Tomato 101

Because tomato processors thicken tomato sauce through “low temperature” (130°-140°F) vacuum evaporation vs. “high temperature” (212°F) stove-top cooking, your finished sauce will have more fresh tomato flavor if you avoid “cooking down” to reach your desired thickness.

Similarly, “thinning down” more highly concentrated (i.e., thicker = heated longer) tomato products like a 26% Brix tomato paste by adding lots of water also results in less “fresh tomato” flavor than utilizing a fresh-packed 12%-17% Brix tomato product which wasn’t heat-processed nearly as long.

Creating a signature sauce recipe is a highly personal art without hard-and-fast rules. Based on our own family recipes from Tom’s aunt Giovanna and grandmother Teresa, we prefer to season our pizza sauce with basil, garlic, onion, oregano, sage, and thyme. We like our marinara sauce with basil, garlic, parsley, marjoram, and onion. And we season our meaty red sauce with garlic, parsley, marjoram, onion, thyme, rosemary, and sage. Of course, these are only their preferences. We encourage you to experiment and find your own favorite flavors.

It’s possible to “reinoculate” new, previously “sterile” sauce batches by combining old and new sauces and/or by not sanitizing storage containers between batches. (Because their surfaces are porous, plastic containers are particularly vulnerable to “re-inoculation.”) Similarly, make sure utensils are properly sanitized between each use.

Lower-quality and/or untreated seasonings almost invariably increase the chances of your sauce “prematurely aging,” thereby creating “off” flavors and eventual spoilage.

Cooling stored sauce as quickly as possible in smaller containers, then keeping it in a cold environment (35-40ºF) until usage,keeps microbes away.

As is true for most foods, microbes capable of aging a sauce grow fastest in a warm temperature environment (60°-110°F.) Therefore, after mixing in the other ingredients, promptly refrigerate tomato sauces (35°-40°F), preferably in lidded containers, prior to subsequent heating/usage.

High-quality seasonings that have been properly treated by their manufacturer are significantly less likely to cause premature sauce aging. However, to further decrease the risk, a good practice is to sterilize seasonings by sautéing them in oil (or boiling them in water) just prior to adding them to your tomato-based sauce.

When it comes to storage, porous plastic can harbor microbes that quickly sour sauce. Aluminum imparts a bitter, metallic flavor to tomatoes. Stainless steel is our preference.

If your sauce becomes overly thick, lumpy, or gelled in the fridge, but it smells and tastes fine, its likely a harmless reaction caused by added onion or garlic. Try sautéing seasonings in extra virgin olive oil or boil in a small amount of water before adding to your sauce.