SUNY Cortland produces housemade local tomato sauce

CORTLAND, N.Y.—Auxiliary Services Corporation (ASC) has agreed to purchase one acre of farmable land in Preble, N.Y., from Main Street Farms in Homer, N.Y., which should produce roughly 5,000 pounds of Roma tomatoes. A limited supply of sauce — approximately 500 gallons — will be available in Neubig Hall, SUNY Cortland’s residential dining facility, to kick off the 2014-15 academic year.

“This sauce is going to be a pure New York state product, with almost everything coming from right here in Cortland County,” said William McNamara, the director of dining services for ASC. “If we’re going to do it, we want to do it the right way and we want to support the local economy.”

Everything from the tomatoes to the onions to the herbs and spices used in the sauce will be grown locally, McNamara said.