Of Tomatoes and Tomato Sauce

Does anyone grow paste tomatoes for making tomato sauce? I used to. I’ve grown Roma, San Marzano, and Amish Paste. I especially liked the flavor of the Amish Paste. But I found that paste tomatoes, no matter their variety, seem more susceptible to disease and other problems. So much so, that I finally gave up and stopped planting them.

The appeal of paste tomatoes is that they are fleshier and less juicy. That means it takes less cooking time to make sauce. Of course, any tomato can be used, the juicy ones just take longer to thicken. Also, because I freeze them to make sauce later, they tend to be watery when they defrost. I’ve learned to drain this tomato water and can it by itself, as an additive for soups and such. Kind of like the soup stock from vegetable scraps. Waste not, want not!