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Tomato Paste is a tomato concentrate so thick you can cut it with a knife. It adds body and flavour to sauces, and tomato flavour to other dishes without adding excess liquid to get that flavour. It is made from whole tomatoes, boiled down, strained and concentrated.

Most Tomato Paste in North America is sold in small tins, containing 6 or 7 tablespoons. Most recipes call for 1 or 2 tablespoons. Do you see the problem? How many times have you left Tomato Paste out, flipped for another recipe or whacked in ketchup instead, because you remember last time, when you dutifully put the remaining contents of the tin in a plastic container in the fridge until it grew green mould, at which point you could throw it away guilt-free?

There are two ways to beat this. The first is to use to freeze the leftover amount (see Storage below.) The second is to buy Tomato Paste in tubes. You just squeeze out how much you want, put the top back on the top, and whack it back in the fridge. Because it's so much more convenient to use and store, you'll find yourself using it way more often.

Substitutes
Ketchup; Tomato Purée

Nutrition
Heinz Tomato Paste is made from 100% pure tomatoes, with no additives. Heinz says that there is no sugar in it.

Equivalents
6 oz (170g) can Tomato Paste = 3/4 cup

Storage
If you've opened a tin of Tomato Paste, and don't have any immediate use for it all.....

Use it to fill the cubes in ice cube trays. Freeze it, then when frozen pop out and into a freezer bag.

Each cube of frozen Tomato Paste will equal 1 tablespoon; ready to go for your next recipe in just the quantities you need.

[Alternatively, cover a sturdy plate or small baking sheet with waxed paper, put 1 tablespoon dollops of Tomato Paste on the waxed paper, place in freezer and when frozen put into freezer bag.]

Also called:

See Also:

Passata, Tomato Purée

Other entries for:

Tomatoes
Amber Jewel Tomatoes, Black Tomatoes, Canned Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Delizia Tomatoes, Golden Cherub Tomatoes, Golden Delight Tomatoes, Grape Tomatoes, Marmande Tomatoes, Melrow Tomatoes, Pink Jester Tomatoes, Plum Tomatoes, Pome dei Moro Tomatoes, Principe Borghese Tomatoes, Santa Grape Tomatoes, Semi-Dried Tomatoes, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Tomatillos, Tomato Paste, Tomato Purée, Vittoria Tomatoes

Other entries for:

Vegetables
Agave, Artichokes, Asparagus, Brassica Family, Canned Vegetables, Cardoons, Celery, Corn, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Frozen Vegetables, Garlic, Gourds, Horseradish Tree, Leafy Vegetables, Lotus, Mixed Vegetables, Mushrooms, Pak Wan, Peas, Peppers, Root Vegetables, Sago Palm, Seaweed, Spinach, Sprouts, Squash, Viscous Vegetables