08 September 2017

Making golden tomato paste


We recently harvested a couple of dozen big yellow tomatoes. We ate what we could, but there were so many that I decided to make sauce out of them, and then cook the sauce down to make golden tomato paste. I didn't season the sauce much. Into the cut-up tomatoes went a teaspoon of salt, a bay leaf, a pinch of hot pepper powder, and about a cup of white wine. I ended up with three liters of sauce.

As the sauce cooked, I mashed the tomato wedges with a big spoon and even a potato-masher to break them down. When the sauce was cooked, I let it cool overnight and then ran it through the food mill (le moulin à légumes) using a fine blade to remove most of the tomato seeds and the tough skins. Then I had a smooth, liquid puree.

I poured the pureed tomato into a big lasagna pan. It made a layer about an inch (2.5 cm) thick. I was afraid that might be too thick to allow for the desired evaporation and thickening, but it worked out fine.

Here are the tomato seeds and skins that were filtered out of the sauce by the food mill. This seedy pulp went into the compost. (Here's a Youtube video that shows how you can use a food mill to make tomato puree.)

I took this photo just because I liked the color of the yellow tomato puree. The lasagna pan went into the upper part of the oven at a temperature of around 150ºC (300ºF) for enough time to bring the sauce to a low simmer. Then I kept turning the temperature down, ending up at about 90ºC (195ºF), and stirring the puree from time to time. After about four hours in the oven, the sauce had thickened into paste.

Cooking the paste in a slow oven gives the puree a chance to thicken by evaporation without scorching on the bottom. There was a little bit of caramelization around the edges of the pan, but that just adds good flavor when you stir it into the paste. As you can see, it really is paste. It looks a lot like pureed pumpkin or butternut squash flesh. However, it's actually tomato paste that I'll put up in sterilized jars today for storage and use over the coming winter.

14 comments:

  1. Ken, what/how does the cup of wine contribute to the tomato paste?

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    1. It adds some sweetness. I needed some liquid to make the sauce before I could make taste, and I figured I'd add wine rather than water. Water would have been fine too.

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  2. Bet that paste would be good mixed with hummus as a dip. ;-)

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    1. We make a spicy enchilada sauce with pumpkin puree and either tomato sauce or paste. I'm thinking it would be good made with the yellow tomato paste, just for the color.

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  3. BTW, the Hurricane Irma forecasts aren't clear now for anywhere north of Florida. So I didn't mention it this morning. Poor Florida. I have friends and relatives down there, as does Walt.

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  4. My little yellow tomatoes really had a noticeably different flavor, compared to my red tomatoes. Do you notice that with these big yellow ones?

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    1. The yellow tomatoes are milder and slightly sweeter, in a good way, than the red ones. I like them a lot.

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  5. That's an interesting process for making beautiful paste. You get some lasting pleasure from your garden's bounty.

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    1. I hope you all don't get too much rain out of this storm.

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  6. I have been making tomato passato (that is what the Italians call it) for years in this manner, I was taught the process by my grandmother. I don't ever season before putting away, my preferred method is in two cup servings in a freezer bag, laid flat on a rimmed sheet until solid, and then stacked in the freezer. Since not seasoned, I can use for a lot of things including Bloody Mary and Bloody Bull mixes. The bags last a season, so I am cooking now for the winter, much like a squirrel storing acorns. :)

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