I have always admired my dear friend Paul’s homemade tomato sauce. However, my attempt to make fresh tomato sauce have not been successful. My kids are so use to eating sauce from a can that they have no idea what a fresh tomato sauce should taste like. Yes, I know this is sad.
So, one day, I coaxed Paul in to coming over to help me make sauce the way his mama taught him. I was so excited. He brought with him his Gulliver manual tomato press,*
“What was this for?” I implored, pointing at this stainless contraption.
Paul replied, “to remove the tomato skins; otherwise the sauce will be bitter.” (Hmmm, I thought. Perhaps, this why my sauce wasn’t so good last year …)
Crank it up
He threw in my heirloom sausage tomatoes, which resemble plum tomatoes, one by one. He cranked the press and squeezed out tomato pulp. This was the first time I had grown this type of tomato thinking that my regular tomatoes may not be good for a hearty sauce. The sausage tomatoes did not have a lot of water, so there was much more pulp.
After we were done, my sauce tasted pretty good. I was sooo hooked. And yes, I wanted a tomato press. Cranking that tomato press looked like a lot of hard work. Paul mentioned during our cooking class that I could buy an electric tomato press. This was for me!
Buy me a tomato press, please.
This summer, I had four eager sausage tomato plants producing like crazy and fall was right around the corner. I turned to my savvy, thrifty hubs and told him to find me an electric press. Over the next couple of weeks, I harvested the tomatoes and froze them on the aluminum tray in the freezer. When they were frozen, I put them in bags since space was limited. (Don’t worry, I washed them for reuse next year.) Peeling off the skins is a snap when they are defrosted.
A few weeks later, a box was perched at the front door. “What’s this?” I questioned. My husband told me it was my tomato press. You would have thought Ed McMahon had shown up at my door with a $1 million dollar check from American Family Publishers since I was so excited. I rushed the box into the kitchen, torn it open, and pulled out my new spanking…
“Wait a minute! This is the same tomato press Paul has. It is manual one!” I shrieked.
Devastated that I could not flaunt my new electric-“I can fry bacon in the morning and bring home the dough at night”-wunder tomato press which makes a zillion pots of sauce with a flip of a switch… Was I not clear? The manual one would be too hard for a southern flower like me to use.
Not skipping a beat, my husband said, “are you kidding. I was not going to buy you an electric one!” (See the Villaware Imperia Spremy Electric Tomato Strainer on Amazon.com.* Pretty amazing looking.) He continued, “they cost over $200!”
“So, how much does did this stainless steel beauty cost?” I questioned. I wavered between not sure if I should be mad at him giving him the “my time is valuable too” stare, but at the same time thinking maybe an electric press was a little frivolous.
He replied, “$50.00. Big difference.” End of story. I knew I was not going to win this argument.
So, I looked at the bright side and said, at least I will be making my sauce in a more eco-friendly way rather than using an electric sucking fantasy appliance.
On to Making the Sauce
I easily peeled the skin off the tomatoes.
Then I threw some tomatoes into the press to separate the seeds from the pulp. (Note, the press is secured to the side of the countertop.) The press wiggles so I have to keep one forearm pressing on the top of the tomato press to keep it from moving. I used my other arm to crank the press. After a few times of cranking I realized that I was making indentation marks on my arm and it started to hurt.
The next batches my husband took over and look at the beautiful puree.
The seeds and some of the pulp were discharged to the back of the tomato press. Paul had taught me to put this leftover pulp back through the press two times to get as more puree.
At the end of the day, we processed about 8 cups of sauce out of four bags of tomatoes.
Clean Up.
Clean-up was another matter. The inside of the tomato press contains pulp that is tightly wound around a spring in the center bar. I had to take a toothbrush to try and wiggle the pieces out of the spring. It was a little time consuming and frustrating at times.
Did my kids like the sauce? Not really. They said it tasted funny. My adult friends liked it.
In hindsight, I should have told my kids that Paul, made it. They love his food.
If you want a manual crank,Victorio Food Strainer and Sauce Maker* got better reviews than mine on Amazon.
9/13/2013 Update: I am still using my manual tomato press and can’t complain.
Join the Conversation
- Do you grow or use a special tomato to make sauce?
- Have a favorite recipe?
- Have a tomato sauce story?
Sommer Green & Clean Mom says
Fascinating. I’m too lazy to go through all of this work. It looks very time consuming. I had no idea that the skin makes the sauce bitter. Wow!!! Great photos and post.
Sommer Green & Clean Moms last blog post..Natural Newborn Advice
Kraken says
Geez, I love tomato sauce. But I don’t have any recipe. I usually buy it in a shop ;-). The machine looks pretty good.
Green Bean says
I’ll have to try the press and removing the skins. Right now, I’m loving a recipe where you take 20 lrg tomatoes (halve them, skin on,), 3-4 carrots, 1 onion, 3 Tbsp sugar, 3 tsp salt, pepper and spices, cook everything down and then run it through the food processor. My kids generally like it unless I put too many carrots in it. I make a bunch in fall and freeze it for winter. Still, that tomato press . . .
Happy Holidays.
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Green Talk says
Green Bean, my last recipe was similar to yours. What kind of tomatoes do you use? Anna
simply stephen says
What detail…it’s interesting about the bitter taste, I make tomato sauce right in the pot, skins and all…yummy, I spice them up with hungarian paprika, cajun, cayenne and chili (all or one item)…and a little curri. The paprika sweetens it. It shows you how much sugar there is in processed soups and sauces.
BTW…the excess water for cleaning the press is probably the same amount used to blanch the tomatoes and skin them, but why not just leave them on?
You could also do vegetable bakes once or twice a month “in mass” and then the oven is being optimized. I have root vegetable bakes once a month!
If you use fresh organic tomatoes they tend to offer more flavour…local is best, roma or plum makes the nicest sauce.
Green Talk says
Simply Stephen, I love the spice combination. Could you give my more details like how many tomatoes to how much spices? My sauage tomatoes are like plum ones that I grow myself organically. I find that there is not alot of juice in them. Perhaps they are not a real substitute for plums.
I try to grow heirloom veggies. Does anyone know if there is an heirloom like tomato that is like a plum tomato?
You are right I probably use as much water to clean that blasted center piece of the press. Freezing them just save me alot of time rather than blanching. Plus, I do save on gas not using my stove.
It is interesting that you use the skins and have no problems. I think my kids are just so picky.
DSF says
San Marzano is an heirloom plum tomato with a decent (cooked) taste to go with its impressive history. As for recipes, I won’t be much help–I’m too lazy to do the press thing, so usually just do something like Alton Brown’s recipe only using a sieve and potato ricer instead of a food mill.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/rec.....index.html
Nice blog, BTW!
DSF
http://bokashislope.blogspot.com
turning trash mountain into a molehill, or trying!
Green Talk says
Have you ever tried sausage tomatoes? Has anyone? Is this good for tomato sauce? Anna
Mother Earth says
quick recipe:
saute sweet onion, garlic in olive oil, add italian sausage or ground turkey seasoned like italian sausage, add shredded zuchinni – shred first in collander, sprinkle with salt and let sit – squeeze the moisture out – saute 5 minutes and add 3 cups of chopped tomato – I personally leave the skins on – add basil, fresh ground pepper – this is a quick cook sauce that reminds you of summer and excellant over a wide fettucine – i have made this without meat also but like it best with meat
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Green Talk says
How do you think it would taste without the sausage and just the ground turkey? My boys are really picky. Anna
Kimberly says
Anna, I use a recipe I found in “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver. It’s a sweet sauce with a touch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Husband loves it. But no, my picky son does not. Also in the sauce – basil, garlic, oregano, thyme and basil.
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Coffeehaus says
Maybe your kids are expecting the high-fructose corn syrup taste of commercial sauce. Could you “wean” them from the sweet craving by introducing you own tomato sauce gradually into the commercial sauce?
We’ve been gardening and canning for decades. Our favorite paste tomato is “Viva Italia”, which is a hybrid, but has terrific disease resistance and since it’s determinate, sets lots of fruit at one time (even in our SE hot and humid climate) which is great for canning. Maintains its gorgeous bright red color in the jar. We’ve also grown “Big Mama”, another hybrid, but it’s indeterminate so it doesn’t bury you in fruit all at one time. We just can whole tomatoes (sans skins) and make sauce as needed. Simplest version: whiz up a jar or 2 in the food processor, cook with some butter, onion, and salt until thick. Buon appetito!
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Beth Terry, aka Fake Plastic Fish says
Seems like fun, but the cleanup puts me off, I’m afraid. It’s the main reason I never used my juicer when I had one and rarely use my soy milk maker now. But I’m thinking of trying some of these skin-on varieties.
Oh, one thing I’m confused about… you said that the press was to take the skins off but then you took them off by hand? Maybe I am not reading this correctly.
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Green Talk says
The clean-up is not the bad. I can be a drama queen sometimes…okay, alot of the time. I never tried it with the skins because Paul told me to take it off before I put it in the press. Freezing the tomatoes and then letting them defrost makes it so easy to take off the skins.
Has anyone tried putting the tomato in with the skin in a press? Anna
Lori says
i’m definitely getting a tomato press this summer!
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Green Talk says
Lori, I am glad I convinced you! It is so cool that I can make homemade tomato sauce this way. Anna
Stacey says
I have a somewhat similar tomato press (except it’s, gulp, made of plastic), and I always put the tomatoes in with the skins on. That’s the whole point of the press!To remove the skins and the seeds. I learned to make tomato sauce from my Italian in-laws when I visited them in Italy, and they put the tomatoes in with the skins on.
Also, I have a lot of success ripening green tomatoes in brown paper bags. I just put them all in a paper bag (pick a size depending on how many tomatoes you have) and they ripen fairly quickly. I don’t have much trouble with them rotting that way.
Wendy says
I read that once a tomatoe reachs 54.7 degrees it will stop ripening. So maybe you need to bring them in sooner. Look it up on the web.
Jess says
I know I am very late to this game and not even sure if you’ll see the comment, but you can get tomatoes to ripen indoors after the season if you have some garage space or don’t mind a crazy looking kitchen. Pull up the tomato plant from the ground and hang upside down indoors. We put ours in the garage since we don’t mind having the cars out for a bit.
Anna@Green Talk says
Jess, how does that work? How do you water them? Do they still need sunlight? How green can they be? Anna
Sue says
The machine we used is made in Italy and is called Fabio Leonardi we did 5 bushels in only a few hours amazing machine – http://us.consiglioskitchenwar.....-squeezers
Anna says
Sue, thank you!