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Growing Tomatoes

Best tomato for making tomato soup?

11 years ago

Always wanted to make homemade tomato soup, and this may be the year. Suggestions?

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Comments (10)

digdirt2
11 years ago
Probably the same as for making sauce. Any of the Heinz varieties or any one of the plum or oxheart types. Margherita is good, so is Giant Oxheart.

Then again, just like sauce since you have to make it into sauce first anyway, you can make it out of any variety or better yet a mix of varieties for more flavor.

Search 'best sauce' here for several discussions about that.

Dave
tracydr
11 years ago
I would use anything that I have a lot of and mix/match. Since when I cook soup, it cooks down a bit and condenses flavors, I can tolerate less flavorful tomatoes. I've been making some quite nice soups from yucky Roma's from the store this winter.
I would say, anything that you get a lot of, Marglobe, celebrity,one of the Heinz varieties.
On the other hand, I can hardly wait to try this recipe I have for coconut, mustard seed soup with Cherokee purples this summer!
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Why exactly do you believe you cannot can tomato soup? It is one of the regular things I can, allowing me to grab a jar to have for lunch at work, or open to have with some grilled cheese sandwiches. It is canned just like any other vegetable soup, in a pressure canner, the recipe I use calls for 25 minutes (quarts) at 10 lbs pressure. I actually prepare the soup almost entirely in my crock pot, first putting in the tomatoes, onions, and any other vegetables I want in the soup. When everything is soft enough, I put all of it through a sieve, removing the skins, seeds, etc., then I return it to the crock pot turned to high. This is when I add seasonings, herbs, salt, or whatever else the soup needs, depending on what I want a particular batch to be like. When the soup is bubbling, and I have jars and lids washed and prepared, I fill them and put them in my smaller Mirro canner, which holds just 4 quarts. When tomatoes are really coming like crazy, I'll fill the crock pot in the morning before work, cook on low during the day, then sieve and can in the evening. I like doing the small batches, because one day I may season with basil, the next with dill, the next with savory, another day with lemony herbs, etc. I like making the tomato soup, because it gives me something to do with tomatoes that are not always perfectly formed - it is hard to peel and process damaged tomatoes when trying to can whole tomatoes. For soup, I just cut out stems and damaged parts. When serving, I like a creamy soup, so I'll add a gollop of sour cream or yogurt, or a swig of half-and-half. Really good stuff. If you just stick with a vegetable soup canning recipe, it will give you the criteria for safely canning. This can't be done in a boiling water bath like when canning just the high acid tomatoes.
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I'd love a fabulous tomato soup recipe.
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Renée! Nice to "see" you. Here's our favorite, It's fabulous and worth the effort: Creamy Tomato Soup 2 tablespoons butter 1 large sweet onion; diced 1 large carrot; diced 1 large celery stalk; diced 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary 1 teaspoon dried oregano 3 cloves garlic; minced 1/2 cup dry white wine 2 tablespoons tomato paste 1 (28 ounce) can quality diced tomatoes*** 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth 1 tablespoon chopped parsley Salt and pepper to taste 1 cup heavy cream; whipped (optional) Basil pesto for garnish (Optional) 1 tablespoon sugar Heat butter in a soup pot over low heat and stir in onion, carrot and celery along with a sprinkle of salt and pepper; cover to sweat vegetables until very tender; about 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove cover and stir in rosemary, oregano and garlic until fragrant then add wine simmering until most of the liquid is evaporated. Stir in tomato paste then add diced tomatoes along with their juices and chicken broth; cover and simmer for 30 minutes to blend flavors. Remove pot from the heat and cool slightly for about 15 minutes. Puree soup 2 cups at a time in a blender until smooth. Press soup through a strainer and discard the residue. Stir in parsley; add salt and pepper to taste. Return soup to pot and heat as desired. Serve topped with a dollop of whipped heavy cream and if desired freshly made basil pesto. *I add 1 tablespoon sugar after pureeing to cut acidity. *Tomato Basil Soup; add a hand full of fresh chopped basil in place of parsley. **Also nice topped with parmesan cheese. ***I like Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted diced tomatoes in this soup. Marilyn
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clones2
11 years ago
I strongly suggest you try Martino's Roma tomato...

I grew about 20 of them last year and thye produced extremely large quantities of great quality looking tomatoes. It was my best performing tomato ever.

Experimented with salsas, pasta sauce, and straight tomato sauce. The flavor would be perfect for tomato soup.
natal
11 years ago
All tomatoes work. I like to roast them first. Tyler Florence has a great recipe.

Here is a link that might be useful: Roasted Tomato Soup
mrdoitall
11 years ago
Campbell's 146
Campbell's 179
tennandy
11 years ago
anything that's meaty and tasty,
even Campbell's sells heirloom tomato soup now(it's yellow-orange)
she just brought some home today...

tasty!
Trishcuit
11 years ago
Well I know that a big honkin' paste tomato like Amish Paste will save a bit of time and effort over piddly little Romas. Plus being heirlooms and generally very nice tasty tomatoes in general...
heirloomgardengirl
11 years ago
I use opalka and roma - they are both a meatier tomato, so your soup wont be watery. Sometimes mix in others - including cherry tomatoes.
tomatotomata
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks, folks, great suggestions, and that recipe looks great. Now I can't wait for the 'maters to grow!
fresh_tendril
11 years ago
I made a very delicious tomato vegetable soup this past weekend with some Amish Paste that I canned last summer. I also make a lot of soups and sauces with Opalka.
I've also grown Super Marzano one year. The flavor was good, but not better than Opalka or Amish.
I would heartily recommend those three, But to my palate, Opalka is my #1, with Amish in second and Marzano in third

This year I'm not even bothering with other tomatoes other than paste types. The flavor, firm flesh and easy processing make them and excellent all around tomato. Fresh eating and roasting expecially are good.

Here is a link that might be useful: Check out my tumblr for a post about the soup

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