Can I freeze tomatoes until I have enough to can a batch?

[Robert Lewis]

I have some early tomatoes that either need to be eaten or put up, but it's not really enough to run a canning batch. I've also got tons of green ones still on the plants. I'd like to save the early ones until the green ones are ripe too. How about freezing the ripe ones until the others are ripe? I know it would make them mushy when thawed, but they get all mushy when we can them anyway. If freezing is OK, would you recommend freezing them whole or peeling & chopping them first?

Ya'll's thoughts?

Robert in the hills of Tennessee

[Omelet]

Blanch and peel first. You could also stew them and can them as a sauce. ;-d

[zxcvbob]

If this is for just a short term, freeze them whole without peeling. When you thaw them, the skins will slip off. They will also be mushy (much nastier texture than canned tomatoes), but still OK for cooking. You might mix them with your main crop when it comes in for making salsa or ketchup or something.

If you're gonna freeze them for a couple of years, blanch and peel them first. They'll taste better, and take up less space that way.

HTH, Bob

[AZ Nomad]

Just freeze them. When defrosted, the skin comes right off.

[Steve Young]

Even turn them into ketchup. Anyone tried their hand at this?

Mayhaps I'll adventure it this year, instead of the many peppers needed to make my *world famous* salsa, (beings I'm coming up short on peppers this year :(

[Billy]

I thought catsup was only for people who didn't like food ;O)

[Steve Young]

"Billy" wrote

wot!? fries or a burger without it? ;)

[Omelet]

I've not seriously investigated this, but I have the kitchen toys to make a clean puree...

Since I've tried to adopt a low carb lifestyle, ideas like this are always good.

[Omelet]

Hard boiled eggs. ;-d

[zxcvbob]

Every gardener should make ketchup once in their life. You take a half a bushel of fresh tomatoes, some vinegar and salt, and a bunch of expensive sugar and spices. Cook them down for about 6 hours (Careful! Don't let it burn!) When you're all done, you have a pint or two of ketchup that's almost as good as the 20 ounce bottle of store-bought ketchup you could have bought for about $1. HTH :-)

Bob

[rossr35253]

Ain't that the truth! We tried our hand at it one year when we had a real glut of tomatoes but, we ended up with about 12 liters, not one or two pints. And, like you say, it was almost as good as store bought. The real saving grace was the fact that a couple of the grandkids liked it better than the store bought so we were able to unload a bunch.

Ross.

[AZ Nomad]

Fuck that, what's the point? It's like going to the trouble of squishing grapes, fermenting it, letting it spoil just to make vinegar.

[Omelet]

While I've never made Ketchup, I totally understand the concept. ;-) With what I have to pay for water here in the city, it's cheaper to buy veggies, but there just is no substitute for the flavor of home grown tomatoes!

[Omelet]

Want vinegar? A little left over red wine, some extra sugar, and a kombucha culture.

I've been cooking with some of the best red wine vinegar made that way lately!

[AZ Nomad]

shoom. right over your head.

[Omelet]

Ditto babe.

[Billy]

Ab-so-pos-itivly-freakin'-tootly ;o)

Mustard (not French's, gag) or aioli. Sugar covers flavor. You don't want it with good food, otherwise use as much as you have to to survive ;o)

[Billy]

Your heartless ;o), mustard or aioli would be much better :-)

[Billy]

Nah, 'shroom, right over your head, if you ain't sitting on it, you may have notice that this is a group of adults. If you need a scatological crutch for writing, you may be happier in another news group where feral adolescents and potty mouths are more common. Probably never heard of "balsamic" either.

Oh yeah, you raise an interesting point Om. Fresh garden tomatoes are obviously better than those red cardboard things that are sold commercially but I'm thinkin' that cooked romas (garden or store bought) probably taste the same. Of course with the store bought you get the value added of pesticide residues without the burden of additional nutrients (bioflavonoids) that comes from plants struggling under less than ideal environments (gardens). But all the same, my impression is that cooking a store bought tomato improves it, perhaps even to rivaling the REAL deal.

Any opinions?

[Omelet]

Actually, Bragg's Liquid Aminos are good on HB eggs... I'll have to google for Aioli.

I'm not a mustard fan like mom was.

To heck with that!

PESTO!!!