Passed tomatoes are available in stores from a wide variety of manufacturers. However, homemade tomato puree tastes significantly better than the finished products and is free of artificial flavors and preservatives. If the tomato harvest in the garden is particularly plentiful, straining the vegetables is a good way to process them.
How to strain tomatoes?
To strain tomatoes, first wash and clean ripe tomatoes before cutting them into pieces and leaving them for approx. Steam for 20 minutes. Then strain the cooked tomatoes using a “quick lotte”, a fine sieve or a hand blender to obtain a creamy tomato puree.
Which types of tomatoes are suitable for straining?
In principle, you can strain any ripe tomato, but some varieties produce a better result. Beef, egg or bottle tomatoes are particularly aromatic, fleshy and have a slightly floury consistency. Well-known varieties here are the “San Marzano”, an elongated and firm variety with a lot of aroma, as well as the oxheart tomatoes, which have an exceptional amount of meat. If you use tomatoes like this for straining, you will get a very creamy result.
How does this happen correctly?
Straining tomatoes is done in three steps:
- Cleaning tomatoes
- Cooking tomatoes
- Pass tomatoes
The work doesn't require much effort and is done quickly. It's worth straining larger quantities, as the finished puree can easily be frozen as a reserve or preserved.
- Only use perfectly ripe tomatoes.
- Wash the tomatoes under running water.
- Remove the stem base.
- Cut the tomatoes into rough pieces.
- Heat some oil in a sufficiently large pot and sauté the tomato pieces until they fall apart (about 20 minutes).
Now you have different options for straining the cooked tomatoes.
The speedy Lotte
The fast Lotte is a kitchen utensil with a sieve and hand-operated crank in which peels and seeds are collected. If you own this kitchen utensil, take the disc with the finest holes and put the tomatoes in it Fill funnel and turn the crank. The scribe presses the tomato puree into the bowl underneath. The seeds and peel remain in the brisk lotte.
The Sieve
Tomatoes can be strained even without a quick Lotte. To do this, hang your finest sieve in a suitable bowl and add the cooked tomatoes. Stir with a spoon until only the skin and seeds remain in the sieve. You can make straining a little easier by skinning the tomatoes beforehand. To do this, cut the tomatoes crosswise opposite the base of the stem and place them briefly in boiling water. The skin comes off and can be peeled off.
The blender and the stand mixer
If you want to strain your tomatoes using these kitchen appliances, you should first skin them and remove the seeds. If the seeds are crushed in the blender, they can make the sauce bitter.
First prepare the tomatoes and briefly boil the pieces. Put the tomatoes in a suitable container and puree the whole thing with the hand blender to form a creamy sauce. Use a stand mixer, add the cooked tomatoes, close carefully and puree at the highest level. With the blender you can also puree the tomatoes raw (but with the skin and seeds removed) and then bring them to the boil.
Use pureed tomatoes
Passed tomatoes can be stored well. They are great for freezing or storing in suitable jars. So you always have homemade tomato puree on hand.
The delicious tomato puree forms the basis for various delicious dishes. For example, prepare tomato soup. To do this, sweat a diced onion in the pot and pour in tomato puree and broth. Season the soup and add a dash of cream.
If you season the tomato puree to taste, you can use it as a base for homemade pizza dough. The pureed tomatoes also belong in a good Bolognese sauce. Then add the right spaghetti and the Italian pasta is ready. The homemade tomato puree also provides the necessary freshness in the chili con carne.
Tomato puree can be combined with a wide variety of spices. If you love it Mediterranean, it can be refined with basil, rosemary and thyme. If spiciness is desired, a chili pepper can be cooked and strained immediately.
The difference between strained tomatoes and ketchup
Ketchup in bottles usually has a relatively long shelf life. To do this, preservatives must be processed. Do not use such an artificial additive with your pureed tomatoes. Plus, ketchup always tastes sweet. This is achieved by adding plenty of sugar or sugar substitutes and is not really recommended. However, if you want to achieve a sweet note in your tomato puree, you can experiment with adding brown sugar or honey, as well as a mild vinegar and a pinch of s alt.
