In news:rec.food.cooking, Michael Horowitz > posted on
Sun, 14 Mar 2010 08:32:59 -0400 the following:

> Certainly convenient; I've taken to opening a can of Contadina, using
> what I need, then using a 1T measuring spoon, spoon 1T lumps on a
> flat surface, freeze, then into a ziploc. Not as pretty, but has
> worked for me for several years - Mike

I had a weird experience with tomato paste, and I think it was Contadina
brand. I decided to use some to make a pizza sauce. Having worked at
Pizza Hut before, I decided to add water in the same proportions they
would add in their pizza sauce from the old days (before they halved the
amount of water they added). I emptied the tomato paste into a bowl, then
filled the can twice with water to add to the paste. I whisked it around
and it seemed to come out just right. But I let it sit a while in the
fridge, then came back to it, and it was like it had turned to tomato
paste jello, though opaque. (I had not heated it, but put it into the
fridge to keep it cold)

I could literally slice into it with a knife and part it like the Red Sea.
I added more water and the same thing happened again. I do NOT like my
tomato paste to behave like this, and I was annoyed by it. When I mixed
up sauce for Pizza Hut, using their tomato paste, it never gelled like
that, but remained scoopable, pourable, or whatever.

Has anyone else ever had this happen with tomato paste? As far as I can
remember, that's the only can of tomato paste that has ever done that, but
I have not used tomato paste again since that time. I like using tomato
paste in homemade spaghetti sauce because tends to keep the sauce from
separating into tomato and tomato broth once it's put over the pasta.

Damaeus