[Sharonx]

Hi,
Have lots of San Mazano tom plants which are all potted on in one of those 4 tier greenhouses from Wilkos. This is currently in my conservatory and was wondering If could now have the greehouse outside and zip it up at night, would it be warm enough? Or do they need to stay tucked up in the warm for a while longer?

At what point is the earliest I could get away with getting them in the ground at the lotty? Last year was early June, wondering if any time in May would be ok? Thank you1

[lucywil]

personally I wouldn't bother putting them on the allotment because of the blight. i have all mine in the conservatory at the moment. some will stay in there, some will move to an unheated greenhouse at the beginning of may and some will go outside in pots in the back garden in mid may.

they still need warmth at the moment, so it probably best to wait a while

[Sharonx]

Hi Luciwil,
They will definetley be going out on the allotment. We have put them out for the last 2 years without problem, and my father-in-law has done for donkeys years, and he has been caught out a few times but we put out alot of plants (about 80) so have no option but to go for it. Usually he does all the seeds for us and we just plonk them in in june, but as I am doing this alone now I sowed them a bit earlier that he normally does, so just want to know when I can get shot of them all really. Looks a bit ugly in the conservatory at the mo! So mid May should be ok to plant them out??? Thanks

[lucywil]

you are further south than me so you might get away with the beginning of may, thats a lot of tomatoes!!

[Sharonx]

It is alot! We make Passata from them all. My FIL does double what i did last year, and we got about 60 bottles, have about 15 left so will run out before the next lot are done I think, means I need a few more this year. 

Will just have to watch and see then, you just never know with this country do you!

[Jai]

What's your passata recipe?

[mumofstig]

Passata is just sieved cooked tomatoes, although you can flavour it with herbs.

BBC food:-
Ingredients
at least 1kg/2¼lb fresh tomatoes (less is likely to burn)

Method
1. Wash the tomatoes well in cold water. Cut them in half and remove the white piece in the centre and the seeds; squeeze out any excess water.
2. Remove any hard areas around the tops and stalks of the tomatoes.
Put them into a large casserole dish or stockpot, uncovered, and place them on the hob over a medium heat for 1½-2 hours until soft and broken down into a mushy pulp.
2. Meanwhile, sterilise the jars and lids in a dishwasher or by washing them in very hot soapy water.
3. At the end of the cooking time, pass the pulp through a sieve to extract the skins and some seeds.
4. Using a funnel, pour the passata into the jars leaving a gap of about 2cm/1in at the top.
5. Replace the lids and place into a large preserving pan topped up with water. Make sure the water covers the tops of the jars. Boil for about 20 minutes. You will see the lids become slightly indented at the tops. This is because a vacuum has now been made between the tomatoes and the lid.
6. Remove the jars from the heat and the water and allow to cool before storing in a dark cupboard.

[Jai]

nice one

[Sharonx]

Exactly that! we use it for tomato sauce for pasta, either plain or with bolognese etc. I always drop a large outdoor grown (the flavour is more intense than indoor) Basil leaf in the bottom of the bottle before adding the tomatoes. and thats it. Use garlic and salt, tom puree and fresh basil leaves at time of cooking and let it cook out, this is the important bit. You will taste nothing like it 

[Jonajo]

Our plots never had blight for many years down here in the South-ish (Guildford) until last year which was a disaster with blight! ALL outdoor toms on people's plots were affected. Soul-destroying did not even begin to cover it! I planted about 10 plants outside...all destroyed!

Those I put in my cheapo temporary plastic greenhouse were ok but this year I have a "real" greenhouse on the plot so hopefully that will be ok too and will prevent/hinder any blight.

[Breadman]

Passata is just sieved cooked tomatoes, although you can flavour it with herbs.

BBC food:-
Ingredients
at least 1kg/2¼lb fresh tomatoes (less is likely to burn)

Method
1. Wash the tomatoes well in cold water. Cut them in half and remove the white piece in the centre and the seeds; squeeze out any excess water.
2. Remove any hard areas around the tops and stalks of the tomatoes.
Put them into a large casserole dish or stockpot, uncovered, and place them on the hob over a medium heat for 1½-2 hours until soft and broken down into a mushy pulp.
2. Meanwhile, sterilise the jars and lids in a dishwasher or by washing them in very hot soapy water.
3. At the end of the cooking time, pass the pulp through a sieve to extract the skins and some seeds.
4. Using a funnel, pour the passata into the jars leaving a gap of about 2cm/1in at the top.
5. Replace the lids and place into a large preserving pan topped up with water. Make sure the water covers the tops of the jars. Boil for about 20 minutes. You will see the lids become slightly indented at the tops. This is because a vacuum has now been made between the tomatoes and the lid.
6. Remove the jars from the heat and the water and allow to cool before storing in a dark cupboard.

You should leave the seeds in then seive them out later (why remove them if you are going to seive the whole lot anyway?).  Heston Blumenthal found that the most flavour is concentrated in the jelly-like stuff around the seeds.

[Jonajo]

I would certainly agree about not needing to take any of the seeds out at the first stage as it is not only time-consuming, you get a fair amount of unnecessary waste, it gets messy and some of the flavour will be lost etc etc. The final straining will take care of the seeds.

[Sharonx]

The idea of squeezing the seeds is more to do with getting rid of excess water more than worrying about the seeds. You then boil the toms and I use a ladle and get rid of even more water, you would be amazed how much there is! When you have a pulpy mass left I use a Passata press, which puts the tomato pulp into one bowl & the skins and seeds in another.

We have had Blight on our plots before but I haven't lost any yet. My FIL on the other hand is about 15 miles from us and he has ost everything before now. Must be gutting.

[mumofstig]

Heston Blumenthal found that the most flavour is concentrated in the jelly-like stuff around the seeds.

Unfortunately most of the acid is concentrated there as well.
I actually press mine(  which removes the seeds but the pulp passes through) after removing the skins but before the passata is cooked to get the sweetest sauce.

[JayG]

If you remove all the tomato seeds before cooking them don't put them on the compost heap unless you are really into hoeing!