Canned Tomato Products--What Do You Keep on Hand? How Much Do You Use?

Cooking Discussions Cooking, Cookbooks, Ingredients
61

For tomato paste I usually resort to tubes, usually Amore sun dried or Mutti. Yesterday I got Alessi, cheaper and almost as good as Mutti. Amore sun dried is amazing. My favorite, not always readily found, is Cento double concentrate.

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62

I get cans, and spoon out tablespoons onto wax paper, freeze them, then wrap each one in Press-n-Seal and back into the freezer in a ziplock. This lasts me a couple of months, longer than a tube would last. Iā€™ll have to check out the Cento double concentrate.

63

Can you say more about that? Do you mean a use by date on an open tube? I have never thought about that!

64

Yes. I donā€™t know if tomato paste can actually go bad. Rachel Ray says that if you remove all the air from the tube, it can go for months in the fridge. But I donā€™t have a problem freezing individual portions.

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65

Alessi is imported by the the family of the same name here in Tampa.

Theyre best known for the bakery thatā€™s been here for generations, but their imports are usually well priced and reliable.

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66

I can attest that the lifespan of both tomato paste and anchovy pastes in tubes is measured in months. I have no problem using up either before spoilage might be an issue. OTOH I have seen blue fuzz form on a partial can of tomato paste in a couple of weeks. Air plus food equals fuzz.

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67

ā€¦if not years. Iā€™ve had tubes 'way back-o-fridge that have seen new presidents.

Open cans of tomato paste, on the contrary, are measured in days around here.

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68

Agree! And you can store tubes of tomato paste in the freezer, if theyā€™re nearing their expiration date.

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69

I never even realized there was an expiration date on tomato paste in a tube. :woman_shrugging:

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70
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71

Today the market didnā€™t have Mutti either. I wonder if somethingā€™s going on with Italian imports (but there was plenty of Italian pasta).

72

Centos petite diced are back in my local market (Berkeley Bowl West). I resisted the temptation to buy all of them (there was about a case on the shelf), settled for four cans instead.

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73

May good Karma reward you!