Tomato Paste

About this time of year, I like to clean out the big freezer. We're usually down to just elk, antelope, and frozen tomatoes. Since I don't make too many soups or stews in the spring, I don't want all those frozen tomatoes to go to waste. After all, I started the plants from seed, nurtured them in the sun room, planted them, watered them, talked to them, picked them, and froze them last summer and fall.

So I make tomato paste out of them. Once they've been frozen, the skins just slip right off under warm water, then they cook all day and make the house smell wonderful. Now I can use the paste in spaghetti sauce, or on pizza, or in lasagna. Wonderful.

I had 7 quart bags of frozen tomatoes and they cooked down to 7 cups of tomato paste. It's easy to do:
Frozen tomatoes - run them under warm water as the skins soften and slip off (see the first picture)

(or fresh if you want to peel them - dip the fresh tomatoes in boiling water for a minute or two. Drop into a bowl of cold water. Peel off the skins)

Place in a LARGE pot.

Turn on high until it comes to a boil.

Turn to low and simmer, stirring every 20 minutes at first, then stir more often as it thickens - about every 10 minutes at the end of the cooking time. Here's how it changes. Note how it cooks down.

This took several hours of cooking.

Cook until it's the consistency you prefer.
Don't add any salt or seasonings. Add those later when you make spaghetti sauce or pizza or whatever.

I put the sauce in freezer bags in 1 cup measurements.

Okay - now I'm ready for pizza!