Tomatoes - perhaps the most popular product in the kitchen. This bright, glossy-skinned vegetable is versatile in cooking: it is stewed, stuffed, used in salads and harvested for the winter. One of the useful and irreplaceable preserves is tomato paste.
Characteristics and taste
Let's figure out what tomato paste is. The product is obtained by heat treatment of prepared tomatoes - washed and peeled. As a result of boiling, that is, evaporation of the liquid, the mixture turns out to be a thick consistency, while preserving the taste and color of the vegetables.
To give the product a special quality - spicy aroma and taste - when cooking, add various spices, both dried (pepper, mustard seeds) and fresh greens.
Pasta can be bought in stores, and its selection is huge, but the home product wins in many ways:
- quality of vegetables: only fresh and high-quality tomatoes are not always used in production;
- preparing for yourself, you regulate the amount of salt and spices: someone prefers a sharp product, someone - a softer and more spicy;
- manufacturers for the best preservation of the product add a variety of preservatives, often not the best quality, if not harmful to the body.
It is worth mentioning the savings in the family budget for the independent preparation of healthy and tasty products.
Features of the selection of tomatoes (tomatoes)
The name of the variety for cooking does not play a special role, the main thing is that the vegetables must be fresh, without a rotting process. To the final product was thick and rich in taste and color, it is desirable to choose tomatoes with a fleshy structure of the pulp.
Familiarize yourself with the different ways you can harvest tomatoes for the winter.
Recipe for homemade tomato paste with photos and video
According to many culinary experts, it is better to cook pasta without spices. We present this classic recipe to your attention.
Kitchen appliances and utensils
- Knife.
- Pan.
- Meat grinder.
- Bowl deep.
- Covers.
- Banks.
- Lashing key.
- Sieve.
Did you know? The first began to grow this vegetable Aztec, calling it "tomato" - "big berry". Until now, there are disputes about the botanical origin of tomatoes: they are called and berries, and fruits, and vegetables.
Required Ingredients
On 3 liters of finished goods:
- tomatoes - 5 kg;
- salt - 1 tbsp. l
Step by Step Cooking Process
- Washed vegetables cut into several pieces, removing the stalk, and mince.
- Place the mass in a saucepan and put on a large fire until boiling, stirring constantly. As soon as the paste boils, reduce the heat and, removing the foam that appears on the surface, cook for 15 minutes.
- Add salt to taste, hoping that the dish in which they will put pasta, will also be salted. At 3 liters of the mixture will be enough 1 tablespoon of salt with the top.
- Then sterilize the jars and lids, pour the product into the container and roll up.
- To make sure the lids are tight, turn the jars upside down, cover with a blanket and leave to cool.
You will probably be interested to learn how to cook tomatoes in your own juice, ferment in a barrel, how to pickle tomatoes in jars, how to make tomato juice, ketchup and make a salad with tomatoes.
A vivid example with detailed comments is in the next video.
Recipes with a twist
Pasta cooking recipes are actually a lot. Each hostess adds her know-how to the dish, giving it a unique piquancy. We present you some interesting options for cooking homemade pasta.
Recipe for cooking pasta in the oven
Ingredients:
- tomatoes - 3 kg;
- parsley, celery, basil - a bunch of greens;
- salt to taste.
Did you know? With the help of tomato sauce, you can clear jewelry and copper dishes, since the enzymes of the product perfectly remove the products of oxidation of metals.
- In washed tomatoes, remove with a knife the damaged parts of the pulp. On the fire, put the pot for a water bath, on its sides, install a sieve with small cells. Tomatoes have to be processed in parts to boil everything evenly over the steam. Soar need up to 10 minutes.
- Rub the raw material through a sieve, discard the pulp. Add salt to the raw material, send the mixture to a baking tray with high sides and place in an oven preheated to 200 ° C. Here, the future paste should languish for up to 2.5 hours. It should be periodically stirred for uniform evaporation of the liquid.
- Having achieved the desired thickness, add the spices: parsley, celery, basil. So that the pieces of greens do not float in the paste, they can be wrapped in a gauze bag and put in a tomato mixture. Spice pasta with another 20-30 minutes, and during this time sterilize the jars and lids.
- After the time expires, remove the spices, spread the hot product over the cans and roll up the lids. Now banks need to turn the lids down, wrap a blanket and leave for a day.
Tomato paste with apples
For cooking will need:
- tomatoes - 1.5 kg;
- apples sour varieties - 300 g;
- apple vinegar - 50 ml;
- onion - 1 pc .;
- salt, pepper, sugar.
Wash the washed vegetables off the stalks, cut them in half and place in a cooking pan. Following the tomatoes, send finely chopped onions and apples.
We recommend to read about how to make apple cider vinegar at home.
Cook the ingredients on low heat for up to 20 minutes, then mash with a blender or mashing the tomatoes through a sieve. Put on fire again for 40 minutes. While the mixture is boiled down (and the mass should be reduced several times), it should be stirred regularly.
At the end of cooking, add vinegar and spices to taste, leave for another 15 minutes. Pour the paste into prepared jars, roll up, turn it over and cover with a blanket until it cools. 
Spicy Pasta with Hot Peppers
Ingredients:
- tomatoes - 3 kg;
- onions - 500 g;
- hot pepper - 2 tsp. (ground);
- vinegar - 200 ml (6%);
- sugar - 200 g;
- Juniper berries - 3-4 pcs .;
- allspice peas - 6 pcs.;
- mustard powder - 2 tbsp. l;
- salt - to taste.
We advise you to read about how to salt tomatoes in a cold way, how to cook tomatoes with mustard under a capron lid, dried tomatoes, tomatoes in jelly and tomato jam, as well as how to freeze tomatoes.
- First you need to get rid of the skin on the tomatoes. To do this, make a light cross-shaped incision on the "ass" of the vegetable and dip it in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Then gently pry the tip of the peel and peel the whole vegetable.
- Remove the stems from the tomatoes, cut the fruits into halves, put in a saucepan. Next add chopped onions, a glass of water and put on the fire for 15 minutes.
- The mass should simmer a few minutes, then it must be rubbed through a sieve.
- Vinegar and other spices, except salt, sugar and mustard, should be brought to a boil in a separate bowl, cool and add to pasta.
Then add salt, sugar and mustard to the mass to taste, boil for another 5 minutes and roll into jars. Wrap in a blanket before cooling.
Then add salt, sugar and mustard to the mass to taste, boil for another 5 minutes and roll into jars. Wrap in a blanket before cooling.
Find out what the benefits and harm of tomatoes.
Tomato paste in a slow cooker
To prepare you will need:
- tomatoes - 500 g;
- onions - 200 g;
- garlic - 4 cloves;
- sunflower oil - 50 ml;
- salt - 1 tsp.
Clean all vegetables, cut into quarters and whip in a puree blender. Pour sunflower oil, chopped vegetables, and salt into the bowl of the unit. Stir and turn on the "quenching" mode for 35 minutes. Cover with a lid after the mass boils. Pour the finished product into sterilized jars and roll it up. 
Features and storage rules blanks
As mentioned above, vegetables for pasta should not be rotten, otherwise they can spoil the product, fermenting under the lid. Before rolling covers, be sure to sterilize both covers and containers.
This can be done with a special circle (with a hole under the throat of the jar) above the saucepan with boiling water. You can also do this in the oven, placing the containers down with your neck, and place the lids in the same place. Most housewives prefer to boil the lid in a ladle or small saucepan.
After the lids are tightly rolled up, the cans with the contents are turned over, covered with a blanket and left to cool. After turning over the container, you can hold your finger over the point where the lid connects with the glass and make sure that the liquid does not leak out.
Important! If the surface is wet, it means that the can is closed tightly and can "explode" during further storage. In this case, you should open the lid and carry out the sterilization procedure again, boiling the contents as well.
Keep the blanks in a cool, dry and dark room. If there is no possibility to store the blanks in the basement or cellar, you can leave them in the closet, but the location of the storeroom should be away from heat sources - heating appliances, kitchens.
Serving on the table: what does tomato paste combine with
Pasta is a unique product: it can be used as a sauce, seasoning, sauce. It is added to soups, borscht, to give a special taste and color. Poultry, meat and fish are ideally combined with liquid sauce. As a gravy, the product is added to garnishes and main dishes of vegetables and cereals, it is stewed and baked, it is smeared with pies and casseroles.
Tomato paste is one of the main ingredients in Italian cuisine in pasta dishes. Homemade product can be diluted with boiled water and get high-quality juice with or without seasoning. When preserving vegetables, salads, lecho paste is added as the main sauce. 
Secrets and Tricks
The secret of the rich aroma of the final product is that spices are added almost at its full readiness. They do this so that the vegetables have time to completely "open up" and not to "get lost" against the background of spices. If you want the product color to be more red, remove the seeds.
Read also how to prepare for the winter patissons, beets, zucchini, pepper, eggplant, cabbage, milk mushrooms, honey agaric, asparagus beans, watermelons, boletus, chanterelles.
Be sure to stir the tomatoes while cooking, otherwise they will burn, and this can also affect the storage time. In order to preserve conservation longer, do not cook the product in aluminum dishes - this material is oxidized, which may cause the covers to "swell" and form mold under it.
Many housewives are advised to add soda or vinegar to the water when sterilizing lids and preservation containers. The tightness of the lids is checked for about 3 weeks: if no bubbles appeared during this time, the center of the lid did not bulge - it means that everything was done correctly. 
If there are any suspicions that the product is “playing,” you need to remove the lid, boil the contents of the can and re-roll. An open jar is stored in the refrigerator, and to make it stand longer, a thin layer of vegetable oil is poured onto the surface.
Important! If there is mold under the lid, the product should not be consumed. The fungus can be invisible in other layers of the paste and is dangerous to health.
Homemade preservation, cooked properly, in compliance with the formulation and sterilization conditions, will delight you and your loved ones all winter. Since during this period there are not as many fresh vegetables as we would like, tomato paste and dishes seasoned with it will help to maintain the necessary balance of vitamins that are abundantly present in fresh vegetables.
