By taking a quick look at the market shelf, it is possible to find several options for tomato-based products, such as sauces, pulps and extracts, with or without seasoning, and with or without small pieces. But how to choose the best option for our recipe? According to nutritionist Bianca Naves, from the website O Melhor do Molho, the basic difference between the products lies in the concentration of tomatoes used in the manufacture of each one. However, other factors must also be considered. Therefore, she separated some important information that will help in choosing the ideal product:
O Tomato Sauce is the ready-to-eat tomato. May contain onion, garlic, basil, etc. Ready-made sauces basically serve to save time in the kitchen, and can be used in pasta, pizza, or any other dish served with sauce. It is the product in liquid, pasty, emulsion or suspension form based on spice(s) and/or seasoning(s) and/or other ingredient(s), fermented or not, used to prepare and/or add flavor or aroma to food and drinks.
A tomato paste (also called puree) is basically the processed tomato. The pulps are the most flexible option for tomatoes, as they serve as ingredients for the preparation of an infinity of recipes. It is made with skinless and seedless tomatoes, forming a type of tomato juice. It doesn’t have pieces of tomato or any kind of seasoning. It is slightly concentrated, but much less than the extract. Ideal for recipes where the sauce already has its own seasonings or which need to enhance the authentic flavor of the tomato.
O tomato extract needs to be diluted to use. It should mainly be used to add color to dishes with tomato-based sauces, and can also be used to thicken sauces as they are more concentrated. It is made from concentrated tomato pulp, added with salt and/or sugar. It is the most concentrated of the three. The extract is recommended as a complement for the preparation of sauces and provides more color and consistency, but, if used in excess, it can compromise the dish.
A tomato paste it is the cooked tomato pulp, without the skin, seeds, preservatives or seasonings. You can use passata when you want to make a homemade sauce, as you can add your spices and ingredients to make it your own. Passatas have a thicker juice composed only of tomatoes, salt and an acidity corrector. It comes in glass jars and is much more similar to homemade sauces. They can even be used together with two peeled ripe tomatoes to produce a full-bodied sauce.
