Taking Care of the Tomatoes
I don’t can but I do make use of my freezer for all the stuff that comes from my garden. I spent a chunk of time this week processing roma tomatoes for the freezer, peeling and seeding them, then chopping them into chunks to be used this winter. You can also freeze tomatoes whole, and I do that too – usually when I don’t have time to process them in fall; when you defrost the tomatoes, the peel comes right off.
Something that comes up quite often with other gardeners when we talk about freezing produce is that many people don’t know the easy way to peel and seed a tomato. I remember that learning how to do it made the difference for me between a hard chore and an easy one, so I thought I’d share the trick, in case anyone doesn’t know how to do it.
The easy way to peel a tomato is to cut an “X” into the bottom of the tomato and drop it into boiling water for a few seconds. You’ll see the skin start to split right up. That’s the point you take it out of the water, so you don’t start cooking it. Let it cool and the peel comes right off.
To seed a tomato, cut it in half across the width and just pull out the seeds with your fingers. If you’ve got a whole bunch to process, set up a big bowl to catch all the peels and seeds, then dump the whole thing into your compost.
Tomatoes freeze great. After I peel and seed them, I chop them coarsely and put them into containers to freeze. We have a FoodSaver, so after they are solid, I seal them in a bag. Come winter, I just pull out a bag and dump it into a pot for soup or sauce, or whatever I’m cooking.
Speaking of which, here’s my favorite, very easy, tomato soup recipe, which tastes like summer in the middle of winter. All you need are tomatoes, butter, shallots or onions, salt and pepper. I’d also say basil is a necessity, but that’s a matter of personal preference. I’m giving measurements here, but they aren’t really necessary. Basically, you just dump everything in a soup pot and let it cook for a really long time over low heat. Voila! Soup!
Melt 3T butter in a soup pot over low heat and add 8-12 shallots (2 onions work fine too). Cook until translucent. If you haven’t already done so, peel, seed, and cut about 5# of tomatoes into big pieces. Add the tomatoes to the pot with 1 teas. salt and 1/2 cup water. Cover and cook for 3-4 hours. You won’t need to do anything except give the pot a stir every 1/2 hour or so. Taste for salt and season with pepper. You can do what you want to it then. I like to puree it smooth with a little fat free half and half, and add some basil.
I’ll be turning my basil into a year’s worth of pesto for the freezer very soon. When I do that, I’ll post my favorite recipe for pesto, which freezes great.
September 25, 2012 - 7:03 AM
When freezing tomatoes, sauce or gazpacho, peeling is optional. Busy and health conscious family memebers have passed along tips such as popping whole paste tomatoes in freezer bags and just skimming skins off the surface as the soup or sauce cooks; partially cooking tomatoes with onions, peppers, etc. for sauce and then putting everything in the blender (skins add nutrients and help thicken the sauce); gazpacho made in the blender is super fast and freezes well. As long as the sauce is chunky (zucchini, carrot, celery are other tasty add-ins), the bits of peel are fine. I do still peel tomatoes for canning and catsup.
I meant to respond earlier to the suggestion of a seed/plant exchange. When and where? I’d enjoy this, too, even though D Carol has already given me a garden full of plants!
I find that getting the skins off takes longer in boiling water the more unripe the tomatoes are some I had to put back in for about 3 minutes,,,but I canned those.
Ready or not, here they come.
http://news.yahoo.com/stink-bug-invasion-promises-foul-fall-204016553.html
Karen- post the pesto recipe – I need to try my hand at making some to freeze.
wdbrand- I have spent all afternoon using the shop vac to suck up the stink bugs just on the side of the house. A little bit of soapy water in the vac and voila! But the smell has been nauseating. We captured at least a total of 2000+ and there is that many more at least. They love the color yellow – the color of our house. This past spring during the night I was awakened by something crawling IN my ear canal – yep a stink bug! I couldn’t get it out so had to shake my head like I had water in my ear. Of course it sprayed my head with that smell, so I was taking a shower and washing my hair in the middle of the night. Another night, I rolled over onto my side and put my hand between the pillow and the side of my face. Yep, as I rolled my face over onto to my hand, I squished a stink bug on my hand. Yes, they do leave a stain that does not wash out. The stain is like that from the pollen of a stargazer lily. I despise – no detest would be better – stink bugs! rrrrgggghhhh!
DC, I feel your pain. On a different matter, my rosemary that started as 4 small sprigs has become a bush and is totally unruly. I intend to cut it back. So, if anybody wants some fresh or dryed, I’ll tie up some bunches and meet them. Only thing I use it for is a recipe for a rub mixture I make for meats after dryed and ground.
Question for the board. I planted a few sunflowers this year that were called things like giant mammoth and others. However, they are small seed. What is the name of a sunflower that grows the big seed like the black oil striped seed you buy for birds? I keep up with my feathered buddies in bad weather so I’ll be off the the store before snow flys.
Chesnuts are starting to drop, so if you like them, now is the time to start looking, They can be stored in the fridge in a paper bag for a short time. Pecans in our area are also getting ready to drop. You need to be fast on your feet to beat the squirells and crows toem however.Papershell hickory nuts should be falling now. The only hickory nut worth messing with, but I don’t recollect the last time I found a tree. Besides, eating hickory nuts has long been known as the best way to starve yourself to death.
wdbrand – dry some rosemary and you could share at our spring fling. I have my rosemary in a pot that I bring in for the winter. I use mine in spaghetti sauce and then when I roast potatoes, I use a little olive oil and then some fresh chopped rosemary. I also slice sweet potatoes and mix them with a couple tablespoons of honey and olive oil and then toss on chopped fresh rosemary and roast.
Not sure about the sunflowers – I would have thought Mammoth would have the big seeds.