Tomato Paste with Garlic for Winter
Thick, concentrated homemade tomato paste! Sound impossible? It's absolutely doable — it just takes a good amount of time, but it's worth it! This tomato paste works in borscht, sauces, gravies — anywhere! I don't add any salt or pepper to it. Just garlic for aroma, and that's it. Give it a try — but fair warning: it cooks down a lot! Don't expect to get 8 kg (about 18 lbs) of paste from 8 kg of tomatoes. You usually end up with just three pint (0.5-liter) jars.
Anya
Recipe author
Tomato Paste with Garlic for Winter
Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe
By weight of the composition:
Proteins 20 %
1 g
Fats 0 %
0 g
Carbohydrates 80 %
4 g
25 kcal
GI:
100
/
0
/
0
- Sort through the tomatoes. Bruised ones are fine to use, but set aside any that are rotten or going sour, since they'll spoil the flavor of the finished paste. Then wash the tomatoes well and cut them into wedges.
- Put the cut tomatoes in a heavy-bottomed pot (or at least one with a thick base). I've never found a single pot big enough, so I split the batch in two and cook it in two pots. Set them over the heat.
- Bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium, and cook until the tomatoes soften. You want them to cook down to a mush and the skins to separate from the flesh (this takes about half an hour).
- Now for the most important step: press the hot tomato mixture through a fine sieve to extract as much pulp as possible and get rid of the skins and seeds. This isn't a quick job, so be patient.
- Peel the garlic and press it through a garlic press. Stir the garlic paste into the tomato juice.
- Now all that's left is to cook the mixture down to a paste. Set it back over the heat (a little below medium) and reduce it to the thickness you want (this takes me 4–4.5 hours), stirring occasionally. After 3 hours the paste will have shrunk noticeably as the liquid evaporates. At that point don't step away from the stove — you need to stir constantly, or it can scorch, which gives the finished paste an off smell and leaves you with extra work (scrubbing the bottom of the pot).
- Ladle the hot, bubbling paste into sterilized jars (I sterilize mine in the microwave — they come out hot and dry, which I like). Seal with sterilized lids. Then, as usual, turn the jars upside down, wrap them in a warm blanket, leave them until completely cool, and move them to your storage spot.
- Enjoy in good health!
Caloric content of the products possible in the composition of the dish
- Tomatoes - 23 kcal/100g
- Garlic - 143 kcal/100g
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