Tomatoes cooked down to a deep-red concentrate — the backbone of jollof rice, West African stew, and countless red gravies. Slow cooking actually raises its most important antioxidant, lycopene.
Tomato paste is the literal foundation of jollof — the dish that anchors West African and diaspora celebration. That the very cooking method, frying the paste in oil, is what releases its prostate-protective lycopene means the ancestral technique knew something all along.
Tomato paste is one of the richest dietary sources of lycopene, the red carotenoid antioxidant — and uniquely, cooking and concentrating tomatoes raises lycopene's bioavailability rather than lowering it, so the paste delivers far more usable lycopene than a raw tomato. Lycopene is strongly linked to prostate-cancer protection, which matters acutely in a community where Black men face the highest prostate-cancer rates in the nation. It also supports heart health, skin, and eyes, and its antioxidant action helps quiet the chronic inflammation that drives so many disparities. Because lycopene is fat-soluble, frying the paste in a little oil — exactly how jollof and West African stew begin — maximizes absorption. The potassium adds a small blood-pressure benefit. The one watch-point is sodium: choose no-salt-added paste and control the salt yourself.
Fry (bloom) the paste in a little oil at the start of a stew or jollof base to deepen flavor and unlock lycopene — this is the foundational step of West African red cooking. A spoonful enriches soups, beans, and gravies. Choose no-salt-added cans; the paste is naturally low in sodium until salt is added. A little goes a long way given the concentration.
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