How to Can Tomato Sauce: A Rite of Passage in Italian America

August is the time of year when Italian Americans (and apparently Pinterest stars and serious foodies) begin teaching how to can tomato sauce. A haze of tomato clouds envelops the kitchen and mammas say a little prayer every 15 minutes as the process tests the air conditioning, stovetop, not to mention marriages and the will to survive. During an unprecedented pandemic, canning tomatoes has become more than the usual necessity; now it’s a way to stock the safe room — err, pantry — for the Apocalypse, too.

Prepare your home for what’s coming.

Pull out the old sheets — the ones nonna uses as a tablecloth when she knows the vino will be flowing on Sunday Funday (ah, remember those) — to cover your tables and chairs. And put on your rags. Despite these best efforts, you will find tomato juice on the ceiling, in your hair, and on the baby if you have one. You’ll still be cleaning up this mess in December, I promise you.

I recently described tomato season as one of Dante’s rings of inferno, which I call Passa Pomodoro. But in every jar you’re preserving nonno’s dedication to the tomatoes in his garden, a…