This year I vowed that I’d get away from buying canned things due to the BPA lining in cans. This includes canned tomatoes and tomato paste.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is “an industrial chemical used to make a hard, clear plastic known as polycarbonate.”1 It is an estrogen-mimicker, and has been known to affect the brain, behavior, and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children, as well as increase cardiovascular disease.
According to a follow-up analysis of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), patients with the highest levels of BPA in their urine carried a 33% increased risk of coronary heart disease.2
Perhaps the scariest thing to me, is that BPA can be passed from mothers to their unborn children. There have not been enough studies to know the long-term effects of BPA on developing fetuses, but as it affects the brain in adults, I can’t imagine that it would leave fetuses unharmed.
Anyway, this summer, we were blessed with a bountiful harvest of tomatoes, and for months, I haven’t worried about my tomato supply. But this week, when the night started turning chilly and I found myself reaching for a sweater during the day, I realized I hadn’t prepared for the upcoming winter months at all!
I could hear Joel Salatin’s voice in my head saying, “Woe to the family with an empty larder.” And I realized I need to get my tomato paste on!
I also need to learn to can, so I can can tomatoes, but one thing at a time for now. I DO need to learn to can rather fast though if I want to have any tomatoes for the winter. I think the thing I’m most afraid of is jars breaking, but I’m really not sure how likely this is.
Anyway, making your own tomato paste is so easy that you might just cry when you learn how easy it is. Just kidding. But it is literally almost no work at all.
- Take around 5 lbs of tomatoes (I used maybe 8. I can’t remember exactly.) and blend them into a puree using a Vitamix or other food processor. OPTIONAL: Blend in 1-2 red peppers and 8 garlic cloves as well.
- Put the puree into a pot and boil for 3 minutes.
- Using a strainer and cloth of some sort, strain into a bowl or pot
- Refrigerate for at least 12 hours
- After 12 hours, take the paste out of the fridge and spread into a baking dish.
- Allow it to come to room temperature.
- When it is room temperature, put it in the oven at 200˚F for 20 minutes.
- Spoon into clean glass jars, being careful to eliminate air pockets.
- Top with 1/4 inch of olive oil, screw on lids, and store in the fridge indefinitely. Well, not indefinitely, but it should keep long enough for you to use it!
- Be sure to add more olive oil to the top each time you use it. It helps prevent molding and keeps it longer. I suppose you could can this, too, in hot water baths and by adding lemon juice instead of olive oil, but I’m not there yet. :)
I hope you enjoy this recipe! It was rewarding being able to make it myself. :)
Sources:
1 Bisphenol A (BPA): Use in Food Contact Application, FDA
2 Heart Risk of BPA Confirmed, Medpage Today
So, I made this, with 5 lbs of tomatoes. It drained down to only 1 pint. I don’t think I would have made it if I had known it only nmade that much.
Thanks for this recipe! So easy! I had a ton of tomatoes from my amazing CSA share that could not be used before they were rotten and I also needed some tomato paste for a new batch of fermented ketchup. I really didn’t put 2 and 2 together until I read this :p So thanks for saving my tomatoes!
Erica
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as 94%. It is native to South America and is now cultivated all over the world with many varieties often grown in green
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This post is old I know but you just put it on FB. I was reading the comments and wanted to say that Ball now had BPA free canning lids. Google it.
If your freezers big enough freeze it. I freeze mine and also pureed pesto and other stuff then put in flat in a good ziplock. Break off what you need and reseal. Works great and if its flat it’s easier to stack. Soups and sauces too.
if you want to go bpa free, maybe you could measure out tbs and put them in a ice tray and freeze, then pop them into a glass pyrex and store them in the freezer. :)
That’s a great idea!
If you put olive oil in it, when you cook it, the olive oil will heat up and go rancid. :/ How long can I keep it in the fridge without it molding, you think? Or what if I melt some beef tallow over the top to keep it from molding?
I think beef tallow would work. If you have real olive oil, it should eventually solidify over the tomato paste in the fridge. The olive oil works to seal the tomatoes against mold. Because it will be a solid, you can take a spoon and get the tomato paste under it, thus not cooking the olive oil. I think it should keep up to 6 months. That’s what I’m banking on.
Why not use coconut oil?
You could.
I’m fairly certain you’re not supposed to can something as thick as tomato paste at home! I would definitely look up a tested recipe before trying it, at least.
I just Googled it, and there are lots of recipes for canning tomato paste. :)
Great recipe! Thanks!! Did you know tattler lids are BPA free? Ball lids are not :(
Wow! I did not know that! I have not yet ventured into canning yet, but I plan to soon. Thank you so much for that piece of information and for helping me get off to a great start. I would have hated to find that out after I had already canned some.
Yum yum! we are trying to buy less cans too :) Just made our first applesauce and using the BPA free lids, they seem to work!
I’ve found that I can use the weck glass lids on my ball mason jars! (I don’t can – I use a vacuum seal) I put the rubber ring and the glass weck lid on top of my wide mouth mason jars inside of a large airtight canister and then suck the air out (with my food saver) this sucks the air out of my mason jar and pulls the weck lid down tight. It is a MUCH tighter seal than I ever got with the Mason jar lids. When I used to do this with my mason jar lids, over time, the air would seep back in. With my weck glass lids + the rubber ring that comes with them, I’ve yet to have a lid come loose.
But tattler lids have VOCs and phalates and formaldehyde…have to pick your battles. Only chemical free option are Canadian Weck jars with glass lids.
Totally love Weck! I tossed all my Tupperware etc. and use only Weck and Ball jars for storing foods in refrigerator etc.