The Best Tomatoes for Delicious Home-Made Sauce: Roma, Big Beef, and More!
Tomatoes are a great addition to any garden, and many varieties make for delicious sauce. If you're looking for the best tomatoes to use in your homemade sauces, there is no single variety that stands out as the best; it all depends on what you prefer. Here's an overview of some of the most popular types of tomatoes used for making sauce, along with tips on how to get the most out of them.
Roma tomatoes are ideal for making sauce because they are meaty and have fewer seeds than other varieties. They also tend to be sweeter than watery types. To save time when making sauce, stick to Roma tomatoes or similar heart-shaped varieties like Wes, Reif Red Heart, Sheryl’s Portuguese Red Heart, That Russian Tomato, Pink Honey, and Orange Strawberry.
Big Beef F1 tomatoes are another good choice for sauce because they are productive in any year and have reasonably large fruit. They can also be used fresh if desired. Speckled Roman is another popular tomato variety that is said to make excellent sauce.
If you don't want to limit yourself to specific varieties, any good tasting tomato can be used to make sauce. However, if you choose watery types, you will need to cook them down longer before adding them to your sauce. One way to reduce cooking time is to freeze your tomatoes (cut into smaller chunks first) and then extract the clear liquid from them before cooking. This juice can be boiled down until it has reduced by half or a third of its original volume.
Making homemade sauce is a rewarding experience that requires patience and practice. With a bit of experimentation, you'll soon find the perfect combination of tomatoes that makes your sauce taste just right!
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What tomatoes are good for making sauce?
Any good tasting tomato, no matter the variety, makes good sauce. Meatier types are recommended to make shorter work of it for sauce. Roma types are preferred. For great sauce, a good processor like the Victorio (motorized) and a garden full of tomatoes is needed.
What varieties of heart-shaped tomatoes are recommended for both eating and making sauce?
Wes, Reif Red Heart, Sheryl’s Portuguese Red Heart, That Russian Tomato for reds, Pink Honey, and the orange Russian 117, Orange Strawberry are all recommended. They are all meaty and very tasty.
Is there a trick to making juicy tomatoes work for sauce?
Yes, freezing the tomatoes and extracting the clear liquid from them before cooking is recommended. This also allows you to collect up a big batch of tomatoes for saucing. When tomatoes thaw, the clear juice comes off them easily. Drain them and then press them in a colander to get more of the thin juice off. Save this juice in a pot and put it on to boil to reduce it to half or a third of its original volume. This will give you a thicker, more concentrated tomato sauce.
What is the best way to make a smooth and flavorful sauce?
The best way to make a smooth and flavorful sauce is to use fresh tomatoes, garlic, onion, herbs, and spices. Start by sautéing the garlic and onion in olive oil until they are softened. Then add the tomatoes and cook them down until they are soft. Add the herbs and spices of your choice, such as oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, or bay leaves. Simmer for 30 minutes or so until the flavors have blended together. Finally, use an immersion blender to puree the sauce until it is smooth.