What would be one of the most essential part of the kitchen ingredients? Well, there are spices and herbs that we must have in the kitchen, but one thing that is equally important s the rich and savory tomato paste. Imagine the kitchen without it and imagine how you can serve mouth watering dishes just by using a few tablespoons of tomato paste. Definitely you can serve so many different pastas with this tomato paste. You can even make tomato sauces as well as spreads. That is the reason why we should never forget to stash a can or two in the pantry.
Many people choose to buy the tomato paste cans in the supermarkets. Of course, it is a more comfortable way of obtaining the tomato paste. We know that the tomato is a rich sauce of vitamins and proteins, but once it is canned, it would be another story. Yes, they will have the list of nutrients in the can, but there are studies that have proven that tomatoes in cans can be dangerous for health as they have high level of BPA.
Anyway, you can actually make your own tomato paste and it is actually not so difficult. It is nothing but tomatoes that have been reduced for quite some time. The good news is that even when you have only a few pounds of tomato leftovers that are about to go bad if you do not do something about it, then you can turn them into past that can last for the winter.
The first thing to do is to peel the tomatoes and then seed them. Chop them roughly until you have small pieces of tomatoes to start the process. If you want an even deeper tomato flavor, you can actually leave the seeds and skin on the tomatoes, however you will have to be able to use the food mill later on. Put the chopped tomatoes in a saucepan and heat it over the low-medium heat. Spread them thinly so that they will not take forever to reduce. Add about 0.5 teaspoon of salt for every 5 tomatoes that you cook.
Keep on cooking and stirring until you find that the tomatoes are reduced into thick paste. If you have the consistency that you want, then you have the tomato paste. It is so easy, but you will need the whole afternoon to prepare this paste.
