Tomato Paste Dry Matter and Brix, Explained

Dry matter is the share of tomato paste that is not water: a paste with 25 % dry matter contains about 250 g of tomato solids in every kilogram. In the trade it is most often measured as soluble solids, read with a refractometer and expressed in degrees Brix. Once you know the figure, dilution is simple arithmetic: water to add = weight of paste × (paste percentage ÷ target percentage − 1).

What dry matter and Brix actually measure

Tomatoes are mostly water. What remains when the water is removed, the sugars, organic acids, minerals, pigments such as lycopene and the fibre of the cell walls, is the dry matter, also called total solids. Making paste means evaporating water until that share rises from a few per cent in a fresh tomato to a quarter of the product or more.

Two measurements are in use, and they do not give identical results:

• Total solids are found by drying: a weighed sample is dried and the residue weighed. The figure includes everything that is not water, dissolved or not.
• Soluble solids are read with a refractometer and expressed in degrees Brix. The instrument measures how strongly the liquid phase bends light, which depends on the dissolved substances, chiefly sugars and acids. Fibre and other insoluble particles do not register.

For the same paste, total solids therefore come out somewhat higher than soluble solids. Neither number is wrong; they answer slightly different questions. When you compare offers, compare like with like, and make sure the specification states which method was used.

International trade usually refers to natural tomato soluble solids: the Brix reading corrected for any added salt, because salt bends light too and would otherwise inflate the figure. The Codex Alimentarius standard for processed tomato concentrates uses this measure and calls a concentrate “tomato paste” from 24 % upwards; below that, it is purée.

Why the percentage matters more than the price per kilo

Paste is bought by weight but used for its solids. Two pastes of different concentration are, in effect, two different amounts of tomato sold in the same pail. The table shows what one kilogram contains and how much tomato base it yields at about 10 % dry matter, a convenient reference point for a medium-bodied sauce base.

The useful price is therefore the price per kilogram of solids: divide the price per kilogram of paste by the dry-matter fraction. Suppose a 20 % paste is offered at 85 % of the price of a 25 % paste. It looks cheaper, but per kilogram of tomato solids it costs 0.85 ÷ 0.20 = 4.25 units against 1 ÷ 0.25 = 4.00 units for the stronger paste. The cheaper pail is the more expensive tomato.

Concentration is not the only difference between pastes. Colour, viscosity, flavour and the presence of salt or other ingredients vary too, and a higher figure is not automatically better for every dish. But it is the number that makes offers comparable, and the one your recipe costing depends on.

The arithmetic of dilution

Water carries no solids, so the tomato solids in the pot stay the same however much water you add. That gives one formula:

Final weight = paste weight × paste dry matter ÷ target dry matter

Water to add = final weight − paste weight

For a 25 % paste, step by step:

1. Decide the target strength of the base, for example 10 %.
2. Divide the paste percentage by the target: 25 ÷ 10 = 2.5.
3. Multiply by the weight of paste: 1 kg × 2.5 = 2.5 kg of finished base.
4. Subtract the paste: 2.5 − 1 = 1.5 kg of water.

The table gives approximate figures for 1 kg of 25 % paste. The descriptions of texture are a rough guide only; the right strength for a dish is the one your recipe card records.

Weigh rather than measure by volume. Paste is denser than water and traps air when spooned, so “a cup” or “two spoons” differs from cook to cook. Grams at a stated dry matter travel between kitchens and between suppliers without changing the dish; the same principle runs through our guide to choosing tomato paste for food service.

From paste to sauce: what the numbers do not tell you

Dilution restores the concentration, not the fresh tomato. Paste has already been cooked during evaporation, and water alone gives a flat base that tastes of raw paste. A few kitchen habits close the gap:

• Fry the paste first. A few minutes in oil over moderate heat, stirring, before any liquid goes in, deepens the colour and rounds off the raw edge.
• Replace part of the water with stock or vegetable cooking liquid when the dish allows; the arithmetic stays the same.
• Season after diluting. Salt and sugar balance the acidity, but add them once the base is at strength, or you risk over-seasoning.
• Measure before seasoning. A refractometer also counts dissolved salt and sugar, so a seasoned sauce reads higher than its tomato content.
• Allow for reduction. A sauce that simmers uncovered loses water and its concentration climbs again; if a long cook follows, dilute a little further.

Two MADESA pastes, one concentration

MADESA makes tomato paste in two formats at its Chyhyryn site, both to the Ukrainian standard DSTU 5081:2008 and both at 25 % dry matter. Both are made from Turkish tomato raw material, as the label states.

• The sterilised tomato paste in a 500 g glass jar is premium grade, and its ingredient list is a single word: tomatoes. It is made without added preservatives and keeps for three years unopened at 0 °C to +25 °C and a relative humidity of no more than 75 %. Diluted to about 10 %, one jar gives roughly 1.25 kg of sauce base.
• The pasteurised tomato paste in a 5 kg pail with handle is the food service and industrial pack. It is pasteurised rather than sterilised, and its ingredients are tomatoes and a preservative, ascorbic acid, as declared on the label; it is therefore not one of our preservative-free products. It keeps for two years unopened under the same storage conditions. At about 10 %, one pail gives roughly 12.5 kg of sauce base.

Because the concentration is the same, a recipe card written for one paste works for the other; the choice between them is about consumption and storage, not about the dish. Both sit in our tomato products range, next to dried tomatoes in oil.

Measuring it yourself

A handheld refractometer is inexpensive and useful for a kitchen or a small sauce line that works from paste.

1. For paste, dilute a weighed sample with a known weight of water, for example 10 g of paste in 40 g of water, then multiply the reading by the dilution factor, here 5.
2. Read at about 20 °C, or use an instrument with automatic temperature compensation.
3. Remember the effect of salt and sugar described above.
4. Record readings per batch, together with the batch code on the jar or pail.

A refractometer reading is a check, not a laboratory result. If two batches behave differently in the same recipe, compare the supplier’s test reports for both.

For B2B buyers: what to put in the specification

• Dry matter as a percentage, with the method: total solids by drying or soluble solids by refractometer, and whether added salt is corrected for.
• Standard and grade: for our paste, DSTU 5081:2008, with premium grade for the 500 g jar.
• Ingredients: tomatoes only, or with salt, acid or additives, and how each additive is classified.
• Heat treatment: sterilised or pasteurised, which drives shelf life and handling after opening.
• Raw material origin, as stated on the label.
• Pack format, shelf life and storage conditions.

Specification sheets for both MADESA pastes, with the dry-matter figure and the standard, are available on request. If you would like them, or want to discuss volumes, request a quote.