Tomato paste, concentrate and puree
Tomato paste, concentrate, and puree offer versatile solutions for enhancing dishes with rich tomato flavor. Tomato paste, thick and concentrated, adds depth to sauces, soups, and stews. Concentrate, a condensed form of tomatoes, intensifies flavor in smaller quantities. Puree, smooth and vibrant, serves as a base for sauces, dips, and spreads. These tomato products elevate culinary creations with their bold taste and texture.
Tomato paste, tomato concentrate and tomato puree are all tomato products made from tomatoes that have been cooked and reduced to varying degrees. The distinction between them is essentially one of processing route and degree of concentration, and that distinction governs the equipment, evaporation duty and finishing steps a processing line has to be designed around.
Tomato paste is a concentrated tomato product made by cooking tomatoes for several hours and then straining them to remove the seeds and skin. Tomato concentrate is usually made from tomatoes that have been peeled and seeded prior to cooking, so the removal step sits upstream of the cook rather than after it. Tomato puree is also made from cooked and strained tomatoes, but it is less concentrated than tomato paste or tomato concentrate.
The global market for tomato paste, concentrate and puree is expected to continue to grow in the coming years, driven by changing consumer preferences, increasing demand from the food industry, and expanding markets in developing countries. Major players in this market include ConAgra Brands Inc., The Kraft Heinz Company, Del Monte Pacific Limited, Olam International, La Costeña and Dabur India Ltd.