Tomato price shock hits Indian restaurants, cheaper puree sales boom

Many Indian restaurants are cutting back on tomatoes in their popular dishes and consumer companies are ramping up production of cheaper purees that are flying off the shelves, after prices surged more than 500%. Used widely in Indian cooking, prices of tomatoes have hit record highs in recent weeks as monsoon rains disrupted supplies at a time when seasonal production is typically low, forcing the government to organize mobile vans for subsidised sales.