Processing Tomatoes

Every summer my husband does a great job growing tomatoes and every fall I find myself looking for ways to use up the crop that is harvested. In the past I have tried pureeing and freezing tomatoes for later use, but found the tomato peel to be annoying and not something I want to eat. Recently I came across a technique that I have found useful:

Using a sharp knife cut an X across the bottom of each tomato.

Put tomatotes into large pot of boiling water. Leave for 30 seconds or longer - enough for the peel to soften (and start to peel).

Put tomatoes into a large bowl with cold water

The peels come off very easily

Core the tomato using a tomato corer (a most useful utensil). They are shaped like a small spoon, but have sharp, jagged edges.

Just look at all of those peels!

Tomatoes ready to be used right away or frozen for later use

On this day I cut up the tomatoes into large chunks and put them in freezer bags. Just yesterday I processed another big batch of tomatoes and made spaghetti sauce and taco soup. You can use tomatoes in this form in place of any recipe that calls for a tin of tomatoes and I must admit, I enjoy using our very own tomatoes.