Garden Tomato Paste

Jan in Lanark's Note:

I make this every year with my surplus of plum tomatoes- you need to spend a few hours close to the stove, but it's worth it! Very handy to have in small amounts in the freezer.

• Total Time: 3 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients:

Yield: 4 Cups

• 7 lbs meaty tomatoes, such as plum
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped carrot
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary or 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 whole cloves
• 8 peppercorns
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped

Directions:

1. Wash tomatoes and remove cores; coarsely chop- no need to peel.
2. In a large heavy saucepan, combine tomatoes with remaining ingredients.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, about 25-30 minutes or until all ingredients are soft.
4. Press through a foodmill (preferable) or sieve.
5. Return to a clean heavy saucepan and cook over very low heat for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally, until very thick.
6. May take a bit longer.
7. Cool and pack into ice cube trays.
8. Freeze and transfer to freezer bags.

Reviews

[Annz Recipez]

I love this recipe! It takes a while to make, but it's soooooo yummy! Fills the house with a wonderful scent while it's cooking--way better than purchased tomato paste. I use 1 qt. jar of canned tomatoes in the winter when I don't have any fresh ones (the whole jar--juice and all). I make it into pizza sauce sometimes by not cooking it down quite so much (1.5 hours instead of 3) and adding 2-3 T. fresh chopped oregano and about 1 t. fresh thyme (or dried if I don't have fresh).

[Chef #1129994]

This is awesome!! I've been looking for a good recipe for tomato past your years. I finally found one that works for me. Good luck in finding those ice cube trays. I just use the aluminum foil baking dishes that hold about 1-1/2 cup. After frozem, I pop them out of the dish, wrap them individually in plastic wrap, then store about 4 helpings in a 1 gallon storage bag.

[Chippie]

Made this over the weekend and it came out great! Definately a time consumer coring all those tomatoes :(, but was worth it! Didn't use the celery or carrots because I didn't have them and didn't feel like running to the market. But I did add 1 tsp. of Oregano as most of the recipes I make using tomato paste calls for is so I thought why not add it to the paste. Did the freezer method and worked out wonderfully. The picture I took was not the greatest, but I took it last night and probably shouldn't have used the flash. Great recipe, thanks for posting!