As summer tomato harvest start wrapping up for many garden zones and the temperatures are just still too high for standing over a steaming stove, here is the best way to preserve tomatoes… freeze tomatoes! My almost 95 year old Nana shared this hack with me a few years ago and my life hasn’t been the same since.
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Listen to Nana…
She knows a thing or two about preserving the summer garden harvest in efficient and effective ways!
My Nana was born in 1928 and raised 3 girls in the fifties. She was the wife of a crop and hog farmer. Pennies had to be pinched.
She has shared with me over the years stories from her garden and kitchen, sometimes tossing in a free hack or tip.
With the impressive revealing that she only went to the “grocery store” once a month with $10 to buy flour, sugar, coffee, things of that nature; the rest was done at home. Grown at home. Raised at home. Made at home. She’s got a wealth of knowledge of how she used to have to do things many moons ago.
I often consider how when things like grocery stores became more common and convenient, she welcomed the break of having and needing to do it all in her own kitchen.
Unfortunately as we are discovering more and more, those convenience foods are not healthy; many of us are running back to doing it the old fashioned way. The trusted way. The do-it-yourself way. The inconvenient way.
So, when Nana shared with me her favorite method of keeping tomatoes for later that didn’t involve a mason jar, I listened. And now I share it with you.
Can you freeze whole tomatoes?
Yes!
To do so:
Simply rinse the tomatoes of any dirt and take off the stem. Fill up a freezer safe ziplock bag and store in your freezer. Be sure to date the bag!
That simple and yes, it’s effective!
Some people choose to cut off the ends and core the tomatoes first and to that I say,
to each their own.
The easier, the better for me. So I say rinse and freeze tomatoes. Be done with those red globes that the fruit flies are salivating over, just waiting for the first sign of overripeness they can pounce on.
Why freeze tomatoes?
There WILL come a day on your small scale homestead or from your summer garden when you have not a single ounce of energy to give to those deep dark red tomatoes sitting on your counter. They need your attention ASAP and you’ve got none to give.
Or maybe you used your last quart jar canning green beans and you need more!
*Freezer gallon bags enters the chat*
Grab those freezer bags and fill them full. You’ll deal with those red globes later.
How do I use frozen tomatoes?
Summer will leave us to deal with the chilly temperatures of fall and winter eventually. You will want that garden fresh taste of summer tomatoes in your pot of soup or pasta sauce when you can’t go to your garden to harvest.
This season is now the perfect time to warm up your kitchen using those frozen red summer garden goodies to make sauce or soup or to can them for the pantry shelf.
In the literal heat of summer, the last thing most preservers want to do is stand over a stove to can tomatoes. But in the winter, it’s helpful to warm up your home with kitchen cooking and baking.
Here’s how to use frozen tomatoes:
- Boil a large pot of water and carefully lower in as many tomatoes as you’d like. In a short time, the skins will burst open.
- Remove the tomatoes from the water and let cool on a large cutting board or you can add them to a quick ice bath (ice cubes plus cold water) if you need to go ahead and process tomatoes fast.
- Next, peel skins off of the tomatoes and save those skins to make tomato powder (fantastic seasoning to add to soup or chili).
- Use paring knife to core tomatoes. Feed those to your chickens and/or pigs if you have them. Your pet dog may love them too.
- Then simply add to whatever recipe you’re making or proceed with canning them. If canning, make sure they have thawed all the way first as not to alter your canning recipe too much.
Note: it may be wise to allow tomatoes to fully thaw after peeling the skin off inside of a colander to allow the extra water to drain out.
Easy Peasy
How easy is that?
Super easy to freeze tomatoes to use later.
If you liked this “hack”, be sure to pin it for others to see! Find me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest under the name @johnsonhomenc
Try these other kitchen and garden hacks!
If you liked this one, you might also enjoy: this tomato peeling hack, 3 ways to preserve your tomatoes, air drying herbs, or perhaps 12 ways to use tomatoes when you have too many.
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