Allotments 4 All

Hiya, I am anticipating big glut of red tomatoes any day soon and still have nightmares from last years mammoth peeling sessions.  Anyone got a passata maker and do you reccomend it?  Any other suggestions for shortcuts to making passata would be very welcome!  Thanks..  :)

PASSATA?? - you mean squashed toms??

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,72/topic,23160.0

Thank you for that link Tim, as I will be making sauce by manual means ...

Did blackberries in mine, four times through and almost dry pips and loads of squish ;D
Definitely NOT a luxury, more a kitchen essential ;)

Supersprout... what make do you have and where did you get it?  I am going to invest !!

Here it is redman :)
http://www.seedsofitaly.com/catalogue/18
Happy squishing!

Hi Redman
I have just made a load of bottles of tomato soup.  All I did was whizz the toms in the food blender and then poured the resulting gloop through a seive.  There was hardly any waste - just pips and the odd hard core.  You could do the same for passata - I prefer to just peel the skins and chop the rest as it makes for a more chunky sauce - perfect for pizza toppings or pasta sauces.

Redman - you're very few miles from where Seeds of Italy are, so you might as well save the postage and go round if you have a car... and guarantee it doesn't get broken by the mail.

(They're off the main Harrow-Wealdstone road, down a little industrial estate. Chap there's great! )

moonbells (works in Northwood)

Thanks for all the suggestions..

Moonbells... will get myself over to Seeds of Italy and make a purchase! 
Thanks! :D

Seeds of Italy are on holiday till 21st August. I ordered one today online and the information was in the confirmation of order email.

hth

Tricia

Another option is the 'mouli legumes', which passes the pulp through the machine, and leaves the 'dry bits' behind.

valmarg

Deep joy,mine has just arrived. ;D.I've got to gallop off to work now,but oh boy I'll have some fun tonight.Got loads of blackberries and toms to squidge.
Got mine from Ascott Smallholding Supplies. Online shop:www.ascott.biz
Ordered Friday, so that was a speedy delivery.
Many thanks to Supersprout for the link.

Gosh - ascott are cheap for jam jars! bookmarked :) though have work trained now - I get a steady stream to recycle.

One (probably too obvious) word of warning for those of you about to squish using the red passata machine - wear something wipeable or expendable - it flirts juice and blackberries are awful for staining...

moonbells

Have mangled dodgy toms for tonight's sumptuous feast,Soooo much tastier than Bertoli.

Something else I've noticed:

The supermarkets do their own-brand value jam. It costs about 31p. This means it's cheaper to buy a jar of it, do something with the contents (which are probably full of preservatives, and hardly any fruit) and then use the jar again than it is to go out and buy new jars from somewhere.

Scary.

moonbells

what a clever idea moonbells ;).I shall certainly be on the lookout for cheap stuff in jars in future - not only jams. As long as the jars have screw tops eh?

I 'harvested' eight jars from a friend today, so have enough for my next batch - this time red tomato chutney (can't wait till the end of the season to make the green type ;D). I'm having problems finding enough space in cupboards for all the stuff I've been making - so far: pickles, pickled beetroot, piccalilli, tomato passata (with new machine :D) bramble jelly, apple and bramble jelly, strawberry jam,  rhubarb and ginger jam and apple, date and ginger chutney.

Tricia

Yes, jars are a scary cost! I pay nearly 25p for 1lb honey jars and nearly 28p for half-pound hex jars (which I love!) from Thorne's -- just a bit cheaper than Ascott's.  And lids are an ongoing trial, too: I can re-use jars but the lids have to be new every time (no one wants to open a jar of honey and find a nasty rusty lid!)

Quote from: triffid on August 31, 2006, 16:32:38
  And lids are an ongoing trial, too: I can re-use jars but the lids have to be new every time.

Why? I re-use the lids. In fact, I have some fancy screw top lids I've been using every year since I can't remember when :). Obviously, those that start to rust or become unsightly are consigned to the bin, but for the most part they can be re-used several times without any problem.

Tricia

Sorry Tricia; while you were typing I was editing my previous post. As I sell honey, I have to abide by scrupulous hygiene (TSOs are allowed to pop in at our place to see how we harvest, store etc our honey --- though none has done so so far!) Jars, whether reused or fresh from the factory, all get done at 70C in the dishwasher and can be reused endlessly. Metal lids, alas, can't be brought back to their original state.

Plastic honey jar lids are available as well as the traditional metal ones, but they only come in white (doesn't look right with honey, somehow) or gold sprayed (which looks very dull and un-metallic). Wish they did black -- that'd look brill. So till then, I'm stuck with buying stocks of spare lids  :(

wow - thanks Triffid - never thought to look for beekeeping suppliers for cheap jars!

(Obvious really... *sigh*)

moonbells

(and there's one not too far away from me too - even better! No need to risk smashed jars in the posting!)