Author Topic: Tomato puree or tomato paste - what's the difference?  (Read 4902 times)

slope

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Tomato puree or tomato paste - what's the difference?
« on: 22 December, 2017, 11:18:33 am »
I'm confused :( What's the difference?

Here's a delicious (hopefully, as I'm wanting to experiment with tofu) sounding recipe from that reliable Yotam fella which stipulates 3 tablespoons of tomato paste for the sauce - what do you think he means?

I often find tomato puree to be rather aggressive and metallicky.

Tofu and french beans with chraimeh sauce



Clare

  • Is in NZ
Re: Tomato puree or tomato paste - what's the difference?
« Reply #1 on: 22 December, 2017, 11:30:46 am »
As far as I am aware they are the same thing.

That recipe looks very tasty.

Re: Tomato puree or tomato paste - what's the difference?
« Reply #2 on: 22 December, 2017, 11:32:44 am »
Same thing, but not all are the same quality.

Re: Tomato puree or tomato paste - what's the difference?
« Reply #3 on: 22 December, 2017, 11:33:56 am »
You could add a pinch of sugar to soften the tomato acidity.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: Tomato puree or tomato paste - what's the difference?
« Reply #4 on: 22 December, 2017, 11:35:05 am »
Left Pondian, favouring paste, v the rest of The World, with purée?

Re: Tomato puree or tomato paste - what's the difference?
« Reply #5 on: 22 December, 2017, 01:03:59 pm »
It's confusing, but I'm not sure they are the same thing, I thought paste was cooked, simply reduced tomato, whenever I see cheap over ripe tomato I make my own and freeze it (In an ice tray is good).  Puree I understood to be uncooked, simply what it says.  That evil stuff that comes in a tube is god knows what, it's concentrated whatever it is, I wouldn't substitute 1/1 in a recipe that called for paste.  Then there's Passata which is a simple puree, cheap and available everywhere, less intense than my paste, maybe reducing that would be the same.   

Re: Tomato puree or tomato paste - what's the difference?
« Reply #6 on: 22 December, 2017, 03:09:11 pm »
The “evil stuff in a tube” IS tomato purée / paste. Passata is sieved crushed tomatoes - think the tinned variety liquidised then sieved to remove pips. 
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

ian

Re: Tomato puree or tomato paste - what's the difference?
« Reply #7 on: 22 December, 2017, 04:00:16 pm »
Purée is tomatoes that have been squished through the toes of overenthusiastically bungabungaing Italians. Paste is from tomatoes flung vigorously at a wall and scraped up.

Passata, on the other hand, is a religious holiday.

slope

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Re: Tomato puree or tomato paste - what's the difference?
« Reply #8 on: 22 December, 2017, 04:19:47 pm »
Mmmmm :-\

From Wikipedia -

"Tomato purée is a thick liquid made by cooking and straining tomatoes. The difference between tomato paste, tomato purée, and tomato sauce is consistency; tomato puree has a thicker consistency and a deeper flavour than sauce.

The definitions of tomato purée vary from country to country. In the U.S., tomato purée is a processed food product, usually consisting of only tomatoes, but can also be found in seasoned form. It differs from tomato sauce or tomato paste in consistency and content; tomato purée generally lacks the additives common to a complete tomato sauce, and does not have the thickness of paste.

To prepare tomato purée, ripe tomatoes are washed and the leaves and stem are removed. Some processors remove the skin of the tomato as well. The fruit flesh is then mashed or mechanically chopped to the desired consistency.

Tomato purée can be used in soups, stews, sauces, or any other dish where the tomato flavor is desired, but not the texture. It is less often used by professional chefs, who find it to have an overly cooked flavor compared to other forms of canned tomatoes. This is sometimes a non-issue, as in long-cooked dishes, but in quick sauces such as a marinara sauce it is undesirable.

Tomato purée has approx 16% solids content. Lower solids content is due to filtering, higher content is due to concentration of the product.

Tomato purée is never referred as "passata di pomodoro", when it has been sieved to remove seeds and lumps. Passata's main difference is that it is not cooked. In this form, it is generally sold in bottles or aseptic packaging, and is most common in Europe. In the United Kingdom, in this form the product passata is always uncooked, otherwise it would be tomato puree (see above)."

Re: Tomato puree or tomato paste - what's the difference?
« Reply #9 on: 22 December, 2017, 04:33:17 pm »
My bad, the evil stuff in a tube is actually concentrated tomato purée.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Vernon

  • zzzZZZzzz
Re: Tomato puree or tomato paste - what's the difference?
« Reply #10 on: 23 December, 2017, 11:19:08 pm »
I can confirm that the recipe in the OP is very tasty.
Nom!