Tomatoes for sauce?

[Love2Troll]

Are there any tricks for getting rid of excess water without losing flavor other than boiling down?

Any suggestions for less juicy, yet great flavor varieties? No paste tomatoes please. (unless they have greatly improved since I last grew)

Thanks

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by Love2Troll

Are there any tricks for getting rid of excess water without losing flavor other than boiling down?

Squeeze them first?

Originally Posted by Love2Troll

No paste tomatoes please. (unless they have greatly improved since I last grew)

* Heidi
* Opalka
* Kalman's Hungarian Pink

[barkeater]

I've cut the cooking down process in half. After the sauce has cooked down about a quarter to a third, I scoop it with a very fine mesh strainer, and let the tomato water pass through into another pot, returning the now much thicker sauce to the stove. Then I add the other sauce ingredients, like basil, garlic, onion, etc., to cook it down the rest of the way.

As an added bonus, the tomato juice, though almost completely clear, tastes great. I usually add a few spices and herbs to it and heat it some more. I haven't canned any yet, but it stays well in the fridge for about 3 weeks.

Does doing this hurt the flavor of the sauce? I think it might just a bit, but I haven't noticed any difference.

[jerseyjohn61]

Feldon, that's a big Ten-Four on the Kalman's HP. Have six
of them growin' after last year's winning production and
taste.

Bark,
Think your draining idea is great. Will try myself. You are
only losing about 90 some percent water and may well be
doing the sauce a favor with the reduced cooking time.

I am a hugh ONION fan and have a few different ways of
approaching them with a sauce. In a "fast" sauce, their
high moisture content can be counteracted by minching
them EXTREMELY fine. In this way, their flavor is imparted
quickly just as their moisture is expelled in a hurry.

In longer cooking sauces, I chop them larger and add them
gradually over the cooking period. The early added onions
impart flavor and the latter impart that aldente texture.

I also do the same with some seasonings so that their
flavors do not diminish during longer cooking periods....JJ61

[Love2Troll]

Thanks for the tips, guys!

Heidi didn't do well for me in past years. Kalman's HP is new and will check out.

Throwing out all that excess water is hard to do, but just don't want it.

Plan so far... find more meat to juice tomato varieties, freeze them until have enough, stem and peel, smash and pour through sieve. Discard liquid and use remaining mash for sauce.

jt

[chilhuacle]

We had Super Italian Paste at our tasting last year. For me it was the best tasting tomato there. It ended up at number 6 in the rankings, out of 85 varieties. It's really going to improve the taste of my sauce...which (I think) is excellent. I rarely grow a paste tomato.

I'm trying it this year to see how the production is. It's a wispy, frail little plant that makes Anna Russian look robust. I'm also trying Kalman's HP for the first time this year, based on Grub's review.

[Tomstrees]

For us when we process sauce, we take off the skins & def. remove seeds.

I've found that crushing the tomatoes through a fine sieve makes them the right consistency
for us and slow cooking them over a period of 5-8 hours really makes the sauce thick ...

We also slow cook lightly seared turkey meatballs , turkey sausage ,
or pork chops (bone in) as well with plenty of fresh herbs, garlic,
and grated onions ...

I use any and all tomatoes from our garden to make sauce ...

Few tomato names of our favs from last year that are not saucey ?

1. Neves Azorean Red
2. Thessaloniki
3. Faux Red Brandywine

~ Tom

[korney19]

Try Joe's Plum. It has a great aroma when cut, tastes great, and only looks like a paste type. Here's 2 on a 9-inch plate to get an idea on size: