In summer, in Calabria, it was tomato time. It was a ritual that brought the whole family together: crates of tomatoes arriving in the morning, pots bubbling on the stove, the whirr of the little machine that separated the pulp from the skins. The bottles were lined up on the floor, then put away for the winter.
That tradition hasn't disappeared. On Braalla you'll find Calabrian tomato passata and sauce made to the old recipe: ripe tomatoes picked in summer, worked by hand in small batches, with no preservatives or colorings. What comes out of the bottle tastes of real tomatoes, not processed concentrate.
A passata that tastes of summer. Of pots on the stove. Of bottles lined up in the cellar.
In this selection you'll find our classic passata in several sizes, cherry tomato sauce and yellow tomato sauce. And Checiap, the Calabrian ketchup, sweet or spicy, for anyone who wants that on the table too.
Braalla passatas and sauces
An old Calabrian recipe. Ripe tomatoes. Nothing else.
How Calabrian passata is made
The same method as always. Nothing has changed.
Harvest
The tomatoes are picked ripe, in summer, once the Calabrian sun has done its work. Only the ones that are just right.
Washing and sorting
Every tomato is washed and sorted by hand. The ones that don't make the cut are set aside. There are no shortcuts.
Cooking and straining
Slowly cooked, then passed through a mill to separate the pulp from the skins and seeds. The temperature is kept just right to hold on to the flavor.
Bottling
The passata goes straight into bottles, sealed and pasteurized. No preservatives: heat does the job the sun once did in the cellar.
What you won't find in these bottles
An artisanal passata is also recognizable by what isn't in it.
No preservatives
Pasteurization keeps it fresh, not chemical additives. The bottles keep naturally, just like the ones families made at home.
No processed concentrate
Industrial passata often has tomato concentrate added to adjust the flavor. Inside these bottles there's only tomato, nothing from any other process.
No faceless tomatoes
The tomatoes come from selected Calabrian farms. Not from large industrial suppliers where you can't trace where the product comes from.
Calabrian Checiap
Checiap "catsup", the word that came home from Calabrian America
In Calabria, ketchup is called Checiap, from "catsup", the name Calabrian emigrants used in America before coming home and bringing the word back with them.
Braalla's Checiap is made with local tomatoes and no preservatives, in a sweet and a spicy version. Use it wherever you'd use ketchup, on sandwiches, fried food, grilled meat, but the flavor is that of real Calabrian tomatoes, not a sweetened industrial product.
An unusual product with a story inside. One to bring to the table when you've got a story to tell.