How We Make Tomato Paste the Long Way

Industrial tomato paste is efficient. Ours is not — and that is the point.

In late summer, crates of ripe tomatoes arrive from growers we know by name. We wash, sort, and cook them down in wide pans until the water leaves and the flavor stays. A pinch of sea salt. A spoon of olive oil to seal the jar.

The result is thicker, deeper, and more honest than anything from a factory line. Stir it into lentil soup. Spread it under eggs. Taste August in February.

That is why we still do it the long way.