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Learning to Edit |
Tomato Paste
Preheat the oven to 350F. Quarter the tomatoes, cutting out any bad bits but leaving in the skin and seeds. Simmer the tomatoes in olive oil until they are soft and the skins is coming off. Put the cooked tomatoes through a food mill. Mix citric acid into tomato pulp and discard seeds and skin. Pour the tomato pulp onto cookie sheets or roasting pans (use as many pans as fit in the oven to start; the thinner the layers, the faster the water cooks off). Bake until the paste paste is shiny and brick-coloured, and reduced by more than half, checking and stirring and switch position of baking sheets every 30 minutes. This usually takes 3-4 hours. When the paste no longer fills multiple baking sheets, it can be combined to a single pan. Fill jars with paste. Wipe rims, place lids on jars, and tighten rings to finger-tight. Place the jars in the canner, adding or removing water so that there is approximately 1 inch of water on top of the tallest jar. Bring canner to a rolling boil. Keep at a boil for 45 minutes, then turn off heat and remove lid of the canner. Let stand 5 minutes. Set jars on a towel and leave 24 hours before checking the seals. Push on the center of the lid -- if you hear a popping noise, the seal is no good and that jar needs to refrigerated. Remove the rings, and test that the lids cannot be easily opened. Wipe down and dry jars. Store without rings. |