Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.
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October 9, 2011 | #16 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Virginia
Posts: 353
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Quote:
either way it takes a ****load (local measure here in the sticks) of tomatoes to make a gallon of sauce... |
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October 9, 2011 | #17 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: 6a - NE Tennessee
Posts: 4,538
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This is a food mill for those who do not process enough to justify an electric mill. I've used mine now for 3 years and it's more than adequate for our needs here.
Back to Basics Food Mill = http://www.amazon.com/B2B-Food-Strai.../dp/B000I4Y4PK This year, we put away 36 quarts of ultra-thick juice.
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Ted ________________________ Owner & Sole Operator Of The Muddy Bucket Farm and Tomato Ranch |
October 9, 2011 | #18 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: South Of The Border
Posts: 1,169
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October 9, 2011 | #19 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Lincoln NE
Posts: 41
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I got the Roma manual tomato mill this spring (with the optional grape auger, pumpkin screen and berry screen) and have been quite pleased with it. I was able to do two flats worth of tomatoes (about 25 pounds) in about 45 minutes, including set up and clean up time.
I did one batch of roma tomatoes and several batches of mixed varieties. The roma tomatoes produced more sauce per pound of tomato after cooking, because the raw pulp/juice was less watery. I also did two pounds of grapes to make grape jelly. A lot less work than running them through either a Foley mill or a chinois. Pumpkins are next on the list of things to try. |
October 9, 2011 | #20 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Texas, zone 6b
Posts: 100
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brokenbar
Have you ever tried mixing other varieties in with the paste tomatoes to alter the flavor? If I remember correctly, you said something about the flavor of Costoluto Genovese changing during cooking. Have you tried blending varieties to get a particular taste? |
October 9, 2011 | #21 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: South Of The Border
Posts: 1,169
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Quote:
And the real kicker is, I don't like or eat tomatoes...ever. That is why I have to have others taste new sauces. I was a chef at a very upscale Italian restaurant while I put myself through college and vet school. I learned a lot about sauce and what it should be. Texture...hugely important. as little water as humanly possible so as not to ruin the pasta, bouquet...should be a mouth-watering blend of complimentary aromas with no one aroma being over-powering (did you ever think anyone ever put this much effort into sauce???) I worked with a older chef who came for Italy and he could wax poetic on the virtues of the perfect sauce for hours! As I only grow paste-type tomatoes, dry, few seeds for my sun-drying business, I have probably tried every sauce type tomato out there. My "friends" say I just should "shut my eyes" and buy the Ragu"...heathens.
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October 9, 2011 | #22 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Texas, zone 6b
Posts: 100
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October 9, 2011 | #23 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Paw Paw MI
Posts: 89
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brokenbar - I am going to be trying Costoluto Genovese tomatoes this year. As you mentioned you kept numbers - approximately how many pounds of tomatoes were you averaging (roughly) for each of those plants?
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October 9, 2011 | #24 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: South Of The Border
Posts: 1,169
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October 9, 2011 | #25 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: South Of The Border
Posts: 1,169
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Quote:
I shared seeds with a friend in San Diego County a couple of years ago. She lives way inland so hot, high desert clime. She says hers are the best producing tomato she grows. She also only grows them for sauce because they really do suck for fresh eating. She says her neighbors are always hitting her up for some and don't believe her when she tells them they are only for cooking (she says they all think she is lying and just being stingy!) My friend is also a fellow sun-dried tomato producer. She started a couple of years ago and says she can hardly keep up with the demand from restaurants. Lots more restaurants in California than Wyoming! I envy her because she goes to this close-out place and gets red wine for a $1.00 a bottle (we are talking really crappy red wine but for soaking the tomatoes in, it does not matter.) If I had to pick a second like CG, it would be Russo Sicilian Togeta which I also grow and it is one of my favorites. A tad smaller than CG and better fresh. It never failed to put out a crop for me in 26 years in Wyoming. Both CG & RST have very uniform sized fruit.
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October 9, 2011 | #26 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: northern NJ zone 6b
Posts: 1,862
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Quote:
Wow that's a lot of heart and soul into something you don't even eat! I have seeds for CG and Russo Sicilian Togeta for next year and I'm hoping to use them for sauce too. I think I eat more tomatoes in sauce than I do fresh and my kids aren't crazy about fresh tomatoes (older son likes them now and then) . I have some contraptions that are from ages and ages ago handed down from my grandmother for cleaning tomatoes...some sort of mills but they are really huge and I rarely use them. Then again, I don't make 3 gallons of sauce at one time, wow... |
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October 9, 2011 | #27 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: South Of The Border
Posts: 1,169
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Quote:
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October 9, 2011 | #28 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Paw Paw MI
Posts: 89
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I have the CG for next year... maybe I'll have to find some of the RST seeds for 2013.
Thank you for the info! |
October 9, 2011 | #29 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: holly michigan
Posts: 380
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costoluto genovese
I am always looking for the best sauce tomato. I researched CG and some sites say it is juicy? with a strong traditional tomato flavor, with tartness. Could you tell us in detail the characteristics. How juicy, how tart? I made sauce a couple years ago with Celebrity tomatoes, and it was way to tangy, not enough sweet. I did not remove the gel or seeds, ran it all thru a blender. This yr I used san marzano and opalka together and made a really nice sauce, not tangy, and just sweet enough. Doing taste tests this yr, I realized the tart in most tomatoes is in the gel, so no more gel for me. My method now is cut tomatoes inhalf or quarters, lenth wise. Remove gel and seeds, cook to reduce, then mil. If you reduce before milling, the water and pulp separates, and the water keeps it from burning. Last yr I blenderized to a smoth sauce, and it stuck and burnt easily. Plus, cooked first, they run thru the mill efortlessly.
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October 9, 2011 | #30 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: South Of The Border
Posts: 1,169
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Quote:
CG is not sweet raw but gets very sweet when cooked. I do not find it overly juicy...the area with seeds and gel is semi-hollow. I have said many times here that it comes through the mill practically as finished sauce. Very little water and it takes much less "simmering down" than any other variety I have tried. It has a little tang to it but not what I would consider a tang like one would want in a salsa tomato. I was able to cook down 3 gallons in my crock pot thingy in 6 hours at about 350. I like Opalka but prefer it as a drying tomato. I put my tomatoes in boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes and they mill easily. I do cut CG in half. They also are not a tomato that has a ton of seeds. I am sending a bunch of seed home with my kid and he will offer it for a SASE in November. My sauce "test" is that a toothpick should stand upright in it when it is thick enough. I only make marinara and I add peppers, onions etc so they do add a little moisture to the mix so I find it imperative to have the sauce as thick as I can get it before adding the other stuff. And this sauce I make, this is a really heavy, rich sauce and is fine for spaghetti but would not be a good sauce for ravioli or lasagna, etc. It would be too overbearing and would mask the flavors in those dishes. This is a "big jug of Chianti, big plate of spaghetti and some great crusty bread" kind of a sauce! I am headed to Rome the day before Thanksgiving and will be having some of that Chianti and bread!
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