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Amouda, Syria, July 19, 2018. A senior woman makes homemade tomato paste in Amouda, al-Hasakah, Northeastern Syria. Women prefer homemade tomato paste on canned one because it is cheaper, “cleaner and has a special taste.” Umm Muhammad talks about making the tomato paste, “we put the ripe tomatoes in a colander. In the past, we used to squeeze tomato paste by hand; now, there are special machines for that, people prefer to dry the tomato, I prefer to boil it.”
Umm Muhammad pointed out that she pays 70 Syrian Pounds per one kilogram of tomato, and she now pays 2,000 SYP for the squeezing machine.