Thursday, June 24, 2010

Tomatos!

I just Couldn't wait until my tomato's are in! We ran out of our supply of diced tomato's a couple months ago and the store bought ones just don't do it. When our produce co-op had 20 pounds of tomato's for 7 bucks I grabbed 2! Lee and I processed the 40 pounds of tomato's in about 2 hours. Many people have asked how we do it so....

(sorry this is so BLURRY!)
First I put an x on the bottom of each tomato.
We then drop them in boiling water for about a minute until they start looking like this. The peel then just falls off! I have read other people that then put them in ice water to stop the cooking. I myself hate an extra step. We use the tomato's in soups and sauces so I don't see the big deal if they are partially cooked.

We then dice them up and put them in ziptop bags in the freezer. We LOVE the fresh taste this produces. We also have put them in canning jars and boiled the jars for 15 minutes. They are great that way too!
****My friend Lisa's Mom suggested just throwing the whole tomato in the freezer. When you are ready to go let it defrost a moment then squeeze the pulp out. This works too, just a little more messy and bigger chunks then we prefer.


3 comments:

  1. Agreed. I only use the whole frozen tomatoes like my Mom does for spaghetti sauces where I can more easily break it up...or if I'm just going to puree the tomato anyway. Otherwise, I definitely prefer doing the diced tomatoes in the freezer. I'm still bummed I missed out on the big boxes from the co-op. I got peaches this time so I'm getting ready to make some of your delicious low-sugar peach jam!!!

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  2. HI! Just found you through the Hive....didn't know that I could freeze fresh tomatoes....that's great! I've added you to my reader and look forward to catching up~

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  3. What an AWESOME idea! :) Thanks!

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