Yield:Yields five to six pints.
Depending on the water content of your tomatoes, this purée may be thinner than store-bought canned versions. You can use your homemade purée in any recipe calling for canned, but you may need to increase cooking time to evaporate the excess water.
Watch the video seriesHomegrown/Homemade: Tomatoesto see a demonstration of this purée recipe and to learn more canning basics.
Put the jars in a large pot fitted with a canning rack. Add enough water to cover the jars by 2 to 3 inches. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat to maintain a rolling boil. Boil the jars for 40 minutes (plus 2 minutes for every 1,000 feet above sea level). Be sure the jars are covered with water the entire time. Turn off the heat.
The purée may separate, with the pulp rising to the top of the jar and the translucent yellow juice dropping to the bottom—this is fine.
Keeping tomato purée on hand is like having money in the bank; it’s a base that can add depth and flavor to all kinds of dishes. Here are four easy ways to use it.
Quick marinara sauceSauté finely chopped onions and carrots in olive oil until soft, add tomato purée, and cook until flavorful and thickened. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Stir in minced fresh basil, a bit of butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook 10 more minutes and serve over pasta.
Fresh tomato soupThin tomato purée with chicken broth and heat until simmering. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with a good olive oil. Or add chopped, cooked chicken, fried tortilla strips, diced avocado, hot sauce, and minced fresh cilantro for a take on Mexican tortilla soup.
Tomato granitaPut tomato purée in a shallow baking dish and season with fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper, and chopped fresh basil. Freeze, running the tines of a fork through the purée every couple of hours to break up any crystals that form. Serve as a refreshing starter or as a palate cleanser between courses.
Bloody MarysAdd a bit of cold water to tomato purée, then stir in freshly grated horseradish, hot sauce, lemon juice, and vodka for a fresh brunch cocktail.
We settled on a different solution at our house. We blanched the tomatoes first, peeled them, and then ran them through the marvelous Italian tomato press (inexpensive, even at Williams Sonoma). As in the video, we ran the pulp through the press a few times and then added the pulp to the pure and reduced the mixture for 10-15 minutes before canning. The end product has the consistency of a good canned crushed tomato, but tastes much fresher. (The press was also terrific for making a spicy Georgian plum sauce for grilled meats and fish. Highly recommended, it's on everyone's Christmas list this year.) Also, the Bloody Marys made with the pure are pretty fabulous!
This is basically the standard recipe for tomato puree, but it will not give you the incredible flavor available from just-picked tomatoes.The main culprit is the 10 minute cook prior to preparation.My favorite way to avoid the pre-cook (especially when making a large batch) is as follows:1. Clean tomatoes, briefly dip each one in a pot of boiling water to loosen the skins.2. Set out two large bowls, each with a sieve or a colander3. Working over the first bowl: remove the skin, cut the tomato in half and remove the seeds with their surrounding gelatinous blobs.4. Let the skin and seeds drop into the colander and place the pulpy part of the tomato into the second sieve/colander. Any stems, green parts, and bad parts should be set aside for compost or thrown out.5. Put all the liquids that drain from the colanders into another container for later.6. Pass the skin, pulp and seeds through a food mill, making sure to scrape the pulpy puree off the bottom of the mill. Let this liquid sit for a few hours. Skim off the liquid that rises to the top. The heavier, thicker red liquid on the bottom can be used as tomato juice or to thin the sauce you make from the tomatoes in the second bowl.7. The tomatoes in the second bowl can now be coarsely chopped or pureed and used your favorite way.My three favorite ways to use these are:1. Chop and mix with fresh basil, onion and virgin olive oil for bruschetta.2. Chop and use for a fresh marinara sauce, which I also use for pizza.3. Coarsely chop and freeze 2 cup batches using a Foodsaver vacuum machine and bags. This only works well if the tomatoes are well-drained.I'm fortunate enough to have a wood burning pizza oven, so I've rationed the frozen tomatoes for my pizza sauce in the winter.
Do you really want to delete the list,?
This won't delete the recipes and articles you've saved, just the list.
This feature has been temporarily disabled during the beta site preview.
Add/Edit a private note for this recipe
This note is only visible to you.Double Check
Are you sure you want to delete your notes for this recipe?
Write a Review