Freezing Tomato's?
Question:I am taking care of my in-laws garden while they are away for a month. Is there any way that I can freeze tomatoes so that they can enjoy some of their work from gardening.
Answers:
I freeze my tomato's every year. What you do is get a large pot of water and bring to boil. Wash Tomato's ,put a couple of towels on the counter top. Once water has come to a boil take a large spoon and put a tomato on it and drop in boiling water do this until you have the pot covered with tomatoes but slow enough that the water keeps on boiling..
You only leave them in for about 2 min. then bring them back out and lay on towel until they are cool enough to touch. Get a large bowl and peel the tomato's and remove any cores (green part)They will peel easy then bag them in freezer bags. Can be used for a number of things chili and spag sauce come right to my mind YUMMY made with fresh tomato's! Good luck it's very easy to do.and what a sweetheart you are for doing this for them!! There really should be more people in this world like you.
freezing tomatoes is very easy.
blanche them in boiling water and remove the skins
place on a cookie sheet in a single layer and place in the freezer.
when frozen put into freezer bags and date the bags for later use
can be used for soups,stews,chili etc.
Yes, they can be frozen but they will then need to be used in soupd, stews etc as they thaw mushy. I used to freeze them all the time. I blanched them, took off the skins and frozen them whole in ziplock freezer bags.
NEVER NEVER refridgerate tomatoes or freeze them, doing so makes them loose their taste and degrades the quality of tomatoes. Tomatoes you grow are generally better quality then store bought ones because they lack the chemicals that were put in to them as preservatives, so unless you want to ruin the quality - avoid refridgerating them.
Instead, put them near a window (where they won't be harmed, or touched) - the natural sun light coming through the window helps to slightly preserve them and allows for the taste to be locked in.
All your answers are good so far.
Tomatoes are hard to keep as fresh. In our homes we don't have the chemicals to slow down the riping process. Trying to keep them fresh is hard and can mean you will lose many. That is why, if you only like them fresh, ... give them away so others can use them.
Salsa makes good use of fresh tomatoes and helps you keep them a bit longer as a fresh tomato dish.
Depending on how you like to use them ..., cooking them for later dishes is better when you have quite a few your trying not to waste.
I made a lot of Italian dishes (spagetti, goulash) and ended up with my all time favorite method for the best save and enjoyment as: .. make them into a stewed tomato, package, freeze that. For some reason the seasonings in the stewed recipe brings out the special flavor only home grown can give you. This keeps longer than just blanched tomatoes and with a richer flavor. By accident I found that cherry tomatoes are fantastic as a stewed tomato.
Hope this helps.
If you don't have a recipe, go to a book store and browse. Takes notes and then make a pot. It is very easy.
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