Costco has secret bar code label technology that scan all your goods while walking out.
Does Costco still carry this?
I remember they stopped for a while… they replaced it with some organic tomato paste that costs much more.
It’s still listed on their website. I didn’t notice it today, but I didn’t look for it either.
https://www.costco.com.tw/Warehouse-Only/Food-Beverages/Dry-Grocery/SW-TOMATO-PUREE/p/192114
The thing about S&W is that they make six or seven different kinds of tomato products, ranging from puree, diced, paste, sauce, whole tomatoes, crushed, and maybe one or two more. All the labels look the same to me, and I have to read really carefully to know exactly what’s in the can.
That said, the last time I toured that aisle in Hsinchu (8 days ago), Costco had two or three of these large S&W tomato items. I can’t say with any confidence that one of them was Tomato Puree, though.
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Is it puree or passata?
I’m 90% certain today I saw stewed tomatoes (which I almost never buy) and diced tomatoes (which I thought about buying, but decided not to because I’ve still got a bunch). But yes, that labelling issue happens across the board, especially when my Chinese reading is such crap! I’ve bought and even opened the wrong type of tomatoes a few times.
Do you mean puree or paste, to use North American English terms? I’m curious about that too. They’re usually different ingredients, although you can make puree from paste. An aside: both freeze moderately well too - I’ve got a ziplock bag full of 2 tbsp cubes of tomato paste, and a few 1/2 cup containers of frozen tomato puree. Once in a while I’ll cook something that uses a whole can of tomato puree; something that uses a whole can of tomato paste is rare.
I couldn’t find any tomato puree or paste at all. There was a discounter that were selling 300g cans for 19nt but they did not have any. Then I went to carrefour hoping they had some, and they did not. So I ended up buying some Prego but it’s not enough and I need to add more. Prego tastes better but it’s a lot more expensive.
Spaghetti is not a popular dish in Taiwan for sure.
This was also out at the Zhonghe branch last week. I usually buy a pack or two as well. 
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You’re just looking to make pasta sauce? Lots of recipes don’t need purée or paste for that; you can do it with diced or whole tomatoes.
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that’s a very expensive way to do it. Maybe if I’m content to boiling 1000nt worth of fresh tomatoes to make a pot of pasta…
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Sorry, I meant canned diced or whole tomatoes. I almost never buy fresh tomatoes. (Even in North America the season when they taste good is short; here I don’t know if that season even exists.)
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I couldn’t really find it at Carrefour either.
Besides canned tomatoes uses stuff that’s overripe, which is perfect for making puree out of. You’d never buy it at the market because it would be a sticky pile of tomatoes that would not even survive handling.
Fruits are picked unripe and artificially ripened when it’s ready to sell.
I was going to make a margarita but it tastes too good to mix.
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Tomatoes, for some dark reason, are very expensive in Taiwan.
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" Passata is uncooked tomato puree. Tomato paste is the thickest, and used to thicken sauces or flavor dishes. Canned tomatoes are used for texture while puree and paste are consistently smooth. The tomatoes in tomato puree are generally heated and skinned and must be deacidified before it releases its final flavour."
Some canned tomato products contain salt, sugar or starch. Depending on the brand.
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How on earth do you come to that number? Whenever I cook something tomato sauce based I use maybe 6-8 tomatoes, which is less than 100 TWD (from Wellcome, Carrefour, Costco, or anywhere else I’ve bought tomatoes), for several large servings. Are you cooking with 80 tomatoes?
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Three, four tomatoes are mostly 60-70 NT$, sometimes 90 NT$.
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today I bought for 45 nt /jin.
That’s about 80 NT$/kg which for Taiwan is expensive, it’s the same as in northern Europe.