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. ?

Question

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. ?

In: 335

Answer 1

Tomato doesn’t dry the same as herbs and onions/garlic does. Most of the flavor we want from tomatoes is in the juice, and while it can be dried, the flavor changes a lot. It’s also a lot less efficient, since once you dry a tomato out, there’s not a lot left (unlike herbs and garlic/onions)