Discussion Board

I am taking care of both my little deck garden and my daughter's large garden while she is on vacation. I have a LOT of tomatoes. I will make salsa out of some of them, but don't want to can them. Does anyone freeze their tomatoes. Do you peel or blanch them first? I have never frozen tomatoes before. Also does anyone have recipes using tomatoes?

Two ways to freeze tomatoes:
1. Core them, put them in a baggie, and freeze them whole. When defrosted, use like canned whole tomatoes.
2. Roast or blanch them, remove the core and skin, and freeze them. I prefer to puree or crush them first. When defrosted, use like canned stewed tomatoes.

You can also cook up tomato sauces and freeze them. Examples include enchilada sauce, spaghetti sauce, and barbecue sauce. All freeze very well. Something like salsa with fresh ingredients (like the onion) don't freeze as well.

I love this recipe, too. Hot & Spicy Tomato Chutney

When I still had a garden, I had twenty plants. In August and September I froze a lot of them. I diced them and put them in ziplock quart freezer bags in two cup measures. These I used for soups. I also have a couple of Indian dishes that feature tomatoes, which I would make up to a point and freeze, writing the directions for finishing the recipes in the little stripe on the bag.

If you eat pasta and have lots of paste tomatoes, they make a wonderful just barely cooked fresh summer sauce. I grew a golden variety that I really miss for that dish. Blanch and peel about ten of them (she said wondering if she is remembering correctly) and chop them up. Cook them down just a bit while you are boiling the pasta and steaming whatever compatible veggies you also got out of the garden. Toss everything together with lots of fresh basil and enjoy.

While you're enjoying fresh salsas, think about the combination of tomatoes and peaches with basil. It sounded weird to me when someone suggested it, but it's really good.

Thanks. The chutney recipe sounds good.

I don't eat pasta, but I have had peach chutney before. I will try that idea. Thanks!

I make a fresh salad of equal amounts of chopped into little squares tomatoes, corn, black beans, and white onion. a pinch of cumin and a few turns of the pepper mill. cilantro if you like and a splash or so of rice vinegar.

This is great on top of potatoe, or rice or noodles too.


when you freeze your tomatoes I suggest you peel them.. the skin frozen just doesnt' cook up nicely.

don't forget gazpacho too.

Sadly my tomatoes are about done. I may have a few more, but not much. The plants get so tired looking this time of year.

i like to preserve garden tomato bounty by blending fresh tomatoes in the blender, then letting the puree cook down in a crock pot (keeping the lid off). Once it's thickened and paste-like, I fill ice cube trays with the thickened paste, and freeze. Then I can transfer the frozen tomato paste cubes into easy-to-access freezer bags, to add to soups, chillis, sauces and stews all winter long. Tasty and relatively easy (compared to canning anyway)...

Faith, why are your tomatoes slowing down? Mine sure aren't yet even though it is a little cooler at night now.
Actually it doesn't seem like we had a summer. We only had about 2 weeks of really hot weather in the 90's. It never did hit 100 in our area and it usually does. So weird.

Love the recipes--and the idea of filling ice cube trays with tomato paste--that just sounds so handy to have around!!! I'm going to have to try that!

I have lots of tomatoes and lots of peppers can we say fresh hot salsa

Another variant on the paste idea is to shove as much fresh basil as you can in the blender with roasted tomatoes and then freeze that in ice cube trays. Since we McDougallers can't make and freeze traditional pesto, this is what I did to preserve the basil harvest. The cubes can then be used to flavor soups, rice dishes, and pasta sauce.

Excellent idea Chile--I love sweet basil and have a plant growing in my sunroom. I usually have it fresh in winter too but I do like the idea of freezing it with roasted tomatoes....sounds SOooo good!!

You can stick tomatoes in the freezer in a plastic bag and let freeze then thaw. The skins will come of easily then they can be cooked up and frozen or canned or just used for cooked dishes. Beats getting the boiling water all over and making a mess.

This time of year my plants always look really spent. They have worked so hard and put out a lot. Parts of my tomato plants get dying off. I do still have some blooms and baby tomatoes but usually this time of year when the tomatoes turn they look diseased. Maybe it's how hard our summers are. I don't know.

Anyway, we'ved cooled down and it's been raining for four days, going on five tomorrow. So maybe it'll give them some life. I was smart and fertilized on Sunday since I knew the rain was coming.