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Electric tomato strainer for your homemade tomato passata
Summer brings plenty of seasonal produce, some of which we are now used to eating all year round. Tomatoes are among the most iconic: we eat them fresh in salads, as juice and above all as pulp, sauce and purée. It is these preserved forms that let us enjoy tomatoes 365 days a year.
Until not long ago, tomatoes were processed almost entirely by hand, using sieves or a food mill. Today we have the great advantage of machines such as the electric tomato strainer, which processes the tomatoes without spoiling them, just as manual methods do, but with far less effort.
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How do you make tomato passata at home?
In Italy, making la salsa is not just a way of preserving tomatoes for the winter: it is a real ritual in which every member of the family has a role. In the south of Italy, it is a tradition handed down from generation to generation that brings families together for one or more summer days around hundreds of kilos of tomatoes. The reason is simple: homemade passata, made with fresh and often home-grown tomatoes, tastes nothing like the industrial product.
Here is how to make it at home, even with just a few tools and accessories:
- Check your tomatoes: discard any that are rotten or visibly bruised.
- Wash the tomatoes very carefully, rinsing them several times, then leave them to drain off any excess water.
- Cut them up and remove the seeds, or keep them whole if you prefer not to waste anything.
- Put them into boiling water and let them soften, stirring from time to time.
- When they are soft enough (that is, well broken down), run them through a manual food mill or an electric tomato strainer to turn them into a thick, fragrant passata. For a thicker passata, pass the skins discarded during the first run through the machine a second time. If you are still not happy with the consistency, strain it through a fine-mesh sieve.
- Have a large, clean, sterilised container ready to collect the passata.
- Using a funnel, pour the passata into clean jars or bottles that you have previously sterilised in boiling water; if you like, add a couple of fresh basil leaves first. Leave 2–3 cm of headspace below the rim.
- Seal the jars tightly and place them in a large pan so that they do not knock against each other, cover with water and boil for about an hour.
- Once the jars have cooled, check that they have sealed properly by pressing the centre of the lid with your finger: it should feel completely flat and should not pop.
Your homemade passata is now ready to be stored in a cool, dry, dark place, so you can enjoy it all year round.
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Choose the right tomato strainer
Cornerchef.it is here to help: on our website you will find a range of professional stainless steel tomato strainers to suit your needs, together with all the accessories you need to make your preserves this summer and never run out during the year.