Making Tomato Paste

[larry_stewart]

With the over abundance of tomatoes from he garden and the decreasing abundance of freezer space, I decided too cook down some tomatoes to make tomato paste. It taste so good, I could just mix it with pasta and eat as is.

Started off with about 6 1/2 quarts of strained tomato puree ( with aa a few tbs of olive oil added
Boiled it down to about 4 1/2 quarts
Transferred 2 baking sheet pans
Cooked at about 325, scraping and mixing every half hour
After a few hours, transferred the thicken sauce to one tray
Continued to cook and mix until it got close to that point where it taste like something that cooked all day to being burnt. We all know once you cross that line, there is no going back, so I stopped a little shy of the desired consistency but still nice, thick and tasty, and boy does the house smell great.

Probably ended up with about 1 to 1 1/2 quarts of paste compared to the 6 1/2 quarts of puree I started with.

Placed aand froze in a silicone ice tray to use at a later date.

 

[taxlady]

Looks good. Are you going to pop them out of the tray and put them in a freezer bag? Did all of it fit?

 

[larry_stewart]

Looks good. Are you going to pop them out of the tray and put them in a freezer bag? Did all of it fit?

Yes I am, and not it didn't.

I have a second silicone tray that I misplaced ( probably the last time I used both trays was last year, so I have no idea where I put it. Im sure I will find it after m done freezing everything) , so I will have to freeze it one tray at a time, and refill after unloading. The rest is in a container in the fridge waiting its turn to be frozen.
My guess is Ill get about 3 full trays worth

 

[Silversage]

wow! i've never tried that.
I wonder if a dehydrator would work instead of the oven to ptrvent burning?

 

[pepperhead212]

For several years now, I've been making tomato paste with my old dehydrated tomatoes, from 2 years previously, the first time, so they keep fine! I start by soaking them by barely covering a generous pint of them in my Vitamix with warm water for a couple of hours, then drain some of the water off, and blend the tomatoes, ending at high speed - I usually add most of the water back, aiming for a not real thick paste yet. The skin and the seeds disappear in the paste, from the high speed blending, and blending about 3 minutes gets it quite hot. I then dump it in the NS wok, and cook it, like I do Mexican sauces, like moles, when cooking the moisture out, and intensifying the flavors, scraping the pan with a silicone spatula. It only takes 7-8 minutes, and the paste is darker, and the flavor is fantastic. I put that in these small, 2 oz containers, to freeze it, underfilling them slightly, but the freezing fills the containers. They freeze and stack well, and the paste just pops out of them in a couple of minutes.

 

[larry_stewart]

For several years now, I've been making tomato paste with my old dehydrated tomatoes,

Ive been meaning to try that, just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Did the tomato powder a few weeks ago ( finally successfully).
The majority of my tomatoes have been harvested. the rest kinda depend on how the next few weeks go weather wise.
If I get enough to ripen, Ill likely dry and attempted making paste that way.

All the romasa Ill leave as ' sun dried tomatoes', as I used hem frequently throughout the year .

 

[letscook]

This year with temperatures so high and no rain, I decided to try it this year outside on my grill instead of the oven. Worked out great. I used a mixture of tomatoes, cherry, beefsteak, romas, biltmores. I ended up with 4 cups. I put tablespoon full on parchment paper on sheet pan and frozen then bagged them up so when i need 1 or 2 tbl or more easy to add.

 

[blissful]

Nice work Larry, good paste!

Mr bliss likes my plain tomato sauce over macaroni. He says it tastes like the poor man's spaghetti his sister used to make for all the kids, and it takes him back to childhood.



Maybe the spare silicone trays are still in the freezer? It's in the last place you look for it, lol.

 

[larry_stewart]

Maybe the spare silicone trays are still in the freezer? It's in the last place you look for it, lol.

Of course they were
And of course I found them immediately after I didnt need them any more.

And one more of course, I actually had 2 more silicone trays, which would have allowed me to load and freeze everything at once, instead of 3 consecutive times with a single tray.

They have now been cleaned and place in the first place I looked for them.

The kicker is, When I found them buried in the freezer, I couldn't even identify what was in them, so I just dumped what was in them and cleaned them out.

 

[larry_stewart]

With an over abundance of tomato purees the result of a good tomato harvest last year, kids out of the house so less mouths to feed, and a very full freezer , I decided to turn a a lot of the puree into paste. House smiled real good today.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

That is an awful lot of trouble to go through to get tomato paste that you can buy for less than a dollar per 6 ounce can.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

For several years now, I've been making tomato paste with my old dehydrated tomatoes, from 2 years previously, the first time, so they keep fine! I start by soaking them by barely covering a generous pint of them in my Vitamix with warm water for a couple of hours, then drain some of the water off, and blend the tomatoes, ending at high speed - I usually add most of the water back, aiming for a not real thick paste yet. The skin and the seeds disappear in the paste, from the high speed blending, and blending about 3 minutes gets it quite hot. I then dump it in the NS wok, and cook it, like I do Mexican sauces, like moles, when cooking the moisture out, and intensifying the flavors, scraping the pan with a silicone spatula. It only takes 7-8 minutes, and the paste is darker, and the flavor is fantastic. I put that in these small, 2 oz containers, to freeze it, underfilling them slightly, but the freezing fills the containers. They freeze and stack well, and the paste just pops out of them in a couple of minutes.

My opthalmologist has requested you increase your type size to prevent eye strain.

 

[pepperhead212]

My opthalmologist has requested you increase your type size to prevent eye strain.

I have no idea why that came up in small letters. Something to do with that old website, even when tried to change.

 

[larry_stewart]

That is an awful lot of trouble to go through to get tomato paste that you can buy for less than a dollar per 6 ounce can.

Wasn't too bad. Just put it on the tray and cook at low very low temp. Stir every half hour to so. Because of the amount of tomato product I had in the freezer, needing room , and less mouths to feed, I figured better convert it to something I could/ will use then let it get freezer burnt.

 

[blissful]

@larry_stewart a good way to save money so you can spend it where you want to spend it. Plus you can control growing conditions and the additives if any.
There is a certain kind of satisfaction from being able to grow and then preserve your own food.
It's a lot like making a meal at home as good as or better than a restaurant meal, and very cost savings.