To blend or not to blend.....

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PHYLAL

Assistant Cook
Joined
Dec 14, 2013
Messages
6
Location
Harleysville
I have a question? I have for many years, when making pasta sauce, puréed the tomatoes roughly in a blender, screed out the skin and seeds through a chinoise, and allowed the purée to settle overnight in a 2 gallon container. The next morning the puréed pulp had risen to the top of the container and I would drain off of the bottom of the container, at least 12 cups of an almost clear liquid through a spout that is in the bottom of the container.
Recently I was on the Internet looking for tips and ideas for this falls pasta sauce canning (I am always looking for new things to try). I came across a story, with pictures, of a woman who started her sauce similarly to my procedure, that of making a purée and allowing it to settle.
Here is my quandary; she siphoned her clear liquid off of the top of the purée; all her pulp had settled to the bottom.
Any suggestions as to why this could be possible….. what is the difference?
The only idea that I had was this: To purée the tomatoes she used a food mill, I used a blender. It is most likely that my purée was aerated and this is what caused it to float?
Now for my next question (if this is true), and the most important….. will this make a difference in the finished sauce?
 
I have a question? I have for many years, when making pasta sauce, puréed the tomatoes roughly in a blender, screed out the skin and seeds through a chinoise, and allowed the purée to settle overnight in a 2 gallon container. The next morning the puréed pulp had risen to the top of the container and I would drain off of the bottom of the container, at least 12 cups of an almost clear liquid through a spout that is in the bottom of the container.
Recently I was on the Internet looking for tips and ideas for this falls pasta sauce canning (I am always looking for new things to try). I came across a story, with pictures, of a woman who started her sauce similarly to my procedure, that of making a purée and allowing it to settle.
Here is my quandary; she siphoned her clear liquid off of the top of the purée; all her pulp had settled to the bottom.
Any suggestions as to why this could be possible….. what is the difference?
The only idea that I had was this: To purée the tomatoes she used a food mill, I used a blender. It is most likely that my purée was aerated and this is what caused it to float?
Now for my next question (if this is true), and the most important….. will this make a difference in the finished sauce?
It's possible that using a blender makes the puree finer therefore lighter than putting it through the food mill so that's why her puree sinks and yours floats. As for the second point, I don't know but I wouldn't think so. The food mill version will be less smooth than the blender-ed version but some people might like it that way.

Do you use both the puree and the clear liquid?
 
A blended will put more air into your puree. The food mill won't.

I don't know if that's an answer, but it is a fact.

I always found whizzing tomatoes in a blender produced a pink sauce. Don't know why that is either. :)
 
...I always found whizzing tomatoes in a blender produced a pink sauce. Don't know why that is either. :)


The blender whips air into the sauce causing the color to lighten as the red tomato particles are now spread out with clear air bubbles in between. Cooking the sauce will return it to it's original color then it will darken as cooked sauces do.
 
The blender whips air into the sauce causing the color to lighten as the red tomato particles are now spread out with clear air bubbles in between. Cooking the sauce will return it to it's original color then it will darken as cooked sauces do.

That makes sense. I always used the sauce anyway so no problem.
 
Thank you all for your responses. I suspected that aeration was involved, which brought me to the second part of the question, “Does it affect the flavor”? I hope it does not. One thing I do know, I like my sauce.
I have never used the liquid that I drain off the purée. I tasted it once….. could not think of anything I would possibly want to use it for! Perhaps someone has a few suggestions, it does seem a waste to pour it away.
To cave76 and Andy M.: I noticed the pink color of the purée as well, and you are right, after simmering the sauce of a brief time the color darkens again.
 
Thank you all for your responses. I suspected that aeration was involved, which brought me to the second part of the question, “Does it affect the flavor”? I hope it does not. One thing I do know, I like my sauce.
I have never used the liquid that I drain off the purée. I tasted it once….. could not think of anything I would possibly want to use it for! Perhaps someone has a few suggestions, it does seem a waste to pour it away.
To cave76 and Andy M.: I noticed the pink color of the purée as well, and you are right, after simmering the sauce of a brief time the color darkens again.

Use that liquid as the base for a vegetable stock. It will add acidity and tomato flavor, as well as the water soluble nutrients that would otherwise go down the drain.

You could also use it as a base liquid for salad dressing, or as a braising liquid for beef. You could add it to meat stocks, such as chicken or pork. Use it in chili, where you want the tomato flavor to be there, but not as strongly as with a tomato sauce.

Hope that gives you ideas.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
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