SAEDNEWS: Everyone Has Their Own Way of Making Tomato Paste—Here’s the Traditional Method Explained
According to Saed News, we explain below the essential tips for making homemade tomato paste. Tomato paste is a useful addition to most Iranian dishes and stews. To make homemade tomato paste that doesn’t mold, carefully select your tomatoes when buying them. Make sure the tomatoes you choose are fully ripe.
Buy tomatoes while they are cheap this summer and enjoy the homemade paste all winter. Use this homemade tomato paste in soups and stews. Preparing the paste takes about one hour, and you only need four ingredients for this recipe.
Use a food mill or sieve to separate tomato pulp from seeds and skin. Cooking the tomato pulp will reduce it by more than half. Pour the prepared paste into ice cube trays and freeze it for easy use later.
After straining the tomatoes, place the pot with the smooth tomato mixture over low heat to thicken. Once the paste begins to thicken, add salt and stir it in. To check if the paste has reached the right consistency, draw a line with a spoon on the paste. If the line fills too quickly, the paste is not thick enough and needs more cooking.
If it takes a long time for the line to fill, your tomato paste has thickened and is ready. When the paste starts to thicken, stir it continuously to prevent burning, as it requires careful attention.
One important point: you can technically make paste from any tomato, but the type you choose affects the final product. Using different types of tomatoes may yield only a few small jars, while meaty tomatoes can produce nearly twice as much paste.
The method above explains canning tomato paste, but for an easier option, pour the cooked paste into ice cube trays and freeze. Take out one cube whenever you need a small amount of paste. These cubes can be stored in the freezer for up to nine months. The simplest way to preserve tomatoes: freeze them!
Ingredients:
10 lbs tomatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp sea salt
½ tsp citric acid or 2 tbsp bottled lemon juice
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Cut the tomatoes into quarters.
Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat until glossy. Add tomatoes and sauté until soft and the skin begins to separate from the flesh.
Pass the tomatoes through a food mill to separate pulp from seeds and skin. Mix in sea salt and citric acid or lemon juice. Discard seeds and skin.
Spread the tomato pulp over two baking sheets. Divide the pulp evenly. You can also use a large pan, but baking this way is faster. Bake the pulp until it becomes a thick paste. Rotate the trays and stir the paste every 30 minutes. Combine the contents of both trays and continue baking until desired thickness is reached.
Transfer the paste to jars. Cover each jar with a layer of olive oil and store in the refrigerator or freezer. When properly covered with oil and using a very clean spoon, the paste lasts 3–4 weeks in the fridge and up to 9 months in the freezer.
