A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Paste vs. Slicing tomatoes

ok guys. . . i'm maybe getting in over my head here I plan on doing a variety of canning for my tomato plants this year. I want to make homemade salsa, lots of diced & stewed tomatoes, and eventually even some tomato sauce & spaghetti sauce.

My question is this. . . . paste vs. slice tomatoes.

Whats the pro's and cons of the different varieties. . and if i'm right, arent the big beef, steak etc. tomatoes slicing? And romas are paste toms?

Thx!!

romas for gravy!! i'm hoping for a bumper crop this year!!

yes, the beefsteaks are good for slicing - for sandwiches or for (my fav) frying...not green, i wait until they're ripe to fry them.

Slicing tomatoes have a lot of juice in them and will require a longer cooking time to reduce the excess liquid. Paste tomatoes will not have the excess liquid, so will cook quicker. Personally, I think that slicing tomatoes make a mushy salsa (due to the extra cook time and heat) but it might just all be in my head!! And, yes, roma are paste and big beefsteak are slicing tomatoes. Plum tomatoes are another popular paste variety. The method I use is if the tomato is round like a ball, it's probably a slicing tomato and if the tomato is long and skinny it's paste. I don't know if that holds true for all 'maters, but it seems to work for most of them! Hope this helps!

Sarah

ok when prepping for salsa & spag sauces. . do you skin them? or leave skins on?

My experience with round and oblong is similar to Sarah's.
I do make salsa with any and all tomatoes I grow, though. It makes for interesting flavor variation. I don't cook my salsa to thicken it, just long enough to comply with the sterilization requirements. For salsa, the better the tomato tastes, the better the salsa, but my salsa has some clear liquid to it. (But Yummy!)
For sauce, many chef's say to leave the seeds in, many Italian cooks evidently strain them out. I'm with leaving them in for a more spectacular flavor. As for skins, you can blanch the tomato in boiling water or grill them or flash fry in olive oil, then peel. But experiment with leaving skins on. For fresh sauce, where the tomatoes remain a bit chunky, I leave skins on mostly.
Oh, one more thing, few true "paste" tomatoes, like romas, have the full flavor that some of the slicers have, but they're fine for cooking down into sauce.

I prefer my salsa tomatoes peeled. I toss my tomatoes into some boiling water for a minute or two, then immediately put them into a bowl of ice water. Once the tomato is cool, you should be able to easily slip the skin off. If you're having troubles getting the skin off, use a knife and make a small X on the bottom of the tomato. This will make it easier to get the peeling started.

The great thing about canning is that you can make food to your preference! I prefer my salsa thick and chunky... Although after reading peppereater's comments, I think I'm going to try adding some slicing tomatoes into a batch or two of salsa.


Sarah

for most recipes you take the skins off...which makes sense since sometimes the skin can be very thick and tough.

and yes, i think oblong fruits are usually used for paste and the round ones for slicing. altho either can be used for gravy (sauce) the roma or plum varieties are a bit sweeter tasting than most of the 'slicer' varieties.

i always take the seeds out when making gravy - they can make the sauce bitter. they also add more acid.

guys sorry for not posting in the correct forum. . (this shoulda been in recipes i guess. . but my question was more leaned towards what plants for what purpose). But speaking of gravy (i presume this is tomatoe SAUCE?), when your cooking the tomatoes. . do you kinda gut out the liquids inside tomatoesS? and just cook the meat? or puree it all and boil it down? (i'm lost!!! LOL)

Danno, I think the methods are as numerous as the number of cooks. I've never known anyone who tossed out the juice, though. Even the clear liquid has lots of flavor, but it has to be boiled or simmered to thicken. And, confusing though it is, "gravy" can mean at least 2 things. Evidently, some southerners make actual gravy with tomatoes (not in Oklahoma, as far as I know.) Some Italians and others call spaghetti sauce "gravy." Play around with different ways of using tomatoes. There's no bad way, as far as I'm concerned. Some cookbooks call for using the seeds, some for straining them out. I find that they disappear in long-cooking sauces and add flavor, but I used to strain them out based on recipes I'd read. Oh, and as to pureeing (sp?) before you cook, I gather it's more common to puree AFTER cooking, not sure here, but I rarely puree at all. Crushing as you cook and stir works well, and a little texture is interesting.

I used to peel all of mine. But after I started making fresh salsa I just put them in the blender. I even do this with all I'm canning also. It saves me lots of time and have never had any trouble. I have a waiting list for my salsa so no one must mind. It is just preference. I've always used slicers but going to grow some paste to put in with them this year.

get the ball blue book or go to library and check out a book on growing and canning tomoatoes. I think the ball blue book tells you yield of bushes and number of jars needed etc.

I have a food sieve which can strain out junk off cooked stuff like tomato and apples.

The best tomato for sauce and salsa is Italian Gold paste tomatoes. They produce awesome and with no cracking or end rot and are meaty and pretty! My favorite all around tomato that is great for slicing and for sauces is persimmon. This one is harder to grow.
Taking skin off I think is a must. I use a tomato press or food mill to make sauce. I cook quartered tomatoes a little first to soften and then run through the mill several times and then take the sauce and reduce the heck out of it! I then add herbs and salt and boiling water bath can for 35 minutes for quarts. I add garlic and onions when serving. I have done this for about 8 years but not the last 2 years.

There is a lot to be said for peeling tomatoes, although I don't do it routinely. A truly great spaghetti sauce would be best with peeled tomatoes, but a fresh sauce can be made with skins on, in MHO, and I love chunky salsa, skins and all. For good consistency, blanch 'em, broil 'em, grill them or whatever, and they'll peel easily...fire roasted on the grill will add flavor, leave a few bits of blackened skin on. You can also fire roast your onions and peppers for some really great flavor.

As peppereater has stated, leaving the skins on is wonderful when making fresh salsa! When it comes to canning though, you need to take them off. First of all, they become chewy, 2nd of all, they can carry bacteria and spoil the canning product.
Like peppereater, I too love to leave the seeds in..so much more flavour!! Last year I ran out of paste tomatoes so I used up the rest of my slicers for tomato sauce, and I think from now on, I'll use the slicers. They are soooo much sweeter, you just have to cook them down longer to thicken to your desired consistency.
But that's just my opinion, just play around and you'll find what works best for you.

Last year we bought a juicer, takes out seed and skin in seconds.
ranger

Just thought I'd drop a quick line--I used some canned Rotel Tomatoes with Green Chilies and I noticed that there were lots of tomato seeds in it! So Rotel must not think it's worth it to strain them out!