Crockpot for Tomato Paste/Sauce?

[annecros]

In contemplating preserving the tomato crop this year, and understanding my tendency to never burn a calorie I don't have to, has anyone made tomato sauce and/or paste in a crockpot or slow cooker?

It seems it should work in the same manner as the wonderful onion confit method discussed here. Just toss the toms in, turn it on, go to bed and forgeddaboutit until next day when canning or freezing proceeds.

So has anyone tried it? Any hints, tips or tricks?

It should result in a low, slow simmered sort of thing.

[slkinsey]

I've done it before, with a long-cooked Italian-American style tomato sauce. Here's the thing: If you crock-cook the tomato sauce for 12+ hours, the sugars are going to caramelize and the sauce will turn a kind of "brick red/brown" and will take on a distinctive flavor. This is good for that style of sauce, but not something I'd want to have for everyday use.

I don't think you'd have much luck making tomato paste out of tomatoes this way, primarily because slow cookers aren't designed to allow for evaporation. Also, commercial tomato paste is made with evaporators and doesn't heat the tomato enough to meaningfully cook it. So even if you were to cook the tomato pulp down to sonething that was as concentrated as tomato paste, it would be completely different.

[annecros]

I've done it before, with a long-cooked Italian-American style tomato sauce.  Here's the thing:  If you crock-cook the tomato sauce for 12+ hours, the sugars are going to caramelize and the sauce will turn a kind of "brick red/brown" and will take on a distinctive flavor.  This is good for that style of sauce, but not something I'd want to have for everyday use.

I don't think you'd have much luck making tomato paste out of tomatoes this way, primarily because slow cookers aren't designed to allow for evaporation.  Also, commercial tomato paste is made with evaporators and doesn't heat the tomato enough to meaningfully cook it.  So even if you were to cook the tomato pulp down to sonething that was as concentrated as tomato paste, it would be completely different.

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I wondered about that - but what if I left the lid off the crockpot? I will also be canning tomato puree and just plain old whole tomatoes (optimistic farmer here ) that I can use for other applications.

[slkinsey]

I don't think they work without the lid on (although others may have better data ant I on that).

[Darcie B]

I don't think they work without the lid on (although others may have better data ant I on that).

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Crockpots will work without the lid on (or with it askew) just fine. You would, however, have to stir pretty frequently as the sides and bottom would tend to burn.

I don't see any advantage to a crockpot over using a low oven to make paste which I vaguely recall someone mention to me a couple years back. I think the oven would do a better job (more even heat, less stirring required, easier to evaporate excess moisture).

[slkinsey]

Hmm. Yea, spreading tomato pulp out onto a silpat on a halfsheet pan in a low oven might be the way to go.

[ray goud]

"Slow Cooker Cooking", by Lora Brody has a recipe for "golden tomato sauce". Looking at it, there seems no reason not to use red tomatoes. I have not tried this recipe, but I have tried at least twenty others from the book, and they all worked and are delicious.

Crockpots won't work with the lid off. They don't have thermostats (just selector switches which energize different heating elements), and the general rulke is that: "every time you remove the lid, add fifteen minutes to the total cook time". The lid is necessary to retain the heat.

(If anyone truly knows of a crockpot with a REAL thermostat, I'd like to know of it.)

Ray