Wiktionary
n. a concentrate of tomato purée; used in making pizzas etc
WordNet
n. thick concentrated tomato puree
Wikipedia
Tomato paste is a thick paste that is made by cooking tomatoes for several hours to reduce moisture, straining them to remove the seeds and skin, and cooking them again to reduce them to a thick, rich concentrate.
In contrast, tomato purée is a liquid with a consistency between crushed tomatoes and tomato paste, and consists of tomatoes that have been boiled briefly and strained.
Tomato paste was traditionally made in parts of Sicily, southern Italy and Malta by spreading out a much-reduced tomato sauce on wooden boards. The boards are set outdoors under the hot August sun to dry the paste until it is thick enough, when scraped up, to hold together in a richly colored, dark ball. Today, this artisan product is harder to find than the industrial (much thinner) version. Commercial production uses tomatoes with thick pericarp walls and lower overall moisture, these are very different from the tomatoes you will find in a supermarket.
Tomato paste became commercially available in the early 20th Century.
In the UK, paste is referred to as purée or concentrate.
In the US, tomato paste is concentrated tomato solids (no seeds or skin), sometimes with added high fructose corn syrup, and with a standard of identity (see 21 CFR 155.191). Tomato purée has a lower solids requirement.
Depending on its manufacturing conditions, tomato paste can be the basis for making ketchup or reconstituted tomato juice.
- Hot break: heated to about 100 °C; pectin is preserved -> thicker -> ketchup
- Warm break: heated to about 79 °C; colour is not preserved, but flavour is
- Cold break: heated to about 66 °C; colour and flavour is preserved -> juice
Usage examples of "tomato paste".
Make the driver unload, then reload an entire order of canned goods, 35-pound flour sacks, peanut oils, juices, tomato paste and bulk sugar, and I can assure you-your stuff will start arriving on time.
Simmer another fifteen minutes then add the tomatoes, tomato paste, beets and beans.
When the spaghetti was done, he drained off the water into a large empty can, then, without noticeably altering the position of his body, reached under the bed and produced a plate incrusted with grease and tomato paste.
Beneath the cans of tomato paste and sardines was the Hush Puppies shoebox with the dynamite and the walkie-talkie inside.
Over here there's Italian tomato paste, over there you can get the Bulgarian stuff now and then.
The can of tomato paste she had been holding dropped out of her hand and fell to the floor.
She tottered on the stool and Jake rushed forward to steady her before she could join the tomato paste.
I pulled the heavy wooden door open, slipped inside and breathed deeply, relishing the scent of tomato paste and bacon.
Then he set about making a sauce from tomato paste, stewed tomatoes, parsley, oregano, olive oil, and sauteed onions.
We had one of the three shell-casing plants in the country during the Second World War and the largest tomato paste cannery in the world.
I remember ham, turkey, crumbled crisp bacon, mayonnaise, three sorts - of cheese, several sorts of pickle, little peppers, unidentified fish, thin slices of beef, fresh tomato, tomato paste, three sorts of lettuce, what I think was deep-fried eggplant.