How to Buy Tomato Paste

An indispensable ingredient in many sauces, tomato paste ranges in quality from the sublime to the very nasty. Serious cooks know that it's worth spending a little extra time trying to buy the right kind of paste. Plan on comparing several of the leading brands in your own taste-test before deciding which one is right for you.

Instructions

1. Find a brand available in a tube rather than a can. This eliminates the metallic taste often associated with tomato paste. It also facilitates storing the unused portion.

2. Purchase tomato paste in small cans if tubes are not available. Most recipes call for small amounts of tomato paste. When you buy big cans, you will have to store larger amounts of unused paste for later use.

3. Select regular-strength tomato paste rather than the double-concentrated kind. The regular-strength paste is just as thick as the concentrated paste and costs less.

4. Buy several different brands of tomato paste. Taste spoonfuls of each brand right out of the can. Select the paste that tastes closest to fresh tomatoes.

5. Examine the color of each brand. The best tomato paste is bright red rather than dark red.

6. Test the thickness of each brand. Get spoonfuls of the paste and place them on separate plates. Wait about 15 minutes and see which of the brands remains firm and which had started to break down into puddles. Choose the brand remaining firm for the longest time.

7. Read the labels on the tubes and cans of tomato paste. Make sure they contain salt, which improves flavor.