How to Make and Preserve Classic Italian Passata from Home Grown Tomatoes

It’s Summer here at the Grand Ole Apiary – and that means tomatoes! I have been hoarding my tomatoes to make some classic Italian passata, which I will bottle in my gorgeous Fowler’s Preserver. This recipe can also be canned in a water bath canner. 

We don’t have a huge garden here, so I don’t have enough tomatoes ripening at once to go through the canning process. Instead, I pick any tomatoes that are fully ripe each day, wash, remove the stem and any damaged sections, and place in a box in my freezer. At the end of the season, I do one big canning/preserving session.

I like doing it this way – as the tomatoes defrost, they tend to just fall apart. No need to cut, blanch, remove skins. Its all done!

HOW TO MAKE CLASSIC ITALIAN PASSATA

What you will need:

• Large Cooking Pot
• Colander
• Food Mill (I have an attachment for my Kitchenaid that I LOVE)
• Sterilised Bottles
• Frozen Tomatoes
• Citric Acid – you will need to add 1 tsp per Fowler’s 27/31 bottle or quart size jar. Halve this for Fowler’s 20s or for pint size jars. 
• One to two basil leaves can be placed into each bottle if you like

Make the passata:

Fill your stock pot with the frozen tomatoes. Do not add any water to the pot. Turn on the heat and the tomatoes will immediately begin to defrost and release any water held inside them. 

Leave them on the heat until they are completely defrosted and have broken down to a slurry. You will see that the pulp will begin to separate from the water, it will look like you have added litres of water – but this is from the tomatoes! 

Pour the contents of the pot into your colander to remove as much of this water as possible. 

Allow the remaining pulp to cool, then process in your food mill to remove skins and seeds (these can be kept and dehydrated to make tomato powder!).

At this point, you can bottle your passata, or return the pulp to the pot and simmer until it is the consistency you prefer. 

PRESERVing YOUR PASSATA

Fowlers method:

Allow the pulp to cool to room temperature. Add citric acid, fill your bottles, and process according to the instructions for your particular unit.

Boiling water method:

Heat your jars and fill your canner with hot water. Add citric acid, fill jars with hot passata and place into your canner. Boil for 10 mins. 

Remember – for both methods, the basil is optional, but the citric acid is not! For full info on why you should always add acid to your passata, see here. 

Allow your bottles to cool completely before storing in a cool, dark place. 

Enjoy!