tropit

For those of you that put up tomato sauce every year, which tomatoes to you use/grow? San Marzanos? Amish Paste? Roma?

~ C

Grace creates

Roma tomatoes work great, beefsteak good too.

tranum

My friend cans many quarts of San Marzano.

Snooze2978

I mainly use romas but prefer the San Marzanos as they're larger. Funny thing is no one around here had San Marzanos for sale. Had to order them online so got 6 plus a pack of seeds to start mine own next year. If I have some grape tomatoes laying around as well as the regular kind I'll throw them in too just to use them up. I don't make tomato sauce but salsa and spaghetti sauce. I have a machine that separates the skins and seeds from the pulp so makes life easy when it comes time to canning for me.

tropit

I have a machine too: a Victorio Strainer. I've had it for many years. I had a good friend who would always borrow it from me every summer. Sometimes we wouldn't see much of each other all year, so it was nice when she came over to borrow it. We'd chat and catch up on things.

I use whatever tomatoes we have going off, but my favorites are Amish Paste. I found them in an heirloom seed catalog. They,re huge and very thick and meaty. The taste is good too.

~ C

Snooze2978

Tropit, that's the same brand I have but I added the motor to it as it would get so tiring turning the handle. Will have to check out these Amish Paste tomatoes. Are they a type of roma or regular tomato as I've been seeing their name but have no clue what they look like.

feline fanatic

Unlike most, I do not use Italian Plum varieties in my sauce. I just think the flavor is not as robust as the flavor in the globe varieties of tomatoes. I may include some Italian plum tomatoes and my greenhouse uses some import from Italy, I don't know what they are but I rarely buy them. I usually do a mix of tomatoes every year but my absolute favorite is the Hybrid "Big Boy" and they are always in my garden. But I don't use that exclusively, it is just the predominant variety I use. I always have a mix of tomato varieties in my sauce (and garden) including some heirloom varieties and beefsteak varieties. Because these varieties tend to be a much juicier and/or seedier than the plum/roma type tomatoes, I don't use the machine for peeling and seeding as it makes things way too watery. I peel by blanching the ripe tomatoes in boiling water for about 15 seconds. Once peeled I cut them in half to seed them then strain the chopped tomatoes. I prefer a chunk style sauce to the smooth puree. Yes it is a ton of work but to me it is worth it. My home canned sauce is bright and fresh tasting. I also save the juice I strain out and freeze it or can it (depending on my freezer space). It makes the best bloody Mary and is so wonderful added to soups, stews and braised meats like pot roast.

Tartan

I use the ones that are in the Ragu or Garden Select jars for spaghetti sauce. For stewed tomatoes though I like Roma’s or San Marzano's.

SusieQOH

I love Roma because they are meaty.

tropit

Amish Paste is a Roma type tomato.

~ C