Food Ingredients Vegetables Tomato Tomato Paste Be the first to rate & review! Turn your bounty of tomatoes into a paste to use all year round. By Kim O'Donnel Published on June 17, 2024 Rate PRINT Share Close Photo: Food & Wine / Photo by Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Jennifer Wendorf / Prop Styling by Clarie Spollen Active Time: 40 mins Total Time: 5 hrs Yield: 2 1/4 cups It’s late summer, and 10 pounds of tomatoes are giving you the eye. Ripe, fleshy orbs in various shades of red lipstick are asking you to love them. Most aficionados in this situation would make a batch of sauce. It’s a commendable choice, both versatile and practical. A potful of possibilities, from spaghetti supper on the fly to shelf-stable jars for the winter. But this moment is an invitation to go deeper. To go low and slow and get a front-row seat to the magic show: when tomatoes shed their skins and let go of their watery baggage. Morph from fire engine red to oxblood, from sloshy to caramelized and unctuous. Umami, shumami. This is glutamate to the maximus. Haters, you’re right to ask: Why bother when there are perfectly good cans and tubes on shelves everywhere? Simply put, homemade tomato paste is in a league of its own. It’s a little bit sweet, but wait, something else is happening. Is that a barbecue tang I’m picking up? Maybe even honey? Thanks to the long caramelization, the flavors are layered and nuanced, even changing as they linger on the tongue. You might be tempted to smear it on a grilled cheese sandwich. Or on your shoe. There is just no comparison. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to perform the ultimate disappearing act. You’ll take a heap of fruit and shrink most of it (12.5%, if you’re counting). What’s left is the stuff of poetry and the flavor zipper-upper you didn’t know that you needed. Frequently Asked Questions What is tomato paste? Tomato paste is a concentrated tomato product made by roasting puréed tomatoes until they cook down into a thick paste. What are paste tomatoes? Also known as plum, Roma, and sauce tomatoes, paste tomatoes are known for their slightly pointed bottoms, denser flesh and fewer seeds, ideal candidates for sauce and paste. These are tomatoes you grow yourself or source locally, at your favorite farmstand or farmers market.Look for heirloom varieties including: Amish paste, speckled Roman, Stupice, icicle, oxheart, and San Marzano. Of course, you can use slicing tomatoes in this recipe, but because they have more seeds (and a higher water content), they will take longer to cook down into paste. How do you use tomato paste? Use tomato paste as the basis for tomato sauce, tomato chutney, or tomato soup. It’s also key to adding umami-rich flavor to dishes like Shakshuka, Obe Ata, Spaghetti all’Assassina, and Beef Stew Every Little Can of Tomato Paste Is Magic Notes from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen You can make this recipe if you don’t have a food mill, but you’ll need to peel the tomatoes. Use a paring knife to make an “X” on the bottom of each tomato. Meanwhile, bring at least six cups of water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Working in batches, carefully add the tomatoes to the pot and parboil them until the skins start to buckle and peel away, about 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon or spider sieve, transfer the tomatoes to a large bowl and let them cool to room temperature. When tomatoes are cool to the touch, remove the skins. If your skin is sensitive to tomatoes, wear disposable gloves. Slice the tomatoes in half and core them. Then use a small spoon to remove the seeds. Puree the tomatoes with an immersion or stand blender and then proceed with the recipe at step 4. Make ahead If time is an issue, you can make the paste over two days. Simmer and mash the tomatoes on the first day and refrigerate them overnight, then cook the puree the following day. Ingredients 10 pounds paste tomatoes, washed Directions Slice tomatoes in half lengthwise and place in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Add 1/2 cup water to minimize scalding. Cover the pot and place over medium-low heat. Cook until tomatoes begin to soften, 8 to 10 minutes. Uncover and crush tomatoes with a potato masher. Gently cook until the skins are pulling away and the tomatoes are beginning to break down, about 5 minutes. You want the tomatoes to be soft enough to pass through the food mill. Set up a food mill with a medium grinding disc. Working in batches, pass the tomatoes and juice through the mill. Depending on the size of your mill, this may take up to 30 minutes. You’ll end up with about 1 gallon of puree. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Transfer the puree to a large roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet. (If the puree is more than halfway high, divide it among two medium-sized pans.) Carefully transfer the pan to the oven; it’s a little like carrying a pail of water. Cook for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes. Pay particular attention to the edges, which are prone to burning. Reduce the oven temperature to 300°F, continuing those 20-minute check-ins, for 1 hour. Continue cooking in the same manner until the water has evaporated, resulting in a thick, spreadable, brick-red paste that resembles fruit butter. Depending on your oven, this will take between 4 and 6 hours. If at any time, the edges of the pan are showing signs of burning, slow things down and lower the temperature to 250°F. If the paste is not quite there and you need to get on with your day, keep the pans in the oven and turn off the heat. The paste will continue to passively cook as it cools. If the paste still needs more time, turn the oven back on and finish it at 250°F. Remove the tomato paste from the oven and let it cool completely before storing. The tomato paste keeps well in airtight jars in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. For longer-term storage (up to 1 year), portion the paste into ice cube trays and store in freezer bags. Rate It Print