I just steamed & milled a huge basket of tomatoes, hoping to make & can some sauce. But I'm tired & I want to go to bed! Can I leave the plain tomato sauce, covered & out for the night? Or does it need to be refrigerated? If the latter, I may be in trouble because I filled 2 huge pots that won't fit in my fridge. We do have an extra fridge in the basement that barely works so maybe I can put it in there? It's colder down there, too.

What should I do??

I plan to make & can the sauce first thing in the morning, if that helps.

[Chamomile Girl]

Weellll I would refrigerate it if you can. Tomatoes being acidic don't easily harbor certain bacteria, but its better to be safe imo. Plus sauce is easier to can when it is cool.

[LVale]

Please put it in the fridge. Even if tomatoes are acidic, left at room temp., there is no telling what bacteria can flourish. When canning everything, must be sterile, etc. Leave nothing to chance. Better to ere on the side of caution.

[koru]

I ended up putting them in the basement freezer which is not quite as cool as a refrigerator should be. Not sure why I didn't think of that! The refrigerator down there is barely cold....(don't get me started)....but hopefully this solution will get me through until the morning.

I'll have to cook it down tomorrow & add all the spices before canning so hopefully that'll kill anything that tries to grow.

Thanks!

[velochic]

*I* wouldn't have done this. However, I am a real stickler about following all canning directions to the letter and try to be even safer than necessary. At this point it's too late, but in the future, it's best to do small batch canning and complete the process. At this point, I would freeze instead of can and when preparing, boil the heck out of it for at least 10 minutes. I would absolutely not can it at this point based on what you are saying in your posts. (My mother and niece almost died back in the early 80's... a result of home canned food. Doesn't put me off canning... I still can a ton every year, but that incident has made me more attentive to details of safety.) Good luck!