I promised this a few months back.

Well I harvested the bulk of my tomatoes on the weekend so off we go...

How to make tomato paste:

Some of these steps may seem unnecessary, please bear in mind that I am writing this primarily for my nineteen-year-old son who has just moved into his first flat.

Clear and scrub the bench and sinks.

Use San Marzano, Roma or Amish Paste type variety. Commonly known as ‘low acid’ here in NZ.

These are 'Roma'. I was late planting so rather than sow seed I bought large well established plants from outside the supermarket. I love that our supermarket sells organic seedlings. Even if not my preferred choice of San Marzano, the Romas performed well.

Now fill and boil your kettle.

While that is happening, fill the sparkly clean sinks. The smaller one with hot water to heat the steel. The larger one with cold water.

Put your tomatoes into the hot water, then let most of the water out. Use a fork to lift the plug if the water is too hot for your hands. Or put on a rubber glove. Now pour the boiling water from the kettle over the tomatoes…

After 20-30 seconds transfer your tomatoes to the cold bath with a slotted draining spoon.   

The tomato skins will now slide off easily. This is called blanching.

Trim off the top, peel and chop the tomatoes. Put your trimmings and skins into a benchtop compost bucket.

Clean down the bench and board. You should have a scrap bowl of skins and trimmings and a pot of chopped tomatoes. Nice and clean.

Put the pan on a medium heat and bring to a steady, slow simmer, stirring regularly. Use a wooden spoon.

Stir occasionally to prevent the chopped tomatoes from sticking to the base of the pan. Cook for about 40 - 60 minutes or until the fruit is broken down and soft.

Prepare a shallow baking tray. The size will depend on how much cooked pulp you have. You want to get an even thin layer no more than 10mm deep.

Drizzle a small amount of EVO in and spread out evenly with your fingers.

Now pour your pulp through a fine sieve into the tray. If you have a food mouli even better. I don’t - so a sieve it is.

With the back of a soft spatula or spoon gently push the paste through the sieve…

    … until all that you have left is seeds and fibres. Scrape off the back of the sieve and pick any stray seeds outof the tray…

Shake the tray gently to get a smooth even layer.

Put the tray into the centre of a low temperature oven, around 90 – 95°C. (Not over boiling 100°C.) This process can take a few hours so keep checking. You are slow roasting and evaporating not cooking. To avoid a tough skin forming you will need to mix and spread the paste a number of times as follows.

After the first hour the paste should be thickening ...

... and just starting to pull away from the sides.

With a spatula or scraper pull the paste together, mix and re-spread into an even layer. Ensure there are no thin areas that could cook faster or burn.

Repeat this process every 30 – 35 minutes until the paste is thick and spreadable. On the last bake put your washed, clean jar into the oven with the paste.

After you remove the paste turn the oven up to 110°C to complete the sterilisation of the jar, remove the jar as soon as the temperature indicator goes out, usually 3-4 minutes.

Spoon your paste into the sterilised jar, Try not to eat it all. Smooth the surface and cover with a thin layer of EVO. Store in the refrigerator.

1.2 kilos of roma tomatoes made 120ml of paste.