Why do we use tomato purée when adding tomato as a flavouring agent to a dish, rather than in powdered form, like we do for paprika, onion, garlic etc. ?
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From a botanical standpoint, tomatoes are a fruit, while spices are usually powdered roots or seeds, and herbs are dried leaves. Leaves, seeds, and roots usually have a lower water content than fruits, so they condense into a dry flavorful powder more easily.
To powder a tomato, or other fruit for that matter, you have to freeze dry or otherwise process it to remove the water, which in turn denatures or removes some of the the volatile organic compounds that give the fruit it’s distinctive flavor. That’s why dried fruit tastes a little different than fresh fruit. The drying process in spices and herbs is gentler because there is less water removed and the original flavorful compounds (oils, sulfur compounds, etc) are preserved more, as their natural state in the plant is in a low-water content environment.
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