Making Tomato Passata
This is something our family likes to do every year, following in the footsteps of our ancestors! Italians have been making their own preserved tomato pasta sauce base, known as passata, for centuries. Nowadays, the ready availability and the apartment living of most Italians in Italy means that making the passata - or "doing the tomatoes" - is not nearly as common there as once was. Luckily, the techniques crossed the seas with the many waves of Italian migrants to Australia and we are descendants of this practice. Our day of doing the tomatoes is a much easier affair with some mechanisation involved to take the hard work out of squeezing the tomatoes and a much more entertaining affair with friends and family all keen to be involved.
My Green Garden has taken this to the public and over the past two summers, has invited people to join in and learn some old Italian ways, under the auspices of Bulleen Art and Garden's Gardening classes.. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive! Recently, Megan, of Flavour Hound, did a write up of our latest passata day found on. http://www.flavourhound.blogspot.com.au/