Homemade tomato passata
Homemade tomato passata with my family's recipe
Equipment
- steel food mill for tomato or electric tomato strainer machine; funnel; 1/2 l bottles and caps
Ingredients
- 5 kg of tomatoes for passata for instance San Marzano
- 20 basil leaves optional
- 1 tablespoon salt, about 30 g
Instructions
- Wash the basil, and then wash and chop the tomatoes.
- Arrange the tomatoes in a large pan. If you like, add the basil.
- Put the pot with the tomatoes (and basil) on the stove, mash them with a wooden spoon, and cook over medium heat on a medium stove for about an hour or until the tomatoes are well cooked and soft. Stir occasionally.
- Two minutes before turning off the heat, add the salt and stir.
- At this point, I let the tomatoes cool for half an hour, but you can proceed immediately or even continue after a few hours or the next day. Strain the tomatoes to remove skins and seeds by collecting the juice in a bowl.
- Fill the bottles with juice and seal with the caps.
- Place the pan on the stove you will use. Arrange the bottles in the pan by putting a dishcloth between them. Cover with hot water (it helps the water to bring a boil). The water should exceed the height of the bottles by at least 2 cm. While boiling, if the water drops, and it will drop, add more. Turn the stove on high heat, cover it with a lid, and bring it to a boil.
- When the water boils, remove the lid and cook over high heat for about 20 minutes. Turn off and let the bottles cool in the water. It will be a long time to wait: it is normal!
- Store in the pantry for up to one year.