Tomato Paste.

[ChefCrash]

I woke one day last month to a familiar aroma. In the kitchen, my wife stood elbow deep in tomato stuff. Tomato blood was everywhere. She had been processing whole tomatoes as well as tomato sauce.

On the stove was a pot of more tomato product boiling. She was now making tomato paste.

I almost said,"You know they're two cans for a dollar at Meijer's", but she was standing there all made up wearing a cute apron, looking at me with the, "I'm doing this because I love you", look.

She wasn’t sure how many tomatoes she started with (for the paste). It was enough to end up with 5 quarts of juice. She quartered them and squeezed them, then mashed them against the bottom of the strainer, by hand.

The juice was boiled vigorously and heat was reduced as it reached the tomato sauce stage.

After 5 hours (total) and a lot of stirring. The heat had been reduced to a minimum. This is how much liquid remained.

At this point, salt and citric acid were added to taste.

In the old days, the paste would have been laid out in the sun to dry.

These pans would sit in the sun all day and taken inside at night, for a week or two.

Here in Michigan we were experiencing the effects of hurricane Gustav which was being followed by siblings, we had to improvise. We used the oven in dehydrate mode @130F for 5 hours.

Before dehydrating and after.

In the jar is one pound of finished paste.

When we were kids, this was done out doors in huge tinned cauldrons over open fire. For staying out of the way, we were rewarded with tomato paste sandwiches.

We were spoiled.

So, 2 cans of paste at the store for a dollar? Sure.

The smells and visions of childhood?...

[Abra]

Lovely! I've never gone so far as to make tomato paste. Can you taste a big difference in the finished product?

[jvalentino]

Between this and the home cured olives ( http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=30051&st=30 ) you are now officially the envy of my house. Bravo!

Jeff

[deltadoc]

Not to throw water into your tomato paste, but I once considered making paste and then thought "What would I use it for?"

Everything that calls for tomato paste essentially dilutes it back into thickened puree or juice.

We bought a bushel of Roma paste tomatoes at the Farmer's market. I took 32 quarts of tomatoes, and the wife blanched them and put them through the food mill. Seeds and skins come out one slot, and puree through the other slot.

I then took 18 Qts of the tomato puree, added 16 diced medium onions, 8 big sweet bell peppers diced, a cheeseclothe bag containing 4 TBSP of whole black peppercorns, whole mace, whole allspice, whole cloves, whole celery seed, 2 peeled cloves of fresh garlic, 6 bay leaves, 2 tsp of powdered mustard (from whole mustard seed), and 8 inches of 2" pieces of whole cinnamon, and boiled it down to 9 qts. That took three evenings of about 4-5 hours each. I measured the original height in the big All Clad 22 Qt pot, and continued simmering until I reached half the original measurement.

Stuff was pretty thick. I then added 4 cups of packed dark brown sugar, and 8 Cups of apple cider vinegar. Salt to taste.

Actually, to get the taste I wanted, I also added another Cup of white sugar.

So now I have (had) 26 pints of homemade catsup (ketchup). Outstanding flavor, although not as thick as Heinz the flavor is outrageous!

All the time I'm thinking how much gas I'm using to simmer for 12 hours or so, just to get 26 pints of catsup and comparing that to how much I've lost in the last 2 months in my IRA and 401(k)'s.

I may be poor now, but I sure get to eat good!

doc

Edited October 7, 2008 by deltadoc (log)

[hummingbirdkiss]

that is beautiful ..I took my time this year and made a wonderful batch of paste out of our tomatoes then made a wrong turn in the kitchen tripped over air ..and promptly sent it flying across the kitchen floor ...

I am beyond depressed at all the work ..all the tomatoes and all the mess I had to clean

but yours does inspire for next year ...such a beautiful result!!! thanks for sharing