Drowning in tomatoes, let’s talk preservation! What’s your fav method of keeping your harvest?
Pictured is one variety from 2 plants.
I’d also love to hear people’s thoughts on topping your tomatoes. All of my plants have outgrow their 6-7 ft Florida weave but it’s only early August. Should I top?
by choooodle
38 Comments
dgrenster
What kind of tomatoes are these?
TheDreadP
Those look like maybe good sauce tomatoes?
With all my cherry tomatoes i love making confit. Tomatoes in oil with some fresh basil, cook on super low heat, dont want the oil to simmer. Use whatever cheap vegetable oil for it because youre infusing the oil in the process. When youre done you’ve got delicious tomatoes AND some tomato basil flavored oil to use for whatever else you might want
Technical-Team8470
Put in sink, pour boiling water on them. Wait a few minutes peel skins off and put in freezer bags. Save for sauce during off season.
Honestly? I quarter them, roast in some olive oil & salt & pepper, and then freeze. They take much less space this way and you can use them in anything.
droughtproofgarden
Ooh. Canestrinos.
I grew these for the first time this year as well and I’m amazed at their size and production.
I prefer Roma types if I have to peel and core for something like a salsa, but these are great to run through my tomato strainer. They’re tremendously pulpy which os perfect for sauce making.
Because I tend to grow a lot of tomatoes and I’m lazy, I run most through my strainer to make puree based sauces. I can some, freeze most.
insectoid-slithis
I like to skin them then quarter them and jar them in tomato juice. There is a recipe in the ball book that is really good.
Plantguysteve
Maybe I’m lazy but I just quarter them up, throw em in a food processor (seeds and skins included) to make a base sauce that I can can or freeze for use in the winter.
SeedEnvy
100% canning it might seem like a faff but once you nail it, it’s super simple and well worth it. I make enough passata from my tomato season to last me through till the next tomato season and no expense for additional freezers! I already have 4 so there no way I’d be getting another with my husband around 🤣
Because our freezer space is limited to garden vegetables that don’t lend themselves to canning, (e.g., leafy greens, brassicas, peas, and green beans), I only water bath can our tomato preserves: salsas, tomato sauce, and chutney. My tomato sauce is made with roasted paste tomatoes. I cut the ripe paste tomatoes in half longitudinally, and place them cut side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet in an oven set at 450ºF for 30 to 40 mins. If I’m not yet ready to can a full batch (about 7-8 pints), I put the roasted tomatoes in the freezer until I have enough for a batch. Roasting really concentrates the flavours, heightens sweetness, and lends a richness to the sauce. It’s similar to introducing tomato paste with a bit of high quality balsamic vinegar, but perhaps a bit more intense. Tip: I don’t use oil when I roast the tomatoes, as oil can interfere with a secure tight seal on the mason jar.
Rikky_Bobbie
Roast. Either with salt or into salsa. Then freeze.
FreddyTheGoose
Roasting for sauce at this very moment. We make a lot of sauce throughout the year and, unfortunately, I think my Albengas and Bobbies are gonna be too big to freeze whole
Put them in ash, completely covered. This should make them last months! Carrots and other root veg just need to be in sand
LindentreesLove
I have topped my tomatoes twice now and it notes seem to affect the plants negatively at all. In fact it seemed to increase fruit production. I have sun gold, black cherry and mortgage lifter.
jewelofrussia
roasting, then canning
Galaaska
I just freeze them and thaw them in the winter for sauce or soup
Kalusyfloozy
I just throw them in a bag in the freezer. Then cook with them as you would use tinned tomatoes. The skins peel right off as they start to defrost (although I throw them in the pot as soon as I’ve got the skin off) so you don’t even need to blanch them. Sooooo easy.
waxo800
Cut in half and use a large grater to get all the pulp and juice off the peel, toss the peel. It takes about two seconds. Repeat until saucepan is full. Add olive oil and some spices. Render down until you have a beautiful thick sauce. Water bath can in quart jars. Easy. Having a pantry full of quart jars containing beautiful tomato sauce will make your winter so much more enjoyable.
deadpiratezombie
Slice and dehydrate
Growitorganically
We used to peel and seed tomatoes, but for the last couple years, we’ve just washed and stemmed them, then chopped them coarsely and run them through the VitaMix till you don’t see seeds and bits of skin spinning around. Then we just pour batches into a 4-gallon kettle and cook them down by about half, so we have a concentrated tomato sauce.
We freeze them in 2-cup rectangular plastic tubs that stack neatly in the freezer and use them through the winter whenever tomatoes are called for.
TomatoPlantsRule
Commenting to re-visit!
mccabedoug
I can ‘em. Lots of info online. Fair bit of work but not difficult.
Nothing better than opening a quart of tomatoes in the dead of a New England winter. You simply cannot make a better sauce when you start with canned tomatoes that you grew and canned
Dizzy_Variety_8960
I wash core and quarter my tomatoes and place them on a parchment paper covered baking sheet. I then smoke them on our Traeger grill until the skins are coming off. I cool them and the skins almost fall off. I put them in hot quart jars straight from the dishwasher drying cycle with 1 teaspoon canning salt and 2 Tablespoons lemon juice. There is enough hot juice that I don’t need to add additional water. I process the jars in a pressure canner for 25 minutes. This is actually easier than the boiling water method if you have a pressure canner and the taste is much better. We have an All American Canner. We have had it for 10+ years.
If I’m in a hurry I put the smoked tomatos in a silicone Souper Cube and freeze them. The next day I pop them out and use a vacumn sealer – 2 cubes fit exactly in a large vacumn bag. This way they stack in the freezer taking less room. Not as tasty as the pressure canner ones but faster.
I can them – they are shelf stable for a year if properly canned.
If you have space in the freezer, I’d wash, dry and freeze them whole in ziplock bags.
I also roast tomatoes in the oven and can them or throw them in the freezer- depending on my mood, time and space in freezer.
snafflekid
What is the variety shown in the picture? I have looked for the name for years.
Commercial-Strike953
We make tons and tons of tomato sauce and then freeze it in different-sized containers depending on use-case, that way you don’t get a lasagna amount when you are making pizza. The one year we ran out of space we experimented with sun-dried, and tomato paste.
OneTimeYouths
Washing them, taking the core and freezing them in bags for winter me to worry about.
barTRON3000
I quick froze and then vacuum sealed mine bc I had to dip out of town for vacation. Took a bunch w me but didn’t wanted them all to rot on my counter
WeepingAngelCas
I know this isn’t very homestead-y, but I just put mine into gallon freezer bags and freeze them. I like to stockpile so I can make a whiles worth of sauce, soup, etc.
A plus side to freezing is the skins slide off super easily, even without any blanching.
chrysostomos_1
We don’t preserve. We have a couple tomato focused dinner parties (jambalaya this weekend) and give a lot away. Who doesn’t like receiving home grown tomatoes 🍅
I will make hot sauce and XO sauce with the hot peppers though.
tomatos_
Semi-dehydrated then lightly vac-sealed and frozen. Retains its texture and has a more concentrated flavor.
Pure-bliss2323
I freeze mine whole. I hope to use them all winter this year.
Unlucky-Camera-1190
100% freeze and deal with them later (I prefer to can when the house needs warmed rather than when it is already warm)
38 Comments
What kind of tomatoes are these?
Those look like maybe good sauce tomatoes?
With all my cherry tomatoes i love making confit. Tomatoes in oil with some fresh basil, cook on super low heat, dont want the oil to simmer. Use whatever cheap vegetable oil for it because youre infusing the oil in the process. When youre done you’ve got delicious tomatoes AND some tomato basil flavored oil to use for whatever else you might want
Put in sink, pour boiling water on them. Wait a few minutes peel skins off and put in freezer bags. Save for sauce during off season.
https://preview.redd.it/2diqj816nugf1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=8ed2921fc61e851c4495a003cc01b48d5ffb454e
It’s finally my time to shine …
Honestly? I quarter them, roast in some olive oil & salt & pepper, and then freeze. They take much less space this way and you can use them in anything.
Ooh. Canestrinos.
I grew these for the first time this year as well and I’m amazed at their size and production.
I prefer Roma types if I have to peel and core for something like a salsa, but these are great to run through my tomato strainer. They’re tremendously pulpy which os perfect for sauce making.
Because I tend to grow a lot of tomatoes and I’m lazy, I run most through my strainer to make puree based sauces. I can some, freeze most.
I like to skin them then quarter them and jar them in tomato juice. There is a recipe in the ball book that is really good.
Maybe I’m lazy but I just quarter them up, throw em in a food processor (seeds and skins included) to make a base sauce that I can can or freeze for use in the winter.
100% canning it might seem like a faff but once you nail it, it’s super simple and well worth it. I make enough passata from my tomato season to last me through till the next tomato season and no expense for additional freezers! I already have 4 so there no way I’d be getting another with my husband around 🤣
Just made this one, and it came out great! https://underatinroof.com/blog/ball-basil-garlic-tomato-sauce-canning-recipe
Because our freezer space is limited to garden vegetables that don’t lend themselves to canning, (e.g., leafy greens, brassicas, peas, and green beans), I only water bath can our tomato preserves: salsas, tomato sauce, and chutney. My tomato sauce is made with roasted paste tomatoes. I cut the ripe paste tomatoes in half longitudinally, and place them cut side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet in an oven set at 450ºF for 30 to 40 mins. If I’m not yet ready to can a full batch (about 7-8 pints), I put the roasted tomatoes in the freezer until I have enough for a batch. Roasting really concentrates the flavours, heightens sweetness, and lends a richness to the sauce. It’s similar to introducing tomato paste with a bit of high quality balsamic vinegar, but perhaps a bit more intense. Tip: I don’t use oil when I roast the tomatoes, as oil can interfere with a secure tight seal on the mason jar.
Roast. Either with salt or into salsa. Then freeze.
Roasting for sauce at this very moment. We make a lot of sauce throughout the year and, unfortunately, I think my Albengas and Bobbies are gonna be too big to freeze whole
https://preview.redd.it/cytrxy16wugf1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=63789fc4ca319a400155715f020f3eb5f3395fa6
Put them in ash, completely covered. This should make them last months! Carrots and other root veg just need to be in sand
I have topped my tomatoes twice now and it notes seem to affect the plants negatively at all. In fact it seemed to increase fruit production. I have sun gold, black cherry and mortgage lifter.
roasting, then canning
I just freeze them and thaw them in the winter for sauce or soup
I just throw them in a bag in the freezer. Then cook with them as you would use tinned tomatoes. The skins peel right off as they start to defrost (although I throw them in the pot as soon as I’ve got the skin off) so you don’t even need to blanch them. Sooooo easy.
Cut in half and use a large grater to get all the pulp and juice off the peel, toss the peel. It takes about two seconds. Repeat until saucepan is full. Add olive oil and some spices. Render down until you have a beautiful thick sauce. Water bath can in quart jars. Easy. Having a pantry full of quart jars containing beautiful tomato sauce will make your winter so much more enjoyable.
Slice and dehydrate
We used to peel and seed tomatoes, but for the last couple years, we’ve just washed and stemmed them, then chopped them coarsely and run them through the VitaMix till you don’t see seeds and bits of skin spinning around. Then we just pour batches into a 4-gallon kettle and cook them down by about half, so we have a concentrated tomato sauce.
We freeze them in 2-cup rectangular plastic tubs that stack neatly in the freezer and use them through the winter whenever tomatoes are called for.
Commenting to re-visit!
I can ‘em. Lots of info online. Fair bit of work but not difficult.
Nothing better than opening a quart of tomatoes in the dead of a New England winter. You simply cannot make a better sauce when you start with canned tomatoes that you grew and canned
I wash core and quarter my tomatoes and place them on a parchment paper covered baking sheet. I then smoke them on our Traeger grill until the skins are coming off. I cool them and the skins almost fall off. I put them in hot quart jars straight from the dishwasher drying cycle with 1 teaspoon canning salt and 2 Tablespoons lemon juice. There is enough hot juice that I don’t need to add additional water. I process the jars in a pressure canner for 25 minutes. This is actually easier than the boiling water method if you have a pressure canner and the taste is much better. We have an All American Canner. We have had it for 10+ years.
If I’m in a hurry I put the smoked tomatos in a silicone Souper Cube and freeze them. The next day I pop them out and use a vacumn sealer – 2 cubes fit exactly in a large vacumn bag. This way they stack in the freezer taking less room. Not as tasty as the pressure canner ones but faster.
This recipe freezes well! Highly recommend:
https://www.alisoneroman.com/recipes/save-the-tomatoes
Freeze them whole or in big chunks.
Lucky! They look lovely! What variety are they?
I can them – they are shelf stable for a year if properly canned.
If you have space in the freezer, I’d wash, dry and freeze them whole in ziplock bags.
I also roast tomatoes in the oven and can them or throw them in the freezer- depending on my mood, time and space in freezer.
What is the variety shown in the picture? I have looked for the name for years.
We make tons and tons of tomato sauce and then freeze it in different-sized containers depending on use-case, that way you don’t get a lasagna amount when you are making pizza. The one year we ran out of space we experimented with sun-dried, and tomato paste.
Washing them, taking the core and freezing them in bags for winter me to worry about.
I quick froze and then vacuum sealed mine bc I had to dip out of town for vacation. Took a bunch w me but didn’t wanted them all to rot on my counter
I know this isn’t very homestead-y, but I just put mine into gallon freezer bags and freeze them. I like to stockpile so I can make a whiles worth of sauce, soup, etc.
A plus side to freezing is the skins slide off super easily, even without any blanching.
We don’t preserve. We have a couple tomato focused dinner parties (jambalaya this weekend) and give a lot away. Who doesn’t like receiving home grown tomatoes 🍅
I will make hot sauce and XO sauce with the hot peppers though.
Semi-dehydrated then lightly vac-sealed and frozen. Retains its texture and has a more concentrated flavor.
I freeze mine whole. I hope to use them all winter this year.
100% freeze and deal with them later (I prefer to can when the house needs warmed rather than when it is already warm)
Smoke for 2-4h and then can.
Sun dry cherry tomatoes.
Dehydrated tomato skin milled into dust.
What variety?