Processing Those Bountiful Tomatoes.

Tomatoes, tomatoes everywhere; what to do with all these tomatoes?  Nothing compares to the taste of a fresh picked tomato off the vein, but there’s only so many you can eat before they spoil.  Sure, sharing with friends, family and neighbors is always the first option, until winter time hits and you want that hot bowl of steaming tomato soup.  Easy answer is buy a can of soup, doctor it up and hope it comes out the way you like it.  Another option might seem more difficult to some, however, if you make it yourself, from scratch, you will reap rewards of tasty goodness.  Canned (and I mean those aluminum cans, not the Ball brand jars) cannot compare to fresh tomatoes; there is the lack of preservatives for one; then the overall knowledge that you know exactly what is inside with those tomatoes without having to read any labels.   Besides soup, there is pasta sauce to be made; and it better not be coming out of store bought glass/plastic jar either.  Oh, you just don't want to get me started on that; basically that is, in football terms, a "Hail Mary Pass" due to desperation or downright laziness.  Making homemade sauce is NOT that hard!

This article is geared towards explaining how to process fresh tomatoes for your own present or future usage.  The first method is "fire roasting" where the tomatoes are placed in the oven, or on a grill, and roasted until the skin blackens and blisters.  After peeling the tomatoes, the flesh itself takes on a richer, deeper flavor making it perfect for meat sauces, salsas and other dishes that look for an outstanding tomato flavor.   For the oven, core the tomatoes and place them open side down on an aluminum foil lined tray (jelly roll pan is best).  Preheat the oven to 450 F, place the tray on the center rack and the tomatoes are ready when the skin is blackened and blistered.  This method takes longer than the grill where you would place the whole (uncored) tomatoes on a very hot grill; watching and turning them as they blacken and blister.  Why not remove the core first?  As the tomato is blackening, it is, in essence, also cooking and you don't want the insides to come dripping out into your grill.

 

 

 

The second method is the water bath where the tomatoes are simmered in a large pot of heated water until the skin wrinkles, then is easily removed; it basically slides off the tomato flesh. After coring the tomatoes, turn them upside down and score an "X" on the bottom.  I own a set of very large stock pots, so am able to fit 30 tomatoes each into two of the pots, and there was no overcrowding; so yes, when I say large, I mean it. First I filled each halfway up with cold water; placed 30 tomatoes into each and then brought the water up until there was about two inches of free space from the rim.  Turning on the stove top to high heat; after about 10 minutes, my wire skimmer moved the bottom tomatoes up, the top ones downward, so they would all cook evenly.  It took another ten minutes until the skin was wrinkled enough to come off easily; the water was not boiling, but there were small bubbles all around the sides of the pots. Removing the tomatoes with the skimmer, I immersed them in a large bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The skin will easily peel off with your fingers; just pinch a corner from the scored section and pull; but if you feel more comfortable using a small knife, then go ahead. The tomatoes will feel cool to the touch from being immersed in the cold water, but don't be fooled; squeeze too hard and your fingertips will get burned from the hot insides.

  

 

 

 

The first 30 tomatoes fit perfectly inside a six quart crockpot; setting it on low, the tomatoes cooked down for three hours.  Adding one very large red onion (diced), 4 tablespoons of Italian herbal mix, 3 tablespoons of minced garlic; the sauce continued to cook for another five hours.  Turning off the heat and letting the sauce get to room temperature, I used my immersion blender to smooth it out. The taste? Absolutely incredible!!! The freshness of the tomatoes and onions is overwhelming; nothing you'll ever get out of an aluminum can or glass/plastic jar.

 

 

The second batch of 30 tomatoes were rough chopped, divided up into 4 cup storage containers, and placed in my upright freezer for future use. Unfortunately, my home is too small (no basement) to devote an area for food canning and storage. Oh how I miss the basement from my old home back in Pennsylvania, but if anyone is interested in buying my current home, so I can move into another larger one, I won't turn down any reasonable offers.   Yes, I said reasonable; so no silliness allowed!

So before you tear your hair out wondering what to do with all those fresh tomatoes, easily home process them for your own use; you won't regret it and your taste buds will love you for it.

 

Mary Cokenour

Why Fresh Tomatoes, Instead of Jarred Sauce?

Whenever Bountiful Baskets has cases of round or Roma tomatoes available, I make sure to jump onto the opportunity and purchase a case. They normally run about 20 to 25 pounds per case, and round out to one dollar per pound of tomatoes; usually cheaper than the local market, unless there's a sale.  Then I go through the process of giving them a hot water bath, peeling off the skins, and either making fresh sauce, or simply freezing the peeled tomatoes for a later use.

Today's bounty (22 pounds of tomatoes) gave me two (6-quart) crock pots full of sauce making ingredients, plus one freezer container with five pounds of peeled tomatoes for later use.  That means that 8.5 pounds went into each crock pot; not bad!  So, why do folks ask me why I go to all this trouble?  Well I'm going to tell you...

In today's crock pots, I added to the freshly peeled tomatoes: a 1/2 cup of crushed, dried Italian herbal mix, 1/4 cup of minced garlic, 1 cup of diced onions, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese...and that's it!  No sugar or baking soda to tame the bitterness of the tomatoes; the grated Parmesan cheese does that.  Think about it, why add processed sugar or a chemical additive when you can use a freshly grated cheese that does the work instead?  What about salt?  Hello, the grated Parmesan has that too; you don't need more salt!  By the way, using the immersion hand blender, I've found that I do not even need to add tomato paste; I can control the thickness myself.

Next question, but why toss the skin, doesn't that contain fiber and nutrients?  Yes it does, but unless you're buying guaranteed organic tomatoes; that skin has to go and here's why.  Many cases of fruits and vegetables come from foreign countries; the tomatoes I purchased came from Mexico, distributed via an Arizona state company.  How many times have we read about contaminated foods coming from Mexico?  Using the hot water bath destroys any bacteria sitting on that skin.

Next, here is an informational quote from the box itself, "May have been treated with O-Phenylphenol or Sorbic Acid to inhibit mold and coated with Paraffin waxes and oil, Mineral oil and/or Carnauba was."  You can wash them with cold or warm water, but those items listed will not simply wash off; enjoy the chemical and wax snacks along with your tomatoes.  No thank you!  If you need that skin, go organic.

Why is jarred sauce, purchased at the market, so bad?  Read the label; if you need a degree in science to be able to pronounce and understand all the chemicals listed, then why ask why?  Even products sold in "health food stores" need to have the labels looked at carefully.  Even though they state "all natural ingredients", the jars are sitting on shelves in warm environments; how are the ingredients kept from spoiling?

All I'm saying is, at least give it a try.  Yes it's work; yes it takes time and energy; but once you taste the results, you will so be thanking me for the push in this direction.  Click Here for my instructions on processing your own fresh tomatoes. 

Have fun!

Mary Cokenour

Tomato Processing Yields Fresh Results

When I saw that Bountiful Baskets was offering the purchase of 20 pound boxes of fresh tomatoes; I jumped on that. My own garden yielded very few tomatoes itself, so if I wanted to have processed tomatoes ready to make homemade pasta sauce or tomato soup, I needed to buy them. Using canned tomatoes is perfectly fine, but fresh tomatoes, well the taste? Canned cannot compare to fresh tomatoes; there is the lack of preservatives for one, and then the overall knowledge that you know exactly what went into your sauce without having to read any labels. Jarred sauce? Oh, you just don't want to get me started on that; basically that is, in football terms, a "hail mary pass" due to desperation or downright laziness.  Making homemade sauce is NOT that hard.

Anyway, this post is geared towards explaining how to process fresh tomatoes for your own present or future usage.  The first method is "fire roasting" where the tomatoes are placed in the oven, or on a grill, and roasted until the skin blackens and blisters.  After peeling the tomatoes, the flesh itself takes on a richer, deeper flavor making it perfect for meat sauces, salsas and other dishes that look for an outstanding tomato flavor.   For the oven, core the tomatoes and place them open side down on an aluminum foil lined tray (jelly roll pan is best).  Preheat the oven to 450 F, place the tray on the center rack and the tomatoes are ready when the skin is blackened and blistered.  This method takes longer than the grill where you would place the whole (uncored) tomatoes on a very hot grill; watching and turning them as they blacken and blister.  Why not remove the core first?  As the tomato is blackening, it is, in essence, also cooking and you don't want the insides to come dripping out into your grill.

The second method is the water bath where the tomatoes are simmered in a large pot of heated water until the skin wrinkles, and then is easily removed; it basically slides off the tomato flesh. After coring the tomatoes, turn them upside down and score an "X" on the bottom.

I own a set of very large stock pots, so I was able to fit 30 tomatoes each into two of the pots, and there was no overcrowding; so yes, when I say large, I mean it. First I filled each halfway up with cold water; placed 30 tomatoes into each and then brought the water up to until there was about two inches of free space from the rim. I turned on the stove top to high heat; after about 10 minutes I took my wire skimmer and moved the bottom tomatoes up, the top ones downward, so they would all cook evenly. It took another ten minutes until the skin was wrinkled enough to come off easily; the water was not boiling, but there were small bubbles all around the sides of the pots. Removing the tomatoes with the skimmer, I immersed them in a large bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process.

The skin will easily peel off with your fingers; just pinch a corner from the scored section and pull; but if you feel more comfortable using a small knife, then go ahead. The tomatoes will feel cool to the touch from being immersed in the cold water, but don't be fooled; squeeze too hard and your fingertips will get burned from the hot insides.

The first 30 tomatoes fit perfectly inside my six quart crockpot; setting it on low I let the tomatoes cook down for three hours. I then added a can (12 ounces) of tomato paste, one very large red onion (diced), 4 tablespoons of Italian herbal mix, 3 tablespoons of minced garlic; the sauce continued to cook for another five hours.

Turning off the heat and letting the sauce get to room temperature, I used my immersion blender to smooth it out. The taste? Absolutely incredible!!! The freshness of the tomatoes and onions is overwhelming; nothing you'll ever get out of a jar.




The second batch of tomatoes I rough chopped and divided up into 4 cup containers which I placed in my upright freezer for future use. Unfortunately, my home is too small (no basement) to devote an area for food canning and storage. Oh how I miss the basement from my old home back in Pennsylvania, but if anyone is interested in buying my current home, so I can move into another larger one, I won't turn down any reasonable offers.

So, buy up those fresh tomatoes when you can and easily home process them for your own use; you won't regret it and your taste buds will love you for it.

Mary Cokenour