Tomato Paste Guide

Tomato paste is a thick paste made from ripened tomatoes with skin and seeds removed. Its most common culinary usage is to enrich the flavor of sauces, particularly tomato sauce. It is most commonly available in tin cans and squeeze tubes.

It was traditionally made in parts of Sicily, Southern Italy and Malta by spreading out a much reduced tomato sauce on wooden boards. The boards are set outdoors under the hot August sun to dry the paste until it is thick enough, when scraped up, to hold together in a richly colored dark ball. Today this artisan product is harder to find than the industrial (much thinner) version.

In the UK paste is referred to as purée or concentrate.

Depending on its manufacturing conditions, tomato paste can be the basis for making ketchup or reconstituted tomato juice....