This is an outstanding recipe. This sauce can be used as tomato sauce on anything, just as it is. Initially it takes a little getting used to the smell, but the taste is excellent. The smell is a bit like parmesan, - but it vanishes with cooking. it's great way to be adding enzymes and fermented food to our meals on a daily basis.  We have also used ours as tomato puree or paste in all cooked dishes and it is great because you totally lose the fermented smell. I highly recommend this recipe for preserving tomatoes for the long term, using no power or high tech systems or even seals. Old wine bottles, etc., are just fine. If making paste then you will want to store it in a wide mouth small jar e.g. an old jam jar so that it is easy to get the paste out again.

These sauce and paste recipes are very easy to make.  I added the fermented chilli because I was also making a fermented chilli sauce and I love chilli so I added some…not essential..

• tomatoes, any amount but the more you do at a time the less relative work you a recreating for yourself.    
• olive oil to fill bottles (a good reason to put sauce in narrow necked bottles and fill to neck, so that you only need a small amount of olive oil, and also it's easy to pour the sauce).
• sun-dried sea salt (1 Tbsp per litre of sieved tomato sauce).
• 1/2 cup whey (optional). The whey will just determine the type of fermentation microbes; it is fine without, but whey will make it a lactic ferment.
• wine bottles or other bottles (do not need tight lids, so you could use a cloth tied over the top if desired).
• plastic or wooden bucket (not metal!).
• ground black pepper to taste.
• a little dried or fermented chilli or other herbs.

Place tomatoes into fermenting bucket, mash and squish with hands until a reasonable consistency is achieved leaving 10cm of free room at the top of bucket, add whey if you choose to use it . Place a cloth tightly over the top to keep out all bugs. Stir twice daily, squishing well.

When the fermentation has stopped (no more bubbling or frothing - usually about a week, but sometimes more depending on temperature at the time), put the resulting tomato through a juicer , or seive, or processor of some sort to remove all skins and seeds. Add salt and other dried spices herbs if you wish (if you wish to add fresh herbs, they must be added at the beginning so they go through the fermentation process). Pour into bottles and cover with 2cm of olive oil in the top of each bottle neck. Cover loosely and store in a cool place. The only thing that can go wrong is if you bottle the sauce before it has completely finished the fermentation process, in which case it will continue fermenting in the bottles and the olive oil will spill over and make a mess. If this happens I suggest you pour it all out again, leave to ferment longer,  then bottle again and add oil.

This will keep for over a year. Ours is 1 year old and showing no signs of going 'off' or being different in anyway...

I was initially very nervous about how this would taste but I have to say it tastes very good. The complex flavours of the tomato come out with the fermentation process and there is absolutely no need for sugar or vinegar, it is all there.

To thicken your sauce up to a solid paste consistency, simply strain the sauce through a breathable cloth until desired thickness is achieved. I use a fine wine straining bag from the home brew shop (I use these bags for lots of things, including straining the honey from the wax). Whatever you use must have fine holes or it will all fall through and you will be left with nothing. To make tomato puree just keep an eye on the process and remove and bottle at the desired thickness. I hang my dripping bag from the clothes line (cover with a towel to stop fruitflies landing on it) and keep it in the wind to encourage it to thicken/drain fast. Add the salt after hanging, and desired consistency is achieved. Check salt levels you may wish to add more as the tomato is more far more concentrated.

A Word of warning: If you are going to add this tomato sauce to your cooking, remember that it has already been salted. Bought tomato puree is never salted and I found myself adding salt before tasting and making thngs way too salty to begin with; I've got it sussed now.

This recipe was taken from Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning by the Gardeners and Farmers of Terre Vivant! with much extra information from our own experiences.