This is my first time growing tomatoes. I grew Costoluto & Brandy boy. They turned out well because of the really hot U.K. weather. Can you advise me how are you preserving your tomatoes? I’m not a fan of sweet preserves. Have you ever fermented yours? Also, how did I do as a first timer? All constructive criticism welcome 😂🤗
by Tall-Hawk-8434
19 Comments
Ive been skinning thrm which is super easy and then throwing in a blender. Bagging it and throwing it in the freezer.
That is a great idea. I’ve just made a salsa and I’m going to try to ferment it. It’s what the cool Latino kids are doing 😂 it’s supposed to Lacto-ferment giving a zingy taste. Have you tried it?
Aww congrats! It’s so much fun gardening! 😁
Simmer down into sauce. Freeze in quart freezer bags.
I dunno if you care for this but you can also dry the seeds. Put them in a glass container and preserve it for next season.
I dehydrate. Cheapest with a machine built fir it but you can later them on parchment in your oven and set it to 150F with door cracked. In an air circulating oven, they should ve done in 24 hours. I then bag and store in freezer.
I freeze with skin on. Then when I have more time to can, I take out, blanch them to get skins off and do salsa and sauces with them. The EASIEST I have found!!!
Ooh, that does sound like an easy way to preserve them. How long do yours last in the freezer?
Freeze them! The skins come off real easy that way, which is great for making sauce.
The best way would be to share the love with your neighbors 🙏
I just quarter them, put them in freezer bags, and freeze. Perfect? No. Almost zero effort with decent results? Absolutely.
Raw canning. Google the Ball recipe. You just chopped them and add the amount of salt and lemon/citric acid indicated. Boil per instructions. Ready as canned chopped tomatoes. I don’t even peel them. No need to peel with my own grown ones. Give it a try.
I make sauce by throwing tomatoes, herbs, garlic, onion, and olive oil in my Dutch oven and roast them for an hour or so at 375. I let it cool for a bit and then put it all through a food mill to separate the skins as best I can. Then, I add a bit of white wine into my Dutch oven and cook it down. Finally, I add the puree back and I cook it all down until I get the desired consistency. Salt to taste. Then I cool it down and put it in freezer ziplock bags.
Put them them in bag. Put them in the freezer.
How is the flavor of the costoluto? I tried growing them this year but managed to sprout only a few and eventually kill them all 😭
After many methods I highly recommend just cutting in half tossing in olive oil and roasting with a stone baking dish till softened and caramelized. Roasting unlocks so many flavors, just make sure you use a dish that’s safe with acidic tomatoes!
Cut through equator and deseed (drink the seeds with a little salt)
Place in dehydrator or into a low oven until jammy
Bag and freeze
They thaw quickly and are already recipe-ready without the risk of scorching them on the stove top, and the skins slip right off
Save the skins in the freezer, when you have a bunch dehydrate them until crispy then grind into tomato powder
Put them directly into the freezer until hard as baseballs. Then bag themnip in big plastic bags and keep frozen until you need them for spaghetti sauce, chili, or soup. Thaw in a colander and the skins will slip right off.
I just run mine through my manual tomato press 3 times and just freeze the pulp immediately. Works great. You just need to simmer well to reduce it when you use it, but the flavor is superb, even after a few months in the freezer.