The future of a cherished Italian family tradition is under threat.
At this time of year it's not uncommon to see a production line of families producing the sauce, known as passata, that nourishes everyone from Nonna to the grandkids all the way through until next March.
Washing, cutting, boiling, pulping, even placing basil in the bottles – each job is equally as important to the finished product.
But this year, the tomato day family tradition has become a costly exercise, leaving some with no choice but to consider a store-bought alternative.
"We're just going to have to let it go for this year," Italian-born Moonee Ponds resident Carmela Baronessa said.
At Ms Baronessa's home, she said the rising cost of saucing tomatoes had been weighed up and ultimately a decision was made to forego the event this year.
The family uses it across the dishes any good Italian loves when coming over to visit Nonna.
"We use it pasta, meatballs, lasagne and we use it on top of pizza," she said.
But this year the family faces an unprecedented challenge.
"We need sauce, so we'll go for the ready-made passata that you buy in the supermarket," she said.
Arriving in Australia in the 1960s, she said the tradition of making passata has been handed down over many generations.
"We don't want to lose this tradition because our kids want to do it.
"Hopefully next year we're going to have a better run … fingers crossed."
Unusual weather disrupts growing season
The most common tomatoes used to produce sauce are varieties of the Roma.
Families usually purchase these from wholesalers who appear from late February in suburban streets.
A hand-painted and sometimes misspelt cardboard sign could be an indication of high quality.
Sellers have relationships with farmers, commonly in parts of Northern Victoria.
Victorian Farmers Federation representative Nathan Free said many Roma varieties are usually grown in places like Echuca in northern Victoria and along the Murray.
Due to heavy rainfall and flooding at the start of the growing season almost one in every five tomatoes grown have been lost.
"The excessive rain we had during the spring and summer part of the year and the thunderstorms early this year have really affected some farmers really badly," Mr Free said.
He said industry-wide labour shortages were also impacting farmer's yields this season.
"No-one was expecting this, no-one was predicting it and no-one was putting it in their budget."
Some community members have reported seeing prices ranging from $30-40 a box of tomatoes. An increase from the reported sale price of $20-25 a box last year.
Pietro Demaio, author of Preserving the Italian Way, said more frequent extreme weather events could force a shift in culture.
"Climate change is changing everything about us from climate to weather to culture."
Dr Demaio said this year he planted around 220 tomato plants at his Balnarring farm on the Mornington Peninsula and has only just picked the first fruit.
"Last weekend I picked 10 kilograms from over 200 plants and normally I'd be picking 2 kilograms per plant."
He said eventually the community was grappling with a dilemma about what it valued.
"We have to value food, we can't keep chasing the dollar-a-tin tomato sauce and expect it to be quality," Dr Demaio said.
"The tomatoes that I grow will probably cost me twice as those you buy from under a bridge in the suburbs … But I know that when I give a bottle to my son exactly what goes in that bottle."
A new generation taking on the challenge
In Preston, Paul Burgess has adopted the tradition to share with his family and friends.
"It all started as a result of my neighbour over the side fence," Mr Burgess said.
"He's an old Italian fellow and they would hand us bottles of sauce over the fence. We'd use those and think they taste great."
Flash forward a few years later and he said they are making anywhere between 200-300 bottles each year.
"The whole process is a bit of fun but it's a lot of hard work … I start at eight or nine in the morning and I'm still going at around 10pm."
This year he drove directly to Shepparton to pick up his passata tomatoes, which were more expensive than last year.
"I'm pretty sure we paid $20 a box last year or $25. This year it's $30 so it's certainly gone up in price.
"The farmer himself was a bit disappointed in the crop this year. He said it's been a really tough season for them all."
The Burgess family have adopted a "sugo pronto" method for their passata recipe. The simple translation is "ready-made sauce".
But speak to any of the families that traditionally have a sauce day, and each will have their own not-so-secret recipe.
Is going back to our roots a solution?
With prices for passata tomatoes increasing, a passata making expert is encouraging people to plant their own tomato seeds in November in the hope of avoiding supply issues around sauce making time.
Jaclyn Crupi, the author of Garden Like A Nonno and Nonna Knows Best, said she has been growing her own tomatoes but does not get to do a traditional sauce day.
"When you grow your own tomatoes, they don't all ripen at once … so you do need to do it more often than if you just want to go a buy a big batch of ready grown tomatoes," Ms Crupi said.
She said growing tomato varieties for sauce was even easier than salad tomatoes because they usually weren't varieties that needed to be staked.
"They just sort of grow where you plant them almost into little shrubs."
She said that the tradition of making sauce can be boiled down to the fact that it tastes better.
"We can now readily buy sugo and passata and all the tomato jars we need but I think we make it ourselves to continue traditions …and because it really does taste better."
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Shifts in weather are causing Italian families to rethink an inter-generational tradition - ABC News
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