Tomato jelly; the tasty part of tomatoes. News to me.

Harold McGee has a fascinating report on his blog this concerning tomatoes and tomato jelly. I've got to look into this; a perfect time of year to do so:

A few years ago, Heston Blumenthal at The Fat Duck near London tasted the seedy jelly of a tomato and was struck by what seemed to him a surprisingly intense umami taste, that savory, mouth-filling sensation created by MSG (monosodium glutamate, the sodium salt of glutamic acid) and several compounds called nucleotides. Heston maintains both formal and informal collaborations with several food scientists, and he asked Donald Mottram of the University of Reading whether there is more glutamic acid and nucleotides in the jelly than in the flesh. No one had asked the question before. So Professor Mottram's group did the analysis. The report has just come out, with Chef Blumenthal as a co-author.

Heston was right. The Reading group analyzed 14 different tomato varieties grown in a half dozen countries, and found that all of them had significantly higher glutamate contents in the jelly than in the flesh. The average ratio was nearly 4 to 1, and in some varieties was more than 6 to 1. The same general trend was found for several nucleotides, and for other free amino acids, which may contribute to the fullness of flavor. Though the salt content and pH weren't significantly different between jelly and flesh, the tasting panels consistently rated the jelly higher in perceived saltiness and acidity.

So: tomato jelly is packed with flavor. Taste it and use it! Several years ago at El Bulli in Spain, well before the Reading analysis, Ferran Adrià served clusters of tomato seeds and their jelly intact, as the central elements of a dish, to be admired for their glistening translucence and savored on their own. Why not?

http://news.curiouscook.com/

Thomas Keller had a series of columns in the LA Times six years ago titled Professional Help, and one of them was all about the essence of tomatoes. He carried it further than just the use of the tomato jelly in that he pureed entire tomatoes, including the jelly. Then he put the whole mass into cheesecloth and let it drain overnight to extract the tomato water, which contained the tomato jelly. I've tried it a few times, and the result is a highly flavored almost clear liquid that gives a wonderful tomato flavor to many dishes when used instead of plain water. One of the recipes he had in the column was halibut poached in the tomato water, which was then reduced and beaten with butter to make a wonderful sauce. The dish was finished with chopped tomatoes and basil. Delicious!!

I make several different tomato based pasta sauces, and in one of them I reserve the tomato jelly after I've squeezed it out of the tomatoes. I then run it through a food mill and put the liquid back in with the tomatoes for the sauce. It always seems more highly flavored than a regular sauce, and now I know why. I've also noticed that sauces made with the Costoluto Genovese tomato are more highly flavored and I plant more of them than others to make my sauces. I also tried the Costoluto Fiorentino, but it's not quite as flavorful. All the plum varieties normally touted for sauce use - San Marzano, Roma, etc - just don't compare.

And here all these years I've just been eating the entire tomato, jelly, seeds and all. I had no idea it "wasn't done."

Thanks, Bob. I had forgotten about tomato water. My mother used to make quarts of the stuff using the same technique with cheese cloth. Brightened our winter meals and saved on the canning. Great stuff.

Here's a pretty picture of the finished product.

And here all these years I've just been eating the entire tomato, jelly, seeds and all. I had no idea it "wasn't done."

Skins too I bet

Thomas Keller had a series of columns in the LA Times six years ago titled Professional Help, and one of them was all about the essence of tomatoes. He carried it further than just the use of the tomato jelly in that he pureed entire tomatoes, including the jelly. Then he put the whole mass into cheesecloth and let it drain overnight to extract the tomato water, which contained the tomato jelly. I've tried it a few times, and the result is a highly flavored almost clear liquid that gives a wonderful tomato flavor to many dishes when used instead of plain water. One of the recipes he had in the column was halibut poached in the tomato water, which was then reduced and beaten with butter to make a wonderful sauce. The dish was finished with chopped tomatoes and basil. Delicious!!

I make several different tomato based pasta sauces, and in one of them I reserve the tomato jelly after I've squeezed it out of the tomatoes. I then run it through a food mill and put the liquid back in with the tomatoes for the sauce. It always seems more highly flavored than a regular sauce, and now I know why. I've also noticed that sauces made with the Costoluto Genovese tomato are more highly flavored and I plant more of them than others to make my sauces. I also tried the Costoluto Fiorentino, but it's not quite as flavorful. All the plum varieties normally touted for sauce use - San Marzano, Roma, etc - just don't compare.

One of the leading catering chefs in New Zealand, Ruth Pretty, made a Chilled Tomato and Basil Consomme once for a Pinot Noir wine and food matching event. The consomme was just amazing. When I spoke to her about it I think she said she was inspired by Thomas Keller and the recipe may even have been his.
It had ripe vine tomatoes, garlic, basil stem, red onion and Maldon sea salt all blended together then strained through a muslin or cheese cloth overnight in the fridge to collect in a non aluminium bowl. It was a love it or hate it dish, according to the tasters at the event. I loved it. It matched well to two herbaceous pinot noirs but clashed with the more robust fruity pinot noirs. I would love to try it with sauvignon blanc.

I've never understood why some chefs scoop out the seeds and juice of a tomato and discard it. The only part of the tomato I am likely to discard is the peel - and that is only when I'm cooking with it.

I've never understood why some chefs scoop out the seeds and juice of a tomato and discard it.

Hmm, that's easy. Sometimes you just don't want the moisture from the additional liquid and sometimes you just can't use the seeds for aesthetic and texture reasons.

[Jenise]

I've never understood why some chefs scoop out the seeds and juice of a tomato and discard it.

Hmm, that's easy. Sometimes you just don't want the moisture from the additional liquid and sometimes you just can't use the seeds for aesthetic and texture reasons.

Additionally, the seeds are widely reputed to be bitter so their removal is believed to result in a smoother flavor. Personally, as a Tomato Addict, I have to confess to almost never being able to stand throwing any part of the tomato away. When I make the sauce for pasta alla amatriciana with my end-of-season tomatoes (a splendid, finale I look forward to every year though I dread reaching 'the end'), I not only let the skins stay in, I find they improve the texture of the dish.

For me, it depends on the type of tomato and the use. Romas for tomato sauce? Get the goop and seeds out. Caprese with heirloom tomatoes? Don't do anything beyond rinsing, trimming stems, and slicing. And so on.