In summer, in Calabria, people worked the tomatoes. It was a ritual that involved the whole family: the crates of tomatoes arriving in the morning, the pots boiling, the sound of the machine separating pulp from skin. The bottles were lined up on the floor and then put away for winter.
That tradition has not disappeared. On Braalla you'll find Calabrian tomato passata and sauce made with the ancient recipe: ripe tomatoes harvested in summer, processed by hand in small batches, without preservatives or colourings. The flavour that comes out of the bottle is that of a real tomato, not a rectified concentrate.
A passata that tastes of summer. Of pots on the fire. Of bottles lined up in the cellar.
In this selection you'll find classic passata in different sizes, cherry tomato sauce, yellow tomato sauce. And the Checiap, the Calabrian ketchup, sweet or spicy, for those who want to bring that to the table too.
Braalla's 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 at just the right point.
Washing and selection
Every tomato is washed and selected by hand. The ones that don't pass are set aside. No shortcuts.
Cooking and straining
Cooked slowly, then strained to separate the pulp from the skin and seeds. The temperature is just right to keep the flavour.
Bottling
The passata goes straight into the bottle, sealed and pasteurized. No preservatives: the heat does the work the sun in the cellar used to do.
What you won't find in these bottles
You can tell an artisan passata by what's missing, just as much as by what's in it.
No preservatives
Preservation comes from pasteurization, not chemical additives. The bottles keep naturally, just like the ones made at home.
No rectified concentrate
Industrial passata often adds tomato concentrate to correct the flavor. In here there's only tomato, nothing that comes from other processes.
The Calabrian Checiap
Checiap: from "catsup," the word that came home from Italian America
In Calabria, ketchup is called Checiap, from "catsup," the word Calabrian emigrants to America used, and brought back home with them when they returned.
Braalla's Checiap is made with local tomatoes, no preservatives, in sweet and spicy versions. Use it anywhere you'd use ketchup, on sandwiches, fried food, grilled meat, but the flavor is that of real Calabrian tomato, not a sweetened industrial product.