Hey did you see Becky on Acre Homestead, making enchilada sauce? She used dried tomatoes (not sure if freeze dried) and blended them up and added the powdered tomatoes to her sauce instead of paste. 🤯it worked. Looks like a big time saver. I think the dried tomatoes were from last year. 👍🏼
Rachel one of my favorite people to watch aside from you is Rose red Homestead and she did this with her tomatoes and reconstituted it to make paste and then a little bit more water and made sauce and then a little bit more water and made tomato juice this is what I’m gonna do when my freeze dryer comes
Just a little tip that I use when freeze drying. When done, I weigh each tray, but them back in for 2 more hours, weigh again. If the weight is the same they are totally dry.
That was a lot of effort but at least nothing was wasted. The reason paste is so bitter is because of the long cooking time and condition of tomatoes used. Glad you found a use. Thanks for sharing!
I use my tomato powder in place of tomato paste all the time now. It works beautifully. I made tomato paste one time. For the amount you get from what you start with, I find it a waste, but that is just me.
Seems to me that with freeze drying for so long you couldn’t possibly be saving any money on cheap tomato paste. 40 lbs of tomato’s would have made a bunch of sauce or juice.
I dehydrate my skins and powder them along with dried basil and thyme. Sometimes I add some dried garlic too. Then I can use that powder for seasoning, or as I like to do, add it to my home made salad dressing. Absolutely delicious!
I use tomato powder alot, love adding it to soups , meatloaf, stews, adding it to cooking your rice is great, I can't even think of all the uses it use for.
The problem is you need to keep stirring(like in Goodfellas). When I make a batch of tomato sauce....after I have run through a strainer and have a big pot of sauce, I take a small sauce pot.....add like 3 ladle fulls ; simmer on low....keep an eye on it....stir a lot....and get the little pot to a paste form. I then add it to my big pot....and get a thicker sauce.
That is a huge space saver for making tomato paste. Once it was in the freeze drier, it's a hands off process to reduce it. Frees you up for doing other things.
The method I use for making tomato paste is to simply stem and quarter the tomatoes and slow cook them until broken down. I allow the pulp and skins to drain through a fine sieve and cool before processing through a food mill. (I save the juice from straining to water bath can for use in soups, stocks or come what may). When I have finished processing the skins and pulp through a food mill, I gently heat the paste (stovetop) before processing following water bath canning instructions. I find doing it this way is so much less time consuming, messy and labour intensive. (I have been saving the skins and seeds in my freezer to try dehydrating for tomato powder. Thank you for the great idea!)
Rachel & Todd, When I get my tomatoes squeezed. I heat the juice in a stock pot. Then I place the hot juice in a cloth jelly strainer for however long it takes to get the product I want. It is quicker than heat and evaporete. Hope it helps!
You guys amaze me! Rachel I thought the color was beautiful as you were putting the sauce into the trays for the dehydrator. This is so interesting. I love the way you use the drill!
It only takes 1 time of making tomato paste to realize you'll never do it again. No more expensive than tomatoe paste is, it just doesn't pay for the time/mess/electricity it takes. And first timers making paste (me included), don't realize that to get it as thick as store bought, it's so thick towards the end, that it requires continuous stirring so it doesn't burn. I would freeze dry them since you have a freeze dryer and just add less water when using, as you decided to do. But it's always great to have first hand knowledge of anything. And you're so right, when one does paste, it's hard to believe the amt. of tomatoes it takes but isn't the knowledge great. Thks for the videos.
I love seeing your hair down and all pretty! I don't think I've ever seen your hair not in a ponytail or half up. I LOVE my roaster for lots of things.
The produce rescue organizations in my neck of the 🏜 provide sooooooo many 🍅🍅 for an amazing price to prevent them from going to the landfill ... watching 👀 this video to get some 💡💡. 👍🏽
Hi Rachel! I was so excited for you to try this! This is how I preserve a lot of my tomatoes because you can make it for whatever application you need it for and as you can see, it takes up very little space. Aside from paste, I like to use it for sauces with added seasonings, it’s great in beef stew and chili as a thickener, I make a yummy tomato soup with some added spices and a touch of cream or sour cream. I also like it very thin for tomato juice…gave some to a friend who uses it for Bloody Mary mix! Love watching you guys and I appreciate you taking us along on your homesteading journey. Big hugs!
I use my everyday tomatoes for my paste...I also use cherry tomatoes to make it sweet without adding sugar. I do also use a turkey roaster...very cool. Additionally I sometimes add whole tomatoes (to the sauce, esp the cherry tomatoes) and I take an immersion blender and blend the whole tomato (skins and all) into the paste and it thickens right up. Thanks for the idea of adding the water to turkey roaster, I never even thought of that. Many thanks.
I put mine in the oven... Italian recipe.... tomato only... no seasonings. So good and thick....I filled tiny one ounce freezer containers and stored in the freezer. Delish🍅😋
You and your husband inspire me all the time now got to make tomato paste next year, love the freeze dryer got to see if Santa will get me one ha ha... and yes btw love your overalls. Yall have a blessed day
I just found Melissa Mir on YT. She preserves overseas using different types of jars and tools not available here. . No pressure canned. Some water bath. You would enjoy this winter if you haved downtime. Also watched one over in another country where they process outside and huge amounts of food. The countryside is a absolutely stunning. Ok the name of YT channel is Country Life Blog. Ukraine area. Stunning the food she preserves over fite. Huge jars bowls and trays. Fascinating.
Got my roaster in 1995, couldn’t live without the old girl. We have the same food mill, but several years ago my husband bought me a food mill(& a slicing/peeling set the next year)for my KitchenAid. I’m pretty sure it was more bc he got out of cranking the mill & apple peeler, but I love them. I live in PA & am Blessed to have an Amish farm nearby & an apple orchard up the road. I do at least 3 bushels of apples a year. Got my first peck to make candy apples for my son & his friends-$5
I have air dried the skins but no seeds with it, just skins, so I an not getting as much as you are. I ground them up in the spice grinder. I sure will need a lot of it, but it's always fun learning more!
So happy to see a tomato paste video! I am growing San Marzano and Amish Paste tomatoes this year for paste and if I get enough I’ll make sauce, as well!
I grew Atkinson variety and they are PROLIFIC!!! I have done tomatoes 12 weeks in a row now and still tons of green ones! Whew!!! It took a long time to freeze dry them!
The tomato powder works great for thickening. I use it like that all the time. I do the same with mushroom powder, zucchini flour, sunflower flour (from the guts of the stalks), cauliflower flour, etc. You'll also be able to slowly mix water into the powder to create your tomato paste. Once you figure out the liquid-to-powder ratio, you'll be able to make a batch of paste to use in whatever you need it for. Bonus, the powder takes up a fraction of the space!
I would use the powder to thicken my sauce and not use as paste so you reduce your water content in the sauce and thicken it naturally, I hope that made sense.
Easy way to get fluids out of tomatoes is put them in a fruit steamer. Then you can mill it or purée everything. I just purée. Tastes wonderful. Another great video.
I literally just pulled a load of tomatoes out of the freeze dryer, they are tangy! But felt like styrofoam, so they are dry, thank goodness! Make sure you leave them in the freeze dryer until you are ready to process them into their containers (and re-heat the trays before you pull them out). If you leave them hanging out on the counter and don't package them right away they will pick up humidity from the environment and start getting sticky.
If you pre-cook the tomatoes somewhat you don't have to cook it for so long after the fact ... I learned that the hard way. Have been making my own sauce and paste for several years now and learned that over time. I tend to use a large pot of water and pre-cook for a good 10-15 min before grinding. The bonus is that you end up with a large pot of AMAZING tasting tomato water, which is a fantastic soup base.
This is a tip I learned from an old gardener. (when using the boil and blanch method to take skins off tomatoes) After skin is off, quarter and core. Place in a stock pot. Let it sit overnight on counter and drain the water off in the morning. Not sure how it would work if they are just quartered and cored with skins on. But it might be worth a shot :)
I bought a “Weston electric tomato strainer” from Rural King here in Hartland Mi a few years ago and absolutely love it! Not only do you not have to hand crank or drill, but the skins and seed discard comes out really dry, so I don’t have to run them through again!
What a great thing to show us. Very cool. Lots of tomatoes and work. I would have to throw in the cost of running the freeze dryer x2. But it is lovely paste.
Thank you so much on the tip for water in the base. I’m definitely going to try it since I do get the scolding. Especially if it’s not completely full.
Maybe grind up some dehydrated or freeze dried tomato's add some of you sauce to the mix then blend into your mix. It will thicken it up for sure. For next time if you want to can it up. 🤗💞
Becky from Acre Homestead used her dehydrated cherry tomatoes to make mine a paste using the blender and adding a little of the tomato sauce she blended them together. I thought that was amazing and I'm dehydrating my cherry tomatoes now to do that too.
We are getting a freeze dryer delivered tomorrow and you have given me a great idea what to do with some jars of tomato juice and sauce that are getting on the older side. It’s going to be a new adventure for us.
I used frozen tomatoes and thawed them in a strainer set over a bowl. I collected lots of water from that and my sauce didn't have to reduce very long!
Oh boy! I've always oven roasted then frozen my tomatoes to reduce liquid, making a paste I use in recipes. One if the benefits of using a variety of tomatoes is the unique flavor it can bring. The added water needed is interesting to see.
We love our freeze dryer. I’m not sure we’d like living without it but I guess we COULD if we had to. I do t like regular dehydrated foods. But they are usually fantastic in the FD. I’m putting in a batch of strawberries today. We’ve done a batch of just another everything that came out of our garden this year. Except tomatoes! We had a bad year of those. 😢 We also let our batches run an extra 12 hrs run time. 👍🏽
This could make me appreciate my freeze dryer more. Often I dint need a complete 6oz can of paste and hate to waste it. This would allow me to make a much as I need. Thank you for doing this video!
Wow you could simplify tomato processing from harvest. Just food process the tomatoes from the garden, pour that into a mesh bag in a 5 gallon bucket and let it drain, pop those solids into your freeze dry trays and freeze them, rotating and processing as you go. You could even make tomato vinegar from all the liquid (since you use so much). Yes you got my imagination soaring :)
I made paste last week - I just blended the tomatoes after coring - then boiled for 1.5-2hrs then just ran thru mesh sieve and the water just paste. I don’t own a freeze dryer to can’t do what you did. But I was amazed how well just boiling for couple hours did. I put paste in freezer bags and tossed in freezer instead of canning it.
That paste looks beautiful! I made sauce this year, but not paste. I goofed and fed the skins to the chickens and goats. Next year I will dehydrate them. I don’t have a freeze dryer because it’s honestly not something I want to invest that much money in. Thank you! Many Blessings!!
I do something similar, but different. I puree the tomatoes skins, seeds and pulp all together. Then I spread the puree on my dehydrator sheets. In roughly 18 hours or so, the tomato leather is brittle. I crumble it up into small bits and store in mason jars. Powder enough at a time for a small jar to keep on hand for all kinds of tomato products--tomato paste, tomato sauce, marinara sauce, tomato soup, ketchup, etc... Great tomato flavor and not much work.
If you want to do this without a freeze dryer, there are options as mentioned in the video. Here's a link to Sunshine Farm method: ua-cam.com/video/8YwEV6vbBUk/v-deo.html
Im in the UK we dont have those electric roaster, so was going to use my slow cooker, do I put it on low or high to cook tomatoes down. Ive always done it on the stove before but have to much going on so wanted to try a more hands off method.
I’ve been dehydrating my tomato skins to make into powder and use as tomato paste as well. I got the idea from podcasters like you. I feel like I will waste less tomato paste since I can make the actual amount I need as I need it.
I freeze dry my pizza sauce now. I love the idea of having it and not worried about it going bad too quickly or having to keep it frozen or processing lots of them by canning. Takes up less space to powder them like that. I’m searching for more things to do that with. Great idea!!
Such an interesting video’. You are so clever to know if one thing is not working. Turn it into something else that will achieve the wanted result! Having ground tomatoes would be so useful! Thanks! 💕
Hey y'all, Great video covered all the info and steps. I do the same sauce type cooking. I believe you then season the sauce into the various sauces before canning. That is what I do. Italian seasonings for the Italian sauces, Mexican for the Mexican sauces. I will roast and char large sheets of peppers, a mixture of different peppers for a mixture of colors and flavors some hot some not. Cool peel puree all the peppers and add to the tomato sauce to make chili sauce. I do not ever use chili powder. I always learn something from your videos so I am glad I watched this one Thank you. take care bye for now
I was going to make tomato paste this year if I got enough tomatoes but this looks like it might be an easier method. More control portioning the final product. Thanks for sharing.
I have seen many people add water until it looks like the paste they buy then add it to dishes. Since it keeps longer I think the powder makes a lot of sense.
I recently added my tomato powder to my tomato sauce as I was cooking it. It enhanced the flavor and really thickened the sauce to almost a paste consistency.
Interesting, I made it and it tasted like not quite finished bbq sauce. It was the wrong spice combo for me. I ended up turning one jar into that "not quite sweet baby rays" bbq sauce and it was great in my baked beans. Not very good ketchup at all.
I no longer cook my tomato sauce to make a glorious tomato paste. All of my tomatoes go through my 40 plus year old Champion Juicer. It removes all the seeds and skin. I do run it through twice and sometimes 3 times. The skins and seeds go in the freeze dryer and turned into a powder to use for flavoring things like meatballs, meatloaf, soups, stews and even hamburgers. The juice I boil for 30 mins on the stove and then turn the heat off and cover and let sit for about 8 hours. I then stir it and strain all the juice through a metal sieve. The tomato pulp creates a filter inside the metal sieve. Let it drip into a container that gives you tomato water which I also can to cook pasta and rice as well as put in recipes that call for water. Keep adding tomato juice to the metal sieve and collect the thick tomato paste.I love this method as I'm not having to use a ton of electricity to cook it all down to the thickness I want. I do use a mix of heirloom beefsteaks, romas, black krim and cherry tomatoes for this process and to me it's the best tasting.
Thanks for sharing! Love your videos. I made tomato paste a few weeks ago. I ended up straining off some of the water and then adding some beets. The starch in beets helped it thicken up and made my paste a beautiful color!
I vaguely recall watching the traditional Italian paste-making process, which was basically slowly dehydrating slowly-thickening sauce on wooden tables in the sun. After watching that I concluded that you needed free energy (Sun) and cheap labor (Italian grandmas) to make it. Or else a factory powered by nuclear power. After that I decided I would only cook and preserve tomato products that were cheap and easy and came out better than store-bought, like a thin sauce, crushed tomatoes, or home-dehydrated products. I usually halve and core tomatoes, freeze them in a large rigid bin in the freezer (not ziplock bags, because when they are cut you can fit more into a bin than you can whole in a bag) and then process them when it's not so danged hot outside. Also, some of us do'n't digest the skins and seeds so well, so I don't include them.
So do you think you could have added some zucchini to the tomatoes and made that stretch even farther? would that have freeze dried into tomato paste for you? I made tomato powder last year in the dehydrator and I loved using it all winter long. Can you give me the ratio of that again, was it 2T powder to 6 oz water?
@@1870s I’d love for you to take a recipe and break down all the costs for that recipe including lids, etc. I know it comes out way ahead of you have your own garden, but I don’t think anyone has really been more concrete on costs. It would surely help teach the beginning gardener
So I’m going to try this with the skins this year is to make tomato juice! Not sure how it will turn out but I though I would let you know! Thanks for what you do… One Michigander to another
I had a lot of cherry tomatoes in the garden. I washed them ran them through the blender. Poured into the freeze dry trays then prefroze the ran in the freeze drier it took 58 hrs. Took out of the tray broke into pieces placed in large mouth canning jars vacuum seal with a oxygen absorber. I ended up with 5 qts. I am going to try to add to tomatoes to make pizza sauce.
Hey did you see Becky on Acre Homestead, making enchilada sauce? She used dried tomatoes (not sure if freeze dried) and blended them up and added the powdered tomatoes to her sauce instead of paste. 🤯it worked. Looks like a big time saver. I think the dried tomatoes were from last year. 👍🏼
I tried it and it is amazing and easier.
I was just going to mention this. I think they were freeze dried but they would work the same if dehydrated as well!
I watched that video. She is amazing
Rachel, awesome video!
Question, about freeze dryer... does it give off heat? 🤔 deciding where to put mine... no basement, no garage...
Jen...she dehydrated them....I am gonna do some her way and lots Rachel's way for next year
That tip about water in the base of the roaster is great! Thx
They do make liners for roasters. Similar to crock pot liners.
Rachel one of my favorite people to watch aside from you is Rose red Homestead and she did this with her tomatoes and reconstituted it to make paste and then a little bit more water and made sauce and then a little bit more water and made tomato juice this is what I’m gonna do when my freeze dryer comes
I like the way Todd is is really listening to everything you say. As a couple you both make up such a good team when working together!
Just a little tip that I use when freeze drying. When done, I weigh each tray, but them back in for 2 more hours, weigh again. If the weight is the same they are totally dry.
I've been doing this too. I do hate when it changes by one gram. Keep going or margin of error?
Great tip. Thank you.
GENIUS!!! The drill on the Victorio. Why didn't I think of that. I have been hand cranking all these years. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
That is great to have!!! Nothing wasted.
That was a lot of effort but at least nothing was wasted.
The reason paste is so bitter is because of the long cooking time and condition of tomatoes used.
Glad you found a use.
Thanks for sharing!
Using the drill on the tomato press is genius!
I use my tomato powder in place of tomato paste all the time now. It works beautifully. I made tomato paste one time. For the amount you get from what you start with, I find it a waste, but that is just me.
That's crazy how much it takes to make paste!!! Your right it dies make you appreciate tomato paste!!! Thanks for sharing with us!!! God Bless!!!
Seems to me that with freeze drying for so long you couldn’t possibly be saving any money on cheap tomato paste. 40 lbs of tomato’s would have made a bunch of sauce or juice.
I dehydrate my skins and powder them along with dried basil and thyme. Sometimes I add some dried garlic too. Then I can use that powder for seasoning, or as I like to do, add it to my home made salad dressing. Absolutely delicious!
Drying and blending the tomato into powder works great and so much easier.
I use tomato powder alot, love adding it to soups , meatloaf, stews, adding it to cooking your rice is great, I can't even think of all the uses it use for.
The problem is you need to keep stirring(like in Goodfellas). When I make a batch of tomato sauce....after I have run through a strainer and have a big pot of sauce, I take a small sauce pot.....add like 3 ladle fulls ; simmer on low....keep an eye on it....stir a lot....and get the little pot to a paste form. I then add it to my big pot....and get a thicker sauce.
That is a huge space saver for making tomato paste. Once it was in the freeze drier, it's a hands off process to reduce it. Frees you up for doing other things.
And space can be a big deal for many of us.😉
The method I use for making tomato paste is to simply stem and quarter the tomatoes and slow cook them until broken down. I allow the pulp and skins to drain through a fine sieve and cool before processing through a food mill. (I save the juice from straining to water bath can for use in soups, stocks or come what may). When I have finished processing the skins and pulp through a food mill, I gently heat the paste (stovetop) before processing following water bath canning instructions. I find doing it this way is so much less time consuming, messy and labour intensive. (I have been saving the skins and seeds in my freezer to try dehydrating for tomato powder. Thank you for the great idea!)
Rachel & Todd, When I get my tomatoes squeezed. I heat the juice in a stock pot. Then I place the hot juice in a cloth jelly strainer for however long it takes to get the product I want. It is quicker than heat and evaporete.
Hope it helps!
As Todd was putting the freeze dried pieces in the blender I kept wanting to grab a piece and taste it. 🤣
You guys amaze me! Rachel I thought the color was beautiful as you were putting the sauce into the trays for the dehydrator. This is so interesting. I love the way you use the drill!
This makes me too appreciate tomato paste and the the amount of product and time that goes into it.Sending love from Missouri ❤️
My favorite use of tomato powder is sprinkled on buttered popcorn. Oh so good!
It only takes 1 time of making tomato paste to realize you'll never do it again. No more expensive than tomatoe paste is, it just doesn't pay for the time/mess/electricity it takes. And first timers making paste (me included), don't realize that to get it as thick as store bought, it's so thick towards the end, that it requires continuous stirring so it doesn't burn. I would freeze dry them since you have a freeze dryer and just add less water when using, as you decided to do. But it's always great to have first hand knowledge of anything. And you're so right, when one does paste, it's hard to believe the amt. of tomatoes it takes but isn't the knowledge great. Thks for the videos.
I love seeing your hair down and all pretty! I don't think I've ever seen your hair not in a ponytail or half up. I LOVE my roaster for lots of things.
Ha! Love it. Clicked on and saw tomatoes and power tools lol!! Wtg Rachel 👏👏 work SMARTER not harder 🤩
The produce rescue organizations in my neck of the 🏜 provide sooooooo many 🍅🍅 for an amazing price to prevent them from going to the landfill ... watching 👀 this video to get some 💡💡. 👍🏽
Hi Rachel! I was so excited for you to try this! This is how I preserve a lot of my tomatoes because you can make it for whatever application you need it for and as you can see, it takes up very little space. Aside from paste, I like to use it for sauces with added seasonings, it’s great in beef stew and chili as a thickener, I make a yummy tomato soup with some added spices and a touch of cream or sour cream. I also like it very thin for tomato juice…gave some to a friend who uses it for Bloody Mary mix! Love watching you guys and I appreciate you taking us along on your homesteading journey. Big hugs!
Thanks!
I use my everyday tomatoes for my paste...I also use cherry tomatoes to make it sweet without adding sugar. I do also use a turkey roaster...very cool. Additionally I sometimes add whole tomatoes (to the sauce, esp the cherry tomatoes) and I take an immersion blender and blend the whole tomato (skins and all) into the paste and it thickens right up. Thanks for the idea of adding the water to turkey roaster, I never even thought of that. Many thanks.
I put mine in the oven... Italian recipe.... tomato only... no seasonings. So good and thick....I filled tiny one ounce freezer containers and stored in the freezer. Delish🍅😋
You and your husband inspire me all the time now got to make tomato paste next year, love the freeze dryer got to see if Santa will get me one ha ha... and yes btw love your overalls. Yall have a blessed day
I just found Melissa Mir on YT. She preserves overseas using different types of jars and tools not available here. . No pressure canned. Some water bath. You would enjoy this winter if you haved downtime.
Also watched one over in another country where they process outside and huge amounts of food. The countryside is a absolutely stunning.
Ok the name of YT channel is Country Life Blog. Ukraine area. Stunning the food she preserves over fite. Huge jars bowls and trays. Fascinating.
Freeze dried tomato is so smart!!👍🏻👍🏻
Got my roaster in 1995, couldn’t live without the old girl. We have the same food mill, but several years ago my husband bought me a food mill(& a slicing/peeling set the next year)for my KitchenAid. I’m pretty sure it was more bc he got out of cranking the mill & apple peeler, but I love them. I live in PA & am Blessed to have an Amish farm nearby & an apple orchard up the road. I do at least 3 bushels of apples a year. Got my first peck to make candy apples for my son & his friends-$5
I have air dried the skins but no seeds with it, just skins, so I an not getting as much as you are. I ground them up in the spice grinder. I sure will need a lot of it, but it's always fun learning more!
So happy to see a tomato paste video! I am growing San Marzano and Amish Paste tomatoes this year for paste and if I get enough I’ll make sauce, as well!
I've totally done this on bountiful years, it feels like a lot of work but it feels good to just have it on hand
I grew Atkinson variety and they are PROLIFIC!!! I have done tomatoes 12 weeks in a row now and still tons of green ones! Whew!!! It took a long time to freeze dry them!
The tomato powder works great for thickening. I use it like that all the time. I do the same with mushroom powder, zucchini flour, sunflower flour (from the guts of the stalks), cauliflower flour, etc. You'll also be able to slowly mix water into the powder to create your tomato paste. Once you figure out the liquid-to-powder ratio, you'll be able to make a batch of paste to use in whatever you need it for. Bonus, the powder takes up a fraction of the space!
Becky Acre Homestead is good too..... love the way he helps you wish all men was that way
I would use the powder to thicken my sauce and not use as paste so you reduce your water content in the sauce and thicken it naturally, I hope that made sense.
It is truly amazing how many tomatoes it takes to make tomato paste. Wow! Thank you for helping to put that into perspective.
Easy way to get fluids out of tomatoes is put them in a fruit steamer. Then you can mill it or purée everything. I just purée. Tastes wonderful.
Another great video.
I literally just pulled a load of tomatoes out of the freeze dryer, they are tangy! But felt like styrofoam, so they are dry, thank goodness! Make sure you leave them in the freeze dryer until you are ready to process them into their containers (and re-heat the trays before you pull them out). If you leave them hanging out on the counter and don't package them right away they will pick up humidity from the environment and start getting sticky.
If you pre-cook the tomatoes somewhat you don't have to cook it for so long after the fact ... I learned that the hard way. Have been making my own sauce and paste for several years now and learned that over time. I tend to use a large pot of water and pre-cook for a good 10-15 min before grinding. The bonus is that you end up with a large pot of AMAZING tasting tomato water, which is a fantastic soup base.
This is a tip I learned from an old gardener. (when using the boil and blanch method to take skins off tomatoes)
After skin is off, quarter and core. Place in a stock pot. Let it sit overnight on counter and drain the water off in the morning.
Not sure how it would work if they are just quartered and cored with skins on. But it might be worth a shot :)
I bought a “Weston electric tomato strainer” from Rural King here in Hartland Mi a few years ago and absolutely love it! Not only do you not have to hand crank or drill, but the skins and seed discard comes out really dry, so I don’t have to run them through again!
My Home, Hartland ♡
A lot of tomatoes for tomato paste.
I appreciate my tomato paste.
Great video.
What a great thing to show us. Very cool. Lots of tomatoes and work. I would have to throw in the cost of running the freeze dryer x2. But it is lovely paste.
Thank you so much on the tip for water in the base. I’m definitely going to try it since I do get the scolding. Especially if it’s not completely full.
Maybe grind up some dehydrated or freeze dried tomato's add some of you sauce to the mix then blend into your mix. It will thicken it up for sure. For next time if you want to can it up. 🤗💞
Very cool experiment. Thanks for sharing
Becky from Acre Homestead used her dehydrated cherry tomatoes to make mine a paste using the blender and adding a little of the tomato sauce she blended them together. I thought that was amazing and I'm dehydrating my cherry tomatoes now to do that too.
Adorable Kitchen channel has a great way of making tomato paste from fresh tomatoes.
We are getting a freeze dryer delivered tomorrow and you have given me a great idea what to do with some jars of tomato juice and sauce that are getting on the older side. It’s going to be a new adventure for us.
I used frozen tomatoes and thawed them in a strainer set over a bowl. I collected lots of water from that and my sauce didn't have to reduce very long!
Fantastic money saver.
Oh boy! I've always oven roasted then frozen my tomatoes to reduce liquid, making a paste I use in recipes. One if the benefits of using a variety of tomatoes is the unique flavor it can bring. The added water needed is interesting to see.
Whole-fed homestead has a really interesting way of making tomato paste too. You might like that method!😊
We love our freeze dryer. I’m not sure we’d like living without it but I guess we COULD if we had to.
I do t like regular dehydrated foods. But they are usually fantastic in the FD. I’m putting in a batch of strawberries today.
We’ve done a batch of just another everything that came out of our garden this year.
Except tomatoes! We had a bad year of those. 😢
We also let our batches run an extra 12 hrs run time. 👍🏽
This could make me appreciate my freeze dryer more. Often I dint need a complete 6oz can of paste and hate to waste it. This would allow me to make a much as I need. Thank you for doing this video!
Awesome I freeze dried a lot of tomatoes! Living Traditions Homestead has a good video on tomatoe paste too!
Wow you could simplify tomato processing from harvest. Just food process the tomatoes from the garden, pour that into a mesh bag in a 5 gallon bucket and let it drain, pop those solids into your freeze dry trays and freeze them, rotating and processing as you go. You could even make tomato vinegar from all the liquid (since you use so much). Yes you got my imagination soaring :)
I made paste last week - I just blended the tomatoes after coring - then boiled for 1.5-2hrs then just ran thru mesh sieve and the water just paste. I don’t own a freeze dryer to can’t do what you did. But I was amazed how well just boiling for couple hours did. I put paste in freezer bags and tossed in freezer instead of canning it.
How did Todd rig the drill to attach to the crankshaft? I want my husband to do mine.
That paste looks beautiful! I made sauce this year, but not paste. I goofed and fed the skins to the chickens and goats. Next year I will dehydrate them. I don’t have a freeze dryer because it’s honestly not something I want to invest that much money in. Thank you! Many Blessings!!
I use my tomatoe skin powder as an add in to various rustic breads - so yummy with a hint of tomatoe. :)
Love this video.
I do something similar, but different. I puree the tomatoes skins, seeds and pulp all together. Then I spread the puree on my dehydrator sheets. In roughly 18 hours or so, the tomato leather is brittle. I crumble it up into small bits and store in mason jars. Powder enough at a time for a small jar to keep on hand for all kinds of tomato products--tomato paste, tomato sauce, marinara sauce, tomato soup, ketchup, etc... Great tomato flavor and not much work.
If you want to do this without a freeze dryer, there are options as mentioned in the video. Here's a link to Sunshine Farm method: ua-cam.com/video/8YwEV6vbBUk/v-deo.html
I did not know you could put water in the base and I’ve been using a roaster for years.
Good morning Rachel. Excellent video. Looks delicious. I believe I'll try it.
Im in the UK we dont have those electric roaster, so was going to use my slow cooker, do I put it on low or high to cook tomatoes down. Ive always done it on the stove before but have to much going on so wanted to try a more hands off method.
Oh Rachel those overalls are adorable!!! ❤y’all, Kristy in Missouri zone 6b 😃🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I’ve been dehydrating my tomato skins to make into powder and use as tomato paste as well. I got the idea from podcasters like you. I feel like I will waste less tomato paste since I can make the actual amount I need as I need it.
Same here. Tomato powder, or flakes, has so many uses. I make mine entirely out of dehydrated tomato skins.
Me too and so glad to know this.
I freeze dry my pizza sauce now. I love the idea of having it and not worried about it going bad too quickly or having to keep it frozen or processing lots of them by canning. Takes up less space to powder them like that. I’m searching for more things to do that with. Great idea!!
Such an interesting video’. You are so clever to know if one thing is not working. Turn it into something else that will achieve the wanted result! Having ground tomatoes would be so useful! Thanks! 💕
Hey y'all, Great video covered all the info and steps. I do the same sauce type cooking. I believe you then season the sauce into the various sauces before canning. That is what I do. Italian seasonings for the Italian sauces, Mexican for the Mexican sauces. I will roast and char large sheets of peppers, a mixture of different peppers for a mixture of colors and flavors some hot some not. Cool peel puree all the peppers and add to the tomato sauce to make chili sauce. I do not ever use chili powder. I always learn something from your videos so I am glad I watched this one Thank you. take care bye for now
I was going to make tomato paste this year if I got enough tomatoes but this looks like it might be an easier method. More control portioning the final product. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve done the same process with tomato skins in my dehydrator.
I have seen many people add water until it looks like the paste they buy then add it to dishes. Since it keeps longer I think the powder makes a lot of sense.
Excited about this one. Had no idea how to make tomatoe paste.
How is the drill doing the turning for you?
I recently added my tomato powder to my tomato sauce as I was cooking it. It enhanced the flavor and really thickened the sauce to almost a paste consistency.
looks beautiful but...how much did it cost in the end vs buying tomatoe paste...not counting your work which is valuable
Another great video 💗 Thanks guys xo
Rachel, have you ever made ketchup? I just made a batch of Living Traditions ketchup. It is amazing!! Tastes just like Heinz ketchup!
I just made that one too it passed the teenager test!
I just made that this week also. I agree it is awesome!
Interesting, I made it and it tasted like not quite finished bbq sauce. It was the wrong spice combo for me. I ended up turning one jar into that "not quite sweet baby rays" bbq sauce and it was great in my baked beans. Not very good ketchup at all.
I no longer cook my tomato sauce to make a glorious tomato paste. All of my tomatoes go through my 40 plus year old Champion Juicer. It removes all the seeds and skin. I do run it through twice and sometimes 3 times. The skins and seeds go in the freeze dryer and turned into a powder to use for flavoring things like meatballs, meatloaf, soups, stews and even hamburgers. The juice I boil for 30 mins on the stove and then turn the heat off and cover and let sit for about 8 hours. I then stir it and strain all the juice through a metal sieve. The tomato pulp creates a filter inside the metal sieve. Let it drip into a container that gives you tomato water which I also can to cook pasta and rice as well as put in recipes that call for water. Keep adding tomato juice to the metal sieve and collect the thick tomato paste.I love this method as I'm not having to use a ton of electricity to cook it all down to the thickness I want. I do use a mix of heirloom beefsteaks, romas, black krim and cherry tomatoes for this process and to me it's the best tasting.
(Ireland) my tomatoes just didn't happen this year - looked promising - then nothing.
Thanks for sharing! Love your videos. I made tomato paste a few weeks ago. I ended up straining off some of the water and then adding some beets. The starch in beets helped it thicken up and made my paste a beautiful color!
Beets wow very interesting!
Would sweeten it too?
I vaguely recall watching the traditional Italian paste-making process, which was basically slowly dehydrating slowly-thickening sauce on wooden tables in the sun. After watching that I concluded that you needed free energy (Sun) and cheap labor (Italian grandmas) to make it. Or else a factory powered by nuclear power. After that I decided I would only cook and preserve tomato products that were cheap and easy and came out better than store-bought, like a thin sauce, crushed tomatoes, or home-dehydrated products. I usually halve and core tomatoes, freeze them in a large rigid bin in the freezer (not ziplock bags, because when they are cut you can fit more into a bin than you can whole in a bag) and then process them when it's not so danged hot outside.
Also, some of us do'n't digest the skins and seeds so well, so I don't include them.
My roaster DIED!! Such bad timing…..
So do you think you could have added some zucchini to the tomatoes and made that stretch even farther? would that have freeze dried into tomato paste for you? I made tomato powder last year in the dehydrator and I loved using it all winter long. Can you give me the ratio of that again, was it 2T powder to 6 oz water?
I love watching your channel.
If you add your electricity, canning lids etc, is the paste really worth it?
Could you be specific, please. I’m trying to learn. Some things I just can because I love them. Others I’m looking into cost effectiveness
I'll do a video soon, on how much it costs to run a cycle on the freeze dryer.
@@1870s I’d love for you to take a recipe and break down all the costs for that recipe including lids, etc. I know it comes out way ahead of you have your own garden, but I don’t think anyone has really been more concrete on costs. It would surely help teach the beginning gardener
Thank you for sharing this is great information I'm new here looking forward to seeing more videos
Great just b and thank you for showing us!! 🥰
So I’m going to try this with the skins this year is to make tomato juice! Not sure how it will turn out but I though I would let you know! Thanks for what you do… One Michigander to another
I had a lot of cherry tomatoes in the garden. I washed them ran them through the blender. Poured into the freeze dry trays then prefroze the ran in the freeze drier it took 58 hrs. Took out of the tray broke into pieces placed in large mouth canning jars vacuum seal with a oxygen absorber. I ended up with 5 qts. I am going to try to add to tomatoes to make pizza sauce.
I cant wait til next summer so I can get some tomatoes! I just bought a future homestead this year so I haven't had the time to grow anything yet
When you got the paste decreased by the 50% could you strain the liquid in a jelly bag to get more liquid out? I Don't have a freeze dryer.