making passata?

[SarzWix]

We have a passata machine too. It's only downfalls are; if you have a slightly grained worktop it doesn't grip very well, we have to use ours on the ceramic hob instead. And, with very watery tomatoes, the juice comes out of the handle! (Ours is slightly different to the one on ebay though) It definitely saves time on peeling tomatoes

[pigletwillie]

Janeyo
I've got the Passata machine, a lot less fiddly than deskinning hundreds of tomatoes. Just cut a cross, immerse them in boiling water for a few minutes then run through the machine.
I then put the pulp in a sieve to drain out the liquid and then freeze the pulp in various quantites and also freeze the tomato water to use in soup.
Sue

If you grow plum type tomatoes for passata, these are less watery than salad tomatoes and make a great pulp.

We make 3 standard types of passata or tomato sauce

Pure tomato
Pure tomato with basil
Tomato with onion, garlic and courgette (as MrsD says its a great bulker)

I had a passata machine but found it very fiddly and time consuming. We process tomotos a bucket full at a time and do the following.

Add olive oil to a very large pan and then add tomatoes till nearly full. As the tomatoes gently heat they burst and the level of the pan goes down. Use a potoato masher or a bamix and crush the tomatoes till they are just pulp. Cook gently till the sauce thickens. Put the whole lot through a mouli, you only need to do this once and it removes all the skins and pips, leaving pure pulp. Season to taste.

If adding onions et al to the sauce, we cook them off first and then add the tomatoes.

A word of warning, tomatoes are naturally high in acid and keep well if processed in a hot water bath. If you add much in the way of onions etc, they they will need processing via a pressure canner or freezing.

It is one of the best ways of adding value to an allotment tomato, its versatile, keeops well and can be made to suit your tastes.

We processed some 40 1l jars, 50 1lb jars and about 30 pour and store bags in the freezer last year.

Another way to process them is to drop cherry tomatoes into boiling water and de-skin them, pack them into jars and top up with your home made passata sauce and then process in a water bath. This is superb as home made tinned tomatoes, try it on bruscetta.

[SarzWix]

I like the look of the Mouli, we had one years ago, but it was rubbish basically an ordinary sieve with a very flimsy handle and scraper fixed on it! This one looks the biz; Mouli
Not sure the OH would be impressed at the addition of more cooking equipment though...

[janeyo]

Thanks PW, great info there. I am growing roma as a plum, (I hope this is right lol) And I hope they can go outside as I figured if the skins come off anyway then it makes no odds if they are outside. Will not have enough room in the greenhouse for everything if some don't go outside.

Thanks

[pigletwillie]

I had a Franchi (seeds of Italy) passata maker and found I had to put everything through twice, it was messy and just didnt tick any boxes for me.

By chucking the tomatoes in whole, even with the calyxes (the green bit), it just saves so much time. If you use a bamix it whizzes up the tomatoes so well that after putting the pulp through a mouli, there is very little skin left and so very little waste.

[jimbojetset]

hugh fw does a great recipe;

Roast sieved tomatoes

Here's the basic procedure, but do vary the amounts of garlic and herbs to suit your own taste. Makes about a litre.

At least 2kg ripe, full-flavoured tomatoes - use different varieties and a mixture of sizes, all cut in half

2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

A few sprigs fresh thyme and marjoram (optional, but preferable)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Arrange the tomato halves - tightly packed but not on top of each other - in an ovenproof dish. Mix the garlic with the oil and trickle evenly over the tomatoes. Season lightly with salt and pepper, and throw in the herbs, if using.

Roast for 45-60 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft, pulpy and slightly charred. Rub the mixture through a fine sieve, discard the skins and seeds, and that's it - your sauce is ready to use.



doesn't sound like much but the roasting process gives a whole other dimension
honestly one of the best recipes (for anything) i've found in the last ten years!

[-pat m]

Thanks PW, great info there. I am growing roma as a plum, (I hope this is right lol) And I hope they can go outside as I figured if the skins come off anyway then it makes no odds if they are outside. Will not have enough room in the greenhouse for everything if some don't go outside.

Thanks

Hi Janeyo

I grew Roma last year inside and out and they were perfect for sauce making and storing only problem I didn’t grow enough! Which won’t be a problem this year. Or will it

Regards

Pat

[janeyo]

I have got loads of roma seeds so am defo going to have a go with some plum toms this year.
Thanks

[Nicos]

I had a Franchi (seeds of Italy) passata maker and found I had to put everything through twice, it was messy and just didnt tick any boxes for me.

ooopppss..that's the one we bought!- and have never used it cos of the blight over the past 2 summers