Homemade tomato paste for the winter

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Supporters of natural and healthy food probably know how to prepare tomato paste at home. This versatile product, which is widely used in cooking, is now constantly available in stores. But I can assure you that homemade tomato paste is even tastier and healthier than the one on supermarket shelves.

Of course, making preparations for the winter, including tomato paste, requires certain labor costs, but they pay off with interest. In addition, you are convinced of the quality of the initial raw materials, in other words, new tomatoes, and you understand what will later be in your jar.

I can’t help but agree that preparing real tomato paste at home takes a long time. But this is a rich product, which is thickened not by introducing some additional substances (often artificial), but by the method of long boiling and evaporation of water.

The recipe for homemade tomato paste, apart from new tomatoes, doesn’t include anything else. We won’t add any spices either – we’re not preparing tomato sauce, but specifically pasta. From the indicated amount of ingredients (8 kg of tomatoes), I get exactly 1.5 liters (3 containers of 500 ml each) of finished tomato paste. It is not at all necessary to take as many vegetables - process as many as you have. I just wanted to show the output of the finished product.

Ingredients:

Making a dish step by step:

To make tomato paste at home, we need the freshest juicy ripe reddish tomatoes. The type of vegetables does not matter.

Wash and chop the tomatoes. If you have medium-sized tomatoes, cut them into 4 parts. The largest ones are 6-8 slices. Not only excellent, selected fruits are suitable for homemade tomato paste - feel free to discard soft or wrinkled ones. The main thing is that they are not spoiled. 8 kg of tomatoes is a lot. They don’t fit in one pan, so I use the two largest ones I have in the kitchen. I put the slices in pans and put them on fire.

Cook the tomatoes over medium heat for about half an hour after boiling. Our goal is to soften the vegetables. By the way, some chefs first grind the freshest tomatoes through a meat grinder, and then cook them. But I don't like it that way, to be honest. Make sure that the tomato juice does not escape onto the stove - this happens if you create a powerful fire.

When the pulp becomes quite soft, turns into porridge, and the skin comes away from it, it’s time to move on to one of the most disgusting (for me personally, anyway) steps of making homemade tomato paste. It is necessary to rub the boiled tomatoes through a fine sieve to get rid of the skin and seeds. You remember that I had two huge pans?

After about 40 minutes of continuous (or practically) work, you should have relatively little cake left. The more thoroughly you wipe the tomatoes, the less waste there will be. From 8 kg of new vegetables I got about 800 grams of peel and seeds. It seems to me that this is absolutely not enough.

But this is what was worth the effort - natural tomato juice with pulp. Now the next step is to boil it down. At the same time, it takes quite a long time, so if you decide to make homemade tomato paste, set aside half a day for this task. It’s clear that you don’t have to constantly stand at the stove (you can do other things around the house all this time), but don’t forget to remember at least once every 10-15 minutes that you have something cooking. Place the pan (in my case 2 pans) over medium heat and cook everything, stirring occasionally.

After about 2.5 hours, the tomato juice will have reduced by half. It will noticeably thicken: if at first it was a rather watery mass, now it has become like thick tomato juice with pulp.

At this step of making homemade tomato paste for the winter, you can combine the contents of both pans - everything fits perfectly into one. Cook further.

In terms of thickness, the mass already comes out like tomato sauce. Now it is necessary to stir the contents of the pan a little more often, paying special attention to the bottom so that it does not burn.

After 3 hours from the start of boiling, the tomato mass will look like this: quite intense gurgling (don’t forget, over not very high heat), large bubbles.

But when the contents of the pan begin to “spit” (approximately 4-4.5 hours will pass from the start of cooking), it is under no circumstances allowed to leave the stove! The fact is that the paste will begin to thicken from the bottom and stick to it, so it is necessary to stir constantly (!). And you (or rather the paste) can simply stain the ceiling - these air bubbles fly up very, very high. Stir continuously until you achieve the desired thickness!

This is what remains in the end from a whole bowl of new tomatoes. Our homemade tomato paste is ready.

Directly bubbling (more precisely, gurgling) we place it in previously prepared containers. They must be sterilized and the lids boiled.

Immediately seal the jars with tomato paste with lids, turn them over and wrap them in something warm (a blanket, a blanket). In this position, let it cool completely (I usually leave it until the next morning). Then we store the tomato paste in a dry, cold place, along with other preparations for the winter - a cellar or basement.

I shared with you a recipe for homemade tomato paste that I use year after year. That is why I can guarantee a good result - wonderful taste and long-term preservation. Naturally, you will be able to cook differently, but that is a completely different story. Successful winter preparations for you, friends. Yes, by the way, for those inquisitive people who read the entire recipe to the end, I will tell you how to store opened tomato paste! It's simple: when you open the jar and take the required amount of paste, simply smooth out the remaining contents with a spoon and pour in refined vegetable oil (about a centimeter wide). In this way, a natural protective barrier is created, and the tomato paste will not mold. Later, you take the paste again, and the oil remains on the surface - no need to add it. I do this all the time and recommend it to you. In extreme times, I prefer completely freezing. I put the contents of the started jar into silicone ice molds, freeze the paste, then put it in a bag and store it in the freezer. One such cube contains just a tablespoon of tomato paste. Very comfortable.

Tomato paste at home

3 successful and tested recipes for homemade tomato paste.

Summer was a success! Fleshy, colorful, filled with summer sun and birdsong, the tomatoes just beg to be picked up: it’s impossible to pass by a bush without picking a couple of pieces and eating them right there.

As annoying as it may sound, the abilities of the human body are very limited, it is unrealistic to accommodate all the tomato luxury that the garden is full of this season, which means we take out an old grandmother’s notebook from the stash and begin to create according to her recipes - time-tested and more than one generation eaters.

So, tomato paste recipes.

Tomato paste for the winter - basic recipe

Not a single real Ukrainian borscht can do without this sauce: for it to be catchy, rich and “correct”, you need the best tomato paste. The best is usually prepared at home, so in anticipation of winter you just need to roll up five to seven liters. this product!

3 kg of ripe tomatoes;
2 onions;
100 g sugar;
1/2 cup table vinegar 6%
salt to taste.

How to prepare tomato paste at home

It is better to take tomatoes that are not very juicy - fleshy, elastic, hard, but under no circumstances underripe. The “Slivka” variety works well.

Wash the tomatoes, remove spoiled areas. You don’t have to cut out the stalk - we don’t need unnecessary body movements, we save our efforts!

We cut the cooked tomatoes into halves (at the same time, it is not necessary to cut them strictly vertically, the division here is completely arbitrary). Place in a saucepan (preferably enameled), place the peeled onion in it, add half a glass of water (no more), cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the contents of the pan for about 15 minutes - the tomatoes should become soft and release their juice.

Grind the cooled mass through a sieve. The cake should contain skins, stalks and seeds. We fiercely throw it away, and boil the resulting mass over low heat until it reduces in volume by at least 5 times. Stir occasionally so that the paste does not burn. At the end, add sugar and salt, taste and adjust the taste. Pour in vinegar, mix and immediately pour into sterilized jars, cover with sterilized lids, roll up, turn over and hide under several blankets until completely cooled. After this, jars of tomato paste prepared at home can be transferred to the pantry and opened if necessary.

Have you already rolled up the tomatoes in halves?

Spicy tomato paste in the oven

Apart from borscht, homemade tomato paste significantly improves the taste of sauces for pasta and meat, solyanka and kharcho soup, lasagna and cabbage rolls. Naturally, the manufacturing process will take far from the 10 minutes required to go into the store, select a sacred jar and pay for it at the checkout, but at the same time, the industrial product does not have one significant advantage - proven properties, precise awareness of what is coming in its composition, and... and, surprisingly, cordiality.

From time to time, my grandmother cooked tomato paste in the oven - it was simpler and relatively quicker: while the tomatoes were stewing, she could do a million other things.

Recipe ingredients:

4 kg of tomatoes;
4 tbsp. l. rock salt;
1 tsp. dark ground pepper;
1 tsp. ground coriander;
1 tsp. cinnamon;
10-15 clove inflorescences;
basil, parsley, dill “umbrellas” and greenish celery.

How to make homemade tomato paste in the oven

We rub the softened tomatoes through a sieve, discard the pulp, and mix the resulting mass with salt, pour it into a mold with large sides and place it in an oven preheated to 200 degrees. Cook for about 2-2.5 hours, stirring occasionally and checking the thickness. Once you understand that everything suits you, add spices. Tie the herbs into a bouquet and also place them in the sauce, trying to “drown” them. Cook for another half hour, after which remove the basil, parsley and celery, place the paste in sterilized jars, cover with sterilized lids, roll up and, turning over, cover with several blankets. Leave the paste wrapped for a day, after which store the jars at room temperature in the pantry.

Tomato paste from weighed tomatoes

If for some reason you are not satisfied with any of your grandmother’s recipes, use my mother’s technology - she... weighed out the tomato mass, which later needs to be boiled to a paste, in a piece of dense linen fabric (The structure of tissues of living organisms is studied by the science of histology) . But I won’t get ahead of myself - the recipe is very successful, it simply cannot fail. Natural tomato paste at home is more than realistic, I assure you!

Recipe ingredients

3 kg of ripe tomatoes;
2 sour apples;
1 onion;
salt to taste;
30 ml table vinegar 6%

How to make tomato and apple paste

We pass tomatoes, apples and onions through a juicer. The resulting mass is poured into a thick piece of linen or cotton fabric (the structure of tissues of living organisms is studied by the science of histology) , folded in half. We fix it perfectly and hang it at night (that is, in the dark) over a container where clear juice will drip. By morning, in the tissue (the structure of tissues of living organisms is studied by the science of histology), you have a thick puree-like mass, which needs to be transferred to a saucepan, added salt and boiled for about 20-30 minutes. Add vinegar, boil for another 5 minutes, after which we pour the tomato paste into clean jars, cover with lids and place in a huge saucepan with water (the water covers the jars up to the shoulders). After boiling, sterilize half-liter jars for 10 minutes, liter jars for 12 minutes. We roll up the lids and, turning them over, wrap them in blankets. We leave it for a day, after which we store it in the pantry.

Just a fact. Tomato paste is considered more beneficial than fresh tomatoes - it contains more lycopene.

Tomato paste at home

Tomato paste in a blender for the winter

Tomato paste is a universal dressing used in the preparation of various dishes, sauces, gravies, etc. The introduction of a blender for making tomato paste for the winter simplifies this process significantly and saves time. Tomato paste prepared according to this recipe has a catchy and rich taste due to the combination of all ingredients.

Tomato paste without vinegar for the winter

Tomato paste is an indispensable product in the preparation of almost all dishes. Store-bought analogues contain dyes and preservatives, so making tomato paste at home is a good idea! After all, it turns out to be useful and, most importantly, natural. At first glance it may seem that preparing tomato paste is difficult, but it is not so.

Finger-licking tomato paste for the winter

Sometimes the most delicious dishes are made from very ordinary ingredients. The same can be said about this tomato paste. Indescribably juicy, rich and fragrant, but not containing any special seasonings or components. Only tomatoes, onions, garlic, salt and little vegetable oil. The entire manufacturing process with step-by-step photos is carefully described below.

Tomato paste with basil and garlic for the winter

Basil and garlic are just made for tomatoes! When these products are combined together, an incomparable taste and smell arise. Tomato paste with the piquancy of garlic and the fragrance of basil will transform any dish, be it chicken chops, ordinary pasta or a juicy meat steak. Making tomato paste at home will require time and effort, but it is fully justified by the luxurious taste of the finished sauce.

Tomato paste through a juicer for the winter

Using a juicer to make tomato paste is a good idea. This device will successfully separate the pulp from the juice and avoid the process of grinding the tomato mass through a sieve. But there is an additional point - the need for long boiling, since it is necessary to evaporate a huge part of the water from the squeezed juice.

Tomato paste through a meat grinder without vinegar

If homemade tomato paste is a frequent guest on your table, then you should take a closer look at this recipe. There is no vinegar used here, nor, in fact, sugar. The taste of the sauce is very natural and natural. This pasta is good for any day. In order to soften the tomato sourness, we suggest using a little vegetable oil. Cold-pressed olive oil or any refined olive oil will do (if you don’t like olive notes in the finished product).

Tomato paste through a meat grinder at home for the winter

Tomato paste can be easily prepared at home. And in terms of the quality of composition and taste, it will differ profitably from its own store-bought counterparts. The most important thing is to select high-quality raw materials, finely chop them, strain off excess juice and boil until thick. At home, a meat grinder is absolutely suitable for chopping tomatoes. The puree after it comes out fine-textured and homogeneous. And to achieve a perfect thick mixture of tomato paste, you just need to squeeze it through cheesecloth before cooking.

Tomato paste made from tomatoes with bell peppers for the winter

According to this recipe, the tomato paste comes out very fragrant. In addition to tomatoes, we also use bell peppers, a little onions and a set of spices. This sauce will successfully highlight the taste of any meat dish. The recipe is designed for a fairly large amount of goods. If you don’t have a suitable cooking container at home of a suitable size, you can use two pans.

Tomato paste with citric acid for the winter

Tomato paste has a distinct rich taste and is thicker than tomato sauce. It is easy to use paste to achieve the desired flavor during the manufacturing process, without disturbing the desired thickness of the dish. Pasta made at home with your own hands is valued even higher than store-bought, as it does not contain preservatives and is completely natural. Naturally, preparing it requires effort and a lot of time. But the end result is worth it.

Tomato paste with basil for the winter

Making this sauce with basil can be called an express version of traditional tomato paste. It cooks quickly, without long boiling and rubbing through a sieve. And basil gives it a wonderful smell and fascinating taste. This tomato paste will literally become irreplaceable in making sauce for spaghetti, pizza and various meat dishes.

Tomato paste with garlic for the winter

Tomato paste gives dishes the corresponding well-known taste with a piquant sourness. Borscht, various sauces, spaghetti with juicy sauce simply cannot be imagined without tomato paste. To prepare pasta for future use in the summer, you can also use substandard tomatoes. But with all this, it is important that there is not a hint of rottenness, as this will immediately spoil the taste of the finished product.

Armenian tomato paste for the winter

This tomato paste with a special spicy flavor of coriander and garlic will decorate any dish. Meat steaks, kebab, chicken legs or poultry fillet chops, even ordinary pasta in the company of this sauce get a completely different mood. It is important that such a paste is completely natural, without preservatives and dyes. This is why homemade preparations are highly valued.

Spicy tomato paste for the winter

Ordinary tomato paste will taste completely different if you flavor it with hot pepper, garlic and mustard. Ground juniper berries will also add a special smell. This tomato product can be served as a real sauce, and not just used in preparing dishes. In order for the paste mixture to be smooth and homogeneous, you will have to rub it through a sieve - this is time-consuming, but the result is worth it.

Tomato paste with apples for the winter

Tomato paste with apples is an exciting solution if you want to add a new flavor to a familiar sauce. To balance the taste, together with the apples, we also add bell peppers, garlic and onions to the tomatoes. And for the smell we use a cinnamon stick, bay leaf and allspice. The finished paste comes out fragrant and rich. A jar of this preparation literally won’t hurt in any kitchen.

Tomato paste for the winter with pepper

Tomato paste can be “enriched” with additional flavors. Bell pepper is incredibly suitable for this purpose. It will add a spicy kick and will successfully highlight the natural flavor of the tomatoes. This paste has an excellent shelf life all winter, even without vinegar, since tomatoes already contain natural acid, which reduces the risk of premature spoilage.

Thick tomato paste in a slow cooker

To prepare tomato paste quickly and easily, you can use a multicooker. In it, the process of stewing tomatoes is more active and delicate - there is no risk of burning, and there is no need to constantly stir the tomato mass. Perhaps the only drawback in this method is the ability to produce a limited amount of tomato paste at a time. To add a spicy aroma to the pasta, we suggest using basil and garlic. These products blend perfectly with tomatoes, highlighting and enhancing their natural flavor.

Tomato paste without sugar for the winter

Tomato paste has a natural sourness, for which, in fact, it is valued in cooking. To balance the tomato taste, not only salt, but also sugar is usually added to the paste. But in this recipe, we suggest that you just add salt so that the taste of the finished paste comes out closer to natural tomatoes. For such preparation, the ideal raw material would be fleshy, dense fruits with thick walls and the least amount of juice.

Tomato paste without sterilization at home for the winter

To make tomato paste, you only need tomatoes and salt. Nothing fancy, just a rich tomato flavor. It is better to choose fruits that are fleshy and dense so that the juice content is kept to a minimum. In general, if the tomatoes are juicy, then the paste will also be tasty, but it will have to be boiled significantly longer. To chop tomatoes, it is convenient to use a meat grinder, stationary or immersion blender. From the indicated number of tomatoes, two 500 ml containers of tomato paste are obtained.

Tomato paste without cooking for the winter

Every housewife should have tomato paste. This versatile sauce will make any dish tastier. Tomato sourness perfectly complements the taste of meat products, decorates borscht, and is irreplaceable in pizzas and spaghetti. There are a huge number of options for making pasta; in this recipe we will carefully focus on the raw method: long boiling of the tomato puree is not required. But before making the paste, you need to remove the juice from the tomato pulp - then the sauce will be thick and rich.

Tomato paste for the winter - recipes for making it at home

Greetings, dear friends and guests of my blog! Now we will look at several accessible recipes for making tomato paste for the winter at home.

Personally, I constantly use it for various sauces for meat, chicken or fish. You can also simply add it to any dish during cooking, frying or stewing. Namely, in borscht or pasta with minced meat.

By the way, it can also be included in the ingredients of your other winter preparations. For example, in homemade ketchup, or in lecho, or in the same adjika.

In general, there are quite a lot of options for using it in everyday life. And in store-bought pasta, as in all canned foods, there is a lot of all sorts of chemicals that are not suitable for our body, which manufacturers add for the longest possible storage under various conditions. Therefore, it is best, if possible, to cook it at home.

Homemade tomato paste for the winter

Let's start with the most common recipe for tomato paste. The cooking process is a little lengthy, but it's worth it. Just stand over the stove once and you will have good preservation for all occasions.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes – 3 kg
Sugar - 100 gr
Vinegar 9% – 100 ml
Salt - to taste

Manufacturing:

1. Wash the tomatoes and cut them as desired, removing the stems. Place them in a saucepan and put on fire. When heated, they will release juice. Bring to a boil and cook for 10-15 minutes until they are tender.

2. Then you should grind them in portions through a sieve (I usually take an iron one with large cells). After this, you will get tomato juice with a small pulp, and throw away the remaining pulp in the sieve.

You can also use a blender. First, swirl the boiled tomatoes well in it, and then discard on a sieve. In this case, the juice will be the thickest, and there will not be enough pulp.

3. Place the juice on the fire and bring to a boil. Then reduce it and cook for 3-5 hours so that the excess liquid evaporates and the paste becomes thick. The time depends on how thick you want it to be. At the same time, do not forget to stir the contents of the pan.

If you worked with a blender, then you need to cook for 1-2 hours, because the mass comes out thicker at first.

4. 5 minutes before the end of cooking, add salt, sugar and vinegar. Stir well and transfer the paste into sterilized jars to the very top. Then roll up the jars with lids and leave to cool. Afterwards, put the blanks in your storage, preferably in a cold space.

Thick tomato paste - you'll lick your fingers!

I found out this version of tomato paste from my own Georgian friends. Because it contains hot pepper, it comes out quite hot, but as a base for a sauce it is simply wonderful.

Ingredients:

Tomato juice - 6 l (from approximately 7-9 kg of tomatoes)
Hot capsicum – 200 gr
Garlic - 5-6 heads
Salt - to taste

Manufacturing:

1. First, puree the tomatoes in a blender and bring to a watery mass. Along with the tomatoes, also scroll through the peeled garlic and hot pepper. Then grind everything through a sieve so that seeds and pieces of skin do not get into the brew. Pour the juice into a saucepan and place over medium heat.

If you use a juicer, the remaining pulp can be passed through it 2-3 times. With this method of obtaining juice, there is no need to grind anything through a sieve.

2. During the cooking process, stir the mixture from time to time so that the formed sediments rise and dissolve. Cook the pasta for at least 3 hours until it thickens. With all this, in volume it will become at least a third less than the original one.

3. At the end of cooking, add salt, stir and cook for another 5 minutes. Then transfer the tomato paste into unstained, sterile jars and screw on the boiled lids. Let them cool and move them to a cool place for storage.

The usual recipe for tomato paste without vinegar with your own hands, through a meat grinder

In this version, we bypassed grinding the juice through a sieve. But if you want the most uniform density, without grains, then you cannot do without this. The only consolation is that the ground tomatoes will pass through the small holes of the sieve more quickly and this will take little time. But the cooking process itself may increase until you achieve a suitable thickness.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes (not liquid) - 4-5 kg
Salt - 1 heaped tablespoon
Vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons

Manufacturing:

1. Wash the ripe tomatoes, cut into comfortable pieces, removing the stem and twist them through a meat grinder. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan, add salt and vegetable oil. Stir, put on heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

2. Once it boils, cook for 15-20 minutes. If you have a liquid variety of tomatoes, you will have to cook longer for the excess liquid to evaporate, approximately 30-40 minutes. Then transfer to unstained sterile jars and screw on the lids. Cover the jars with something warm and leave until completely cool. Later, store in a cool place.

Video on how to freeze tomato paste for the winter

Why do you need to freeze tomatoes? Well, firstly, in winter you can always try out the taste of new tomatoes, especially if it’s your own harvest and there’s a lot of it. Secondly, they do not need to be defrosted. Such a briquette is quite easy to add to any dish you are preparing, including borscht. The method itself is quite simple and fast, you don’t even need to cook anything. Well, you will see how to create this in the video below.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes - how much to eat

Dear friends, that’s all I have for today. And although the article was quite short, I hope the information will be very useful to you. Choose any option you like and prepare tomato paste for the winter, which will always help you out when preparing any dish. After all, tomatoes are universally useful and can be added to virtually everything.