Tomato Sauce from Home Grown Tomatoes

[heliman]

I have been growing San Marzano tomatoes, plus a few other roma types for a while now and today decided to have a go at maikng sauce. Using the nice and easy FB recipe, I poured boiling water over the tomatoes before putting them in iced water to loosen their skins. After removing the skins I blended them with a hand blender and added some salt and olive oil. The mix looked good but I don't think the tomatoes were ripe enough as they stayed quite firm even after blending. The main concern however was the amount of water in the sauce. I didn't want to cook the sauce so left it standing on the counter for a few hours in the hope that some of the water would evaporate but it didn't.

So, this sauce was not a success so I won't be making any more with garden tomatoes. I wil however keep my crop going and use the tomatoes for toppings. Still can't beat the shop bough roma tomatoes that often go on special for 69c for a 410 gram can.

I was not overly impressed with the canned San Marzano tomatoes I bought recently and whilst they were good - the local canned ones are perfect for the job!

Rossco

[KiwiPete]

Re: Tomato Sauce from Home Grown Tomatoes

Hi Rossco,

I think the FB recipe you're referring to, uses a can of San Marzano tomatoes to start off with; being canned, that means they have been cooked, so that will give you a different end product.

You're probably right about your tomatoes not being ripe enough: I've made tomato passata from home grown san marzanos before and they were lovely and red and very tasty without any seasoning.

[heliman]

Re: Tomato Sauce from Home Grown Tomatoes

Hi Pete ... now that looks amazing...nothing like my meagre offering. I am very envious ... must be the Kiwi weather/soil that allow you to produce such nice tomatoes. You in the north or south island??

BTW I should have clarified that I was referring to the FB method - i.e. the process, not so much the ingredients...

Rossco

[KiwiPete]

Re: Tomato Sauce from Home Grown Tomatoes

Hi Rossco,

I'm in Auckland, so North Island.

Just a small residential section with a few bins with tomatoes.

Used some for "fresh sauce" i.e. not cooked and the rest for for cooked/preserved sauce. Got about 25-30 (500ml) jars of sauce out of it.

Cheers

Peter

[heliman]

Re: Tomato Sauce from Home Grown Tomatoes

AMAZING!!! Incredible looking tomatoes. Mine are 1/4 the size of those. Do you use some special fertilizer to get them so good?

I am sure the weather must be a positive factor too - I seem to recall it being quite wet when visiting my cousin in Auckland in the past. Also, the soil could be similar to the original San Marzano - i.e. volcanic so this could also play a part in the success story.

I think I will have to resign myself to having to buy my tomatoes in cans...

Rossco

[heliman]

Re: Tomato Sauce from Home Grown Tomatoes

Round 2
======

I found some well ripe, supermarket bought tomatoes this evening so decided to make some sauce out of them. Again, I followed the boiling water, ice water process to remove the skins then into a container and hand blended. This time round they were less watery but they were a very pale red - even though the skins themselves were bright red like yours. Not sure how they will turn out taste wise but they don't look too exciting as a sauce.

What sort of machine were you using to make your sauce? Perhaps my hand blender is a bit too powerful to produce a smooth sauce (seems to work fine on canned tomatoes though). Do you cook your tamatoes at all before blending??

Rossco

[KiwiPete]

Re: Tomato Sauce from Home Grown Tomatoes

Hi Rossco,

I use a passata mill which I bought in Sydney some time ago (found it gathering dust on the shelves of a deli in the suburbs) Its very handy because all you have to do is cut your tomatoes in halves or quarters (depending on size) and chuck in the mill and crank the handle. It automatically separates the skins and the pips (which come out on one side) from the flesh. (no removing skins beforehand etc. required)

I have used store bought tomatoes before (vine ripened), and put them through the mill, but they do contain more water than San Marzanos, so you will need to boil the sauce in order to reduce to an acceptable consistency. Nevertheless I have had good results with them. Last summer my wife found a large box of tomatoes in the local fruit and vege shop which were over ripe, and was able to buy the whole box for next to nothing. I milled them, reduced and bottled the sauce and ended up with about 25 jars, so that was fine.

The San Marzanos do have much less water (and seeds) in them than other tomatoes, so when I put those through the mill, the sauce comes out beautiful, red and creamy as in the pics of my previous post. So when I process a batch, I use some to put fresh on pizza and the rest I preserve and bottle.

I found my tomato mill on some web site in Australia as well. Misc Food Equipment. Scroll about halfway down that page and you'll see it. Its called "Tomato Press Rigamonti".

Cheers

Peter

[heliman]

Re: Tomato Sauce from Home Grown Tomatoes

Thanks very much for that info Peter - I'm just about to chase it up and buy one of these gadgets. I checked price and shipping and it will be about $80 delivered to Perth which is quite reasonable.

Quick question though - do the San Marzanos naturally produce the bright red sauce or do you add something to bring out the colour?

Rossco

[egalecki]

Re: Tomato Sauce from Home Grown Tomatoes

Some tomatoes have a redder interior flesh than others. It's a varietal thing. I've grown some that made a deep red sauce and some that made one more like what you see in your photo. I never use the store ones (unless it's the produce stand) because they're grown for transporting, and they have a thicker skin and are bred to look ripe even if they aren't fully, really ripe.

Bottom line is, even if you take the skins off your sauce will be better if the seeds are out too. They can get sort of bitter. That said, I routinely leave them in because I am too lazy to take them all out, but my mom considers that heresy.

And really, it shouldn't matter too much what it looks like if it tastes good. If it bothers you that much, use food coloring. But I wouldn't bother if it's tasty...

[heliman]

Re: Tomato Sauce from Home Grown Tomatoes

Just been doing some research on these juice extractors/puree makers and found that there is one offered by Kitchenaid as an attachment to the mixer. I have the grinder attachment that this item fits on to so will only need the veg strainer itself. It is fairly pricey at $114 but given that it is "motor driven" it is a lot cheaper that others in that category.

I would be keen to hear from the experts as to its suitability and particularly if someone has owned or currently owns one, their thoughts on the product.

This is what it looks like: Peter Mcinnes: KitchenAid Commercial Product Info Sheet

Details here: KitchenAid Fruit and Vegetable Strainer - Free Shipping

Rossco

[heliman]

Re: Tomato Sauce from Home Grown Tomatoes

OK - after reading 59 reviews on Amazon for this product it seems that it is definitely up to the job so I took the plunge and bought it at the kitchen store nearby. One useful bit of info was that may need to send the waste through the system a secnd time for maximum extraction.

I managed to get a bag of well ripened Romas at lunch time for $1.50 so should be able to make a few litres of sauce. Will be cranking this baby up tonight to test its capabilities. Just checked in the box and the parts looks good quality and come apart for easy cleaning.

Will report the results later.

Rossco

PS - Depending on the performance of this attachment, I may have found a meaninful purpose for my KA since it was relieved of its role as dough maker after a somewhat dismal performance in the past.

[heliman]

Re: Tomato Sauce from Home Grown Tomatoes

Verdict: 5 STARS

Have just tested this attachment out and made about 3 litres of tomto sauce.

It worked really great and I was pleased with the results. Firstly, I cut the tomatoes into quarters to facilitate putting down the feeder shute. I got the system running "production line" style having cut up a good number of the tomatoes beforehand. The pips and skins were removed effectively and the waste skins were expelled from the end of the stainless steel filter screen. I ran the waste through the attachment a second time as recommended and was pleasantly surprised to see how much additional sauce was extracted.

One particular positive was the fact that the sauce was a a bright red colour I am guessing that the processing of the skins allowed some pigment in the skins to be extracted as well. This was a very positive outcome (see earier post).

On the down side - not attachment related - was the amount of juice that was extracted. That was obviously related to the type of tomatoes used so no bad reflection on the attachment itself.

Overall, the KA handled the load effortlessly and I believe that I have now found a cost effective, tasty and efficient way of making a really good sauce. Thanks go to Peter for steering me in the right direction.

I have quite a bit of sauce now and want to save it for a future pizza bake off.... any suggestions on how I can best store the sauce (freeze ??) welcomed.

Rossco

[heliman]

Re: Tomato Sauce from Home Grown Tomatoes

Just an update on this one - I managed to sort out the problem with the excess water in the sauce by doing the following:

1. Left the sauce to stand for a few hours on the bench (covered) to allow tomato to "float" on the water.

2. Poured the sauce into containers - one fridge and one freezer.

3. Left a small amount of the sauce in the bottom of the main container (the water was clearly visible under the remaining sauce).

4. Spooned out the majority of sauce, then placed a paper towel under the sauce (slid under the sauce). This absorbed the water and the floating sauce settled onto the paper towel ready for decanting into container...

Note: the sauce seemed to firm up after standing for a while so probably a good idea to let it rest before using or freezing it.

Rossco

[KiwiPete]

Re: Tomato Sauce from Home Grown Tomatoes

Hi Rossco,

I boil mine and then put it into preserving jars. That way I don't need to take up precious freezer space and it keeps for a long time (like a couple of years) without noticable deterioration.

One other thing too: I have seen Jamie Oliver making a tomato consomme which was completely clear, yet was pure tomato taste. So I'm figuring the water in tomatoes does contain a lot of the tomato taste, hence I prefer reducing it with boiling, rather than discarding the water altogether.

peter

[heliman]

Re: Tomato Sauce from Home Grown Tomatoes

Hi Peter ...

Can you please post the actual method of preserving the sauce. My understanding is that cooking changes the characteristics of the sauce and is therefore not recommended (the FB pizza handbook is a reference point for details of this). Once preserved, do you not need to refridgerate the sauce??

Rossco