How to Make Your Own Tomato Passata (Family Recipe)

This is a family recipe for tomato passata. My grandma used to make her own tomato passata. She’d make enough to last a whole year, and it served as the base for many of the dishes she prepared—think tomato sauce, but also various soups, for example. The tomatoes came fresh from a local farmer. 

When is the best time to make tomato passata?

Toward theendofsummer. That's when the tomatoes aren't too sour and are at their cheapest. 

How long can you store tomato passata?

Tomato passatakeeps for a year. So feel free to make a year’s supply. Store it at room temperature in a dark place. We used to keep it in wine bottles in the garage. 

How long does it take to build up a year's supply?

Depending on how much you make, the preparation time will vary. If you use one bottle of tomato passata every week (see below for some recipes to inspire you)—that’s about52one-literbottlesa year—it will take youabout a day. 

Sterilizing Glass Bottles*

In this blog post, I'll explain step by step how you can easily sterilize glass jars so you can safely store food in them.  

A Piece of History in a Recipe

I find it really interesting to delve intorecipes from the past. I think you can learn a lot from them about how people lived back then. It also tells you something about what peoplevaluedand how thosevalueschangeover time.  For example, who takes the time these days to make all those things from scratch? Yet we still have the same number of hours in a day. A family recipe is always extra special because you know it’s beentouchingpeople’s hearts for years. Every time it’s made, it getsupdateda little and fine-tuned. That’s how it always keeps up with the times. 

I don't know many people who still make their own tomato sauce these days. The recipe isn't that difficult, though. The method I'm sharing here is theauthenticwaymy grandma used to make it. It takes a little time and love, but it's definitely worth it. 

Preservatives from the Past

A small amount of salicylic acid was added to theoriginal recipe—an aromatic carboxylic acid that was once commonly used asa preservative. Anyone who has delved a bit into historical sources on food, such as old cookbooks or family recipes, will surely have come across the name at least once.^{1 This}preservative was readily available at thepharmacy. It looked like a white powder and formed clumps when added to a liquid such as tomato passata. These clumps then had to be pressed flat against the side of the pot so that the salicylic acid would mix into the tomato passata. This is how the nickname “specialist in flattening salicylic acid clumps against the side of the pot” came about at home. 

The use of salicylic acid in food products wasbanned throughout Europe in2010.^{2 Today}, it is still used as an ingredient in variousskin creams. It acts on the stratum corneum (the outermost layer) of the skin. As a result, it stimulates the growth of healthy skin cells and can also helpmedicationspenetrate the skin more quickly.³

Recipes with tomato passata

Tomato passata can be used as a base for many dishes. Below are a few recipes. Click on the name to view the recipe.

Sweet Potato Stew

The Best Basic Tomato Sauce

Vegan spaghetti sauce

Zero-waste tip: You can also use this tomato purée as a base for soup. Just blend in the leftover vegetable scraps you have from this week.

Recipe

Ingredients:

• Very ripe tomatoes 
• Olive oil

Supplies:

• Food mill
• Large cooking pot(s)
• Sterilized glass bottles/Weck jars*

Preparation:

1. Cut the tomatoes into large chunks. 
2. Take the largest pot(s) you have, place it (them) over medium heat, and add the tomatoes. 
3. If you like, you can puree the largest pieces of tomato a little yourself.  
4. Cook the tomatoes until they break down, then puree them until you have a tomato puree.  
5. Pass the tomato pulp through a food mill. This strains out the seeds and skins and gives the tomato passata a smoother texture. 
6. Bring the tomato sauce back to a boil. 
7. Next, let it cool until it's lukewarm.
8. Pour the tomato passata into sterilized empty bottles or Weck jars. 
9. Let it cool slightly, then pour a thin layer of olive oil on top to seal the tomato passata from the air. 
10. You can seal the bottles with parafilm and a rubber band. Weck jars have lids 😉
11. We used to store the bottles in the garage in wine boxes (in a dark place at room temperature). You can keep the tomato passata for a year. 

Enjoy your meal!

Like this recipe? Then share it with everyone you love. That way, together we can help the world enjoy healthy food!

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Bibliography

1 Verlinden, M. (April 24, 2016).Archive Nuggets: Fruits and Vegetables, Preserving and Storing. Ten Boome Historical Study Group, Inc.https://tenboome.be/archiefsprokkels-groenten-en-fruit-inmaken-en-bewaren

2 COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No. 37/2010 of December 22, 2009, on pharmacologically active substances and their classification based on maximum residue limits in foodstuffs of animal origin (Text with EEA relevance). (n.d.). OfficialJournal of the European Union.https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:015:0001:0072:NL:PDF

3Apotheek.nl. (n.d.).https://www.apotheek.nl/medicijnen/salicylzuur-bij-huidaandoeningen#onder-welke-namen-is-salicylzuur-bij-huidaandoeningen-verkrijgbaar