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  • Claudia Romeo: We're in Corato, Puglia, Italy,

  • and today I'm going to meet with Isabella and her family,

  • who are going to show me how they make their tomato sauce,

  • in their garden.

  • Finding a family that makes traditional tomato sauce

  • from their own tomatoes in their own house

  • has become pretty rare, sadly, here in Italy.

  • This is such a fascinating tradition,

  • and, most of all, it is the original way to make it.

  • So, they've got about 20 kilos of tomatoes ready for us.

  • Let's go and turn them into sauce.

  • Making tomato sauce from scratch is a laborious process

  • that takes several hours,

  • from handpicking each tomato

  • to adding basil leaves into jars one by one.

  • It has a far greater meaning than just preserving

  • the harvest of the summer.

  • For Isabella, her mother, Dina, and her daughter, Federica,

  • it is a bonding experience

  • that brings together three generations.

  • Claudia: Isabella and her family planted 80 plants

  • of tomatoes this year.

  • From them, they have harvested about 200 kilos of tomatoes.

  • After seeding in the spring,

  • tomato plants need two or three months to mature,

  • depending on weather conditions.

  • This is their third harvest of the summer.

  • Claudia: All together, the tomatoes are then boiled

  • over a fire in this big pot.

  • Claudia: Once drained, the tomatoes

  • are placed in this strainer,

  • which will separate the pulp from the skin and the seeds.

  • [machine whirring]

  • It looks like Federica's task got another upgrade,

  • and she's now in charge of pushing the tomatoes

  • in the machine, while Nonna Dina supervises.

  • Claudia: The family uses any kind of container they can find

  • in their pantry, from old honey jars to Coke bottles.

  • Before being filled with the tomato sauce,

  • they are filled with the best possible basil leaves

  • Federica can pick from the garden.

  • This is to add flavor to the sauce.

  • Claudia: The freshly prepared sauce

  • is then scooped into the jars.

  • Claudia: To make sure they can be preserved for a long time,

  • the jars are given a final boil for 15 minutes.

  • This will also sterilize them.

Claudia Romeo: We're in Corato, Puglia, Italy,

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