Putting Up Tomatoes
by Loredana Di Bella
by Loredana Di Bella
In many towns of Calabria, the healthy albeit laborious task of preparing and preserving tomatoes each summer to ensure the precious
supply of sauce for the winter still exists.
This time in the life of Calabrian women is both a cross to bear and delight, for those who must take part in it. Usually at least four people are
required to work at this assembly line. Which is a beautiful thing, because it becomes a moment of togetherness, and in between a splash of
water and a crushed tomato, the people doing the work tell stories! ...of the aunt’s daughter Lucia who married because of a pregnancy, of
Paschal because he picks on his wife, of the new car that the cousins bought and who are now in debt up to their ears… In short, these
women aren’t discussing philosophy or politics, but while filling bottles with tomato sauce around a table, are creating an atmosphere of
intimacy. This not-to-be-missed occasion gives to bragging of successes and of course whispers of the local gossip! The social aspect of the
job that requires even more people is truly delicious. The cross bearing of this Calabrian tradition stems from the difficulty of the work.
They say that for years, as the end of every summer approaches, when those blessed tomatoes reach their full maturity, women dread to
hear their mothers say.. “Tomorrow we put up the tomatoes!” It is to be avoided, even if it means inventing an illness to escape to the torture…
Until a few years ago, it was believed that the women could not touch the tomato during their menstrual cycle, or the preserving process would
go badly.
Now this taboo is long past. Not even menstruation saves someone from “testing the tomatoes”! When the great day arrives, the tomatoes
are canned, or else suffer a winter without all of those sauces and gravies. And who could survive such torture? Therefore early that morning,
more or less voluntarily, the work is begun.
Usually, on the day prior to the great event, the person in charge does all of the preparation for the job. Utensils that will be used are
organized and the glass bottles that will be filled with tomato sauce are sterilized in boiling water, then placed top down into wooden cassettes,
because they must be perfectly dry the next day.
I can assure you that washing hundreds of recycled beer and mineral water bottles saves the environment, but is surely not a lot of fun! The
next day at seven or a little before, the work begins! The work is organized: ” you fill the plastic bathtubs and wash the tomatoes; you crush
them and you put them in the pot; you ignite the fire and be sure no caterpillars are burned”. With “the operation fire” going, it is like being in
the circle of Dante’s hell, with much smoke and flames! The fire is still fed with firewood collected in the mountains, even though a little relief
might come from using gas. Less natural and romantic, but by far more practical.
When you see the tomatoes boil, moving up and down in the mixture, between bubbles of air and vapor, they are ready to be drained and
milled.
Draining them is an art, but also dangerous, because they are very hot. How do you think 50 kilograms of smoking tomatoes are drained? I’ll
tell you how it is done: a great empty bathtub is used, over which a clean fresh tablecloth is stretched across, and with the aid of a steel
laundry ladle they pour the boiling tomatoes.
You let them drain for little while, then take the table cloth by the corners and lift the cloth and the tomatoes, so they drain any water from the
boiling process. They are then poured in another bathtub, and are now ready for milling. The wood spoon that is used to stir the tomatoes
when they cook on the fire, is a fine example of Calabrian handicraft. At a half meter high with the concave end flatter than usual and full of
holes which facilitates the stirring movement, not even Polifemo (Cyclops) could have eaten with this sort of tool!
After this operation, comes the heart of the event: the transformation of the crushed tomatoes still hot, into red sauce, with the consistency of
creamed soup. Now there are electric machines to do the work. Great mixers are attached to the table, into which the tomatoes are poured a
little at a time. The juice pours from the machine while the peels exit the back of the machine, having been pressed to the maximum.
Afterwards, armed with funnels and plastic bottles, the sauce is poured into the bottles, and the bottle is capped with steel stoppers using a
small machine. Now they can be put in the pot for heating and sterilization.
Usually, the boiling pot is a re-adaptation of an old oil drum with a capacity of two hundred liters. The top is cut off with the help of a friend
who is an attendant at the local gas station. The bottles of tomato are placed into the pot in rows with layers of rags or straw between them to
avoid breaking during boiling and bumping of the bottles.
After about an hour of boiling the fire is extinguished. The bottles will be removed from the boil pot the next day and stored for the winter, in a
dark dry earthy place. Finally! the hard part is over! Now it is time to celebrate! No more thoughts of the difficult work and nervousness, the
day is now a memory with only the warmth of the fire, the smell of the firewood, the taste of the spaghetti flavored with the tomato sauce as
soon as made, of the scent of the basil in the salad the red from all those tomatoes that splashed onto clothes.
Miracles made by the people of Calabria, who turn something negative into positive, ugly into beautiful, pain into joy, who have learned their
craft with stoic patience during centuries of adversities. Not taught in school by a master, but having an strong, untiring, generous and above
all stubborn spirit like a Calabrian mule…!
Ciao!
©copyright 2008 Property of MJSturino,LLC
Any reproduction with-out the owners express written consent is strictly prohibited
supply of sauce for the winter still exists.
This time in the life of Calabrian women is both a cross to bear and delight, for those who must take part in it. Usually at least four people are
required to work at this assembly line. Which is a beautiful thing, because it becomes a moment of togetherness, and in between a splash of
water and a crushed tomato, the people doing the work tell stories! ...of the aunt’s daughter Lucia who married because of a pregnancy, of
Paschal because he picks on his wife, of the new car that the cousins bought and who are now in debt up to their ears… In short, these
women aren’t discussing philosophy or politics, but while filling bottles with tomato sauce around a table, are creating an atmosphere of
intimacy. This not-to-be-missed occasion gives to bragging of successes and of course whispers of the local gossip! The social aspect of the
job that requires even more people is truly delicious. The cross bearing of this Calabrian tradition stems from the difficulty of the work.
They say that for years, as the end of every summer approaches, when those blessed tomatoes reach their full maturity, women dread to
hear their mothers say.. “Tomorrow we put up the tomatoes!” It is to be avoided, even if it means inventing an illness to escape to the torture…
Until a few years ago, it was believed that the women could not touch the tomato during their menstrual cycle, or the preserving process would
go badly.
Now this taboo is long past. Not even menstruation saves someone from “testing the tomatoes”! When the great day arrives, the tomatoes
are canned, or else suffer a winter without all of those sauces and gravies. And who could survive such torture? Therefore early that morning,
more or less voluntarily, the work is begun.
Usually, on the day prior to the great event, the person in charge does all of the preparation for the job. Utensils that will be used are
organized and the glass bottles that will be filled with tomato sauce are sterilized in boiling water, then placed top down into wooden cassettes,
because they must be perfectly dry the next day.
I can assure you that washing hundreds of recycled beer and mineral water bottles saves the environment, but is surely not a lot of fun! The
next day at seven or a little before, the work begins! The work is organized: ” you fill the plastic bathtubs and wash the tomatoes; you crush
them and you put them in the pot; you ignite the fire and be sure no caterpillars are burned”. With “the operation fire” going, it is like being in
the circle of Dante’s hell, with much smoke and flames! The fire is still fed with firewood collected in the mountains, even though a little relief
might come from using gas. Less natural and romantic, but by far more practical.
When you see the tomatoes boil, moving up and down in the mixture, between bubbles of air and vapor, they are ready to be drained and
milled.
Draining them is an art, but also dangerous, because they are very hot. How do you think 50 kilograms of smoking tomatoes are drained? I’ll
tell you how it is done: a great empty bathtub is used, over which a clean fresh tablecloth is stretched across, and with the aid of a steel
laundry ladle they pour the boiling tomatoes.
You let them drain for little while, then take the table cloth by the corners and lift the cloth and the tomatoes, so they drain any water from the
boiling process. They are then poured in another bathtub, and are now ready for milling. The wood spoon that is used to stir the tomatoes
when they cook on the fire, is a fine example of Calabrian handicraft. At a half meter high with the concave end flatter than usual and full of
holes which facilitates the stirring movement, not even Polifemo (Cyclops) could have eaten with this sort of tool!
After this operation, comes the heart of the event: the transformation of the crushed tomatoes still hot, into red sauce, with the consistency of
creamed soup. Now there are electric machines to do the work. Great mixers are attached to the table, into which the tomatoes are poured a
little at a time. The juice pours from the machine while the peels exit the back of the machine, having been pressed to the maximum.
Afterwards, armed with funnels and plastic bottles, the sauce is poured into the bottles, and the bottle is capped with steel stoppers using a
small machine. Now they can be put in the pot for heating and sterilization.
Usually, the boiling pot is a re-adaptation of an old oil drum with a capacity of two hundred liters. The top is cut off with the help of a friend
who is an attendant at the local gas station. The bottles of tomato are placed into the pot in rows with layers of rags or straw between them to
avoid breaking during boiling and bumping of the bottles.
After about an hour of boiling the fire is extinguished. The bottles will be removed from the boil pot the next day and stored for the winter, in a
dark dry earthy place. Finally! the hard part is over! Now it is time to celebrate! No more thoughts of the difficult work and nervousness, the
day is now a memory with only the warmth of the fire, the smell of the firewood, the taste of the spaghetti flavored with the tomato sauce as
soon as made, of the scent of the basil in the salad the red from all those tomatoes that splashed onto clothes.
Miracles made by the people of Calabria, who turn something negative into positive, ugly into beautiful, pain into joy, who have learned their
craft with stoic patience during centuries of adversities. Not taught in school by a master, but having an strong, untiring, generous and above
all stubborn spirit like a Calabrian mule…!
Ciao!
©copyright 2008 Property of MJSturino,LLC
Any reproduction with-out the owners express written consent is strictly prohibited
