Whether you’re growing your own, buying them at a farmers market or finding the ones “locally grown” at your favorite grocery store, tomatoes are now at their ripest, which makes them just right for a big batch of fresh tomato sauce.
Making a fresh tomato sauce that truly captures everything we love in a tomato can be a difficult task. It often turns out watery and lacking in flavor.
It’s no wonder. Tomatoes contain a lot of water which can, in a sauce, dilute the intensity. Getting rid of that water, though, comes with a price.
You could cut up the tomatoes and strain out some of the liquid, but that liquid, as loose as it is, has a lovely tomatoey flavor that would be a shame to waste. Reducing all that extra liquid in the cooking process can take away the freshness that comes from not cooking or barely cooking the fresh tomatoes.