Homemade Tomato Passata

Treat your skin for the year with this delicious homemade Passata recipe - the perfect way to use the glut of tomatoes in late summer!

I am about a month late sharing this recipe as tomato season in Australia peaks at the end of summer in February, but there is no reason why you can't slowly ripen egg tomatoes now and start a few passata making batches to keep over autumn and winter for when you feel like a little summer sunshine. I was introduced to the passata making 'ritual' by a good foodie friend when my kids were toddlers...it was a fun family passata making affair where thru trial and error we worked out how to bottle tomatoes. Traditional passata is simply 'pureed ripe tomatoes'. It's skin delicious!

TOMATO BEAUTY BENEFITS

Packed full of lycopene, this homemade passata recipe is a savior for your skin. It’s high fat solubility makes it especially effective in your skin. This provides us with a better protection against damaging UV rays and creates the ultimate protection against sagging and wrinkles. Vitamin A acts to add shine to your hair and keep it strong while also protect your eyes and maintain their brightness. The process of cooking the tomatoes in this passata allows more lycopene to released, providing you and your skin with the best possible beauty food.

HOMEMADE TOMATO PASSATA MAKING RECIPE

You need to have the right equipment - a food mill for separating the skin and seeds from the flesh, glass bottles and lids to bottle the sauce and a large sauce pan and strong gas burner to 'boil' the bottles are mandatory.

YOU'LL NEED

Box/es of ripe tomatoes - roma are best because of rich flavour and high level of solids which makes thicker more robust sauce.

HOW TO

1. Wash the tomatoes and plunge them in hot water to loosen the skin.
2. Pop into a colander to drain. You don't want to dilute your sauce.
3. Feed the tomato flesh through a food mill. This separates the skin and seeds from the pulp, unlike a food processor, which mangles them all up rather than making a fine flavoured sauce.
4. The thicker the liquid - the better the passata. If thin liquid runs - try to catch it separately and out aside.
5. The passata is bottled, capped (tight), and placed in a large pot (lined with tea towels to prevent the jars cracking as they jostle). The bottles don't need to be pre-heated to sterilised as the heating does that.
6. Fill the large saucepan with warm water couple and boil for couple of hours to sterilise and preserve the passata. Make sure the whole of the bottle is covered.
7. Take care when removing the jars (or leave them to cool in the water), and store in a cool, dark place.

TIPS

Make passata making into a day event with lunch and get another family or 2 to come along. It will need a little organising -eg 4-6 boxes of tomatoes, large bowls, lots of jars, gas burner to set up outside to boil the jars, large mill to get the volume of sauce thru. Lots of red wine, home made pasta, green salads...you get the idea! Most importantly ensure the tomatoes are ripe..buy them at least 10 days before you make the passata to ensure they are deep red and ripe - this way the passata is sweeter, richer and more balanced. I have lots of beautiful photos from the two times we have made passata but I can't find them, one day I am sure they will turn up. Featured image on Pinterest via Vaniglia