How to Freeze Tomatoes

 

Have you ever had this happen?  You get a bunch of tomatoes out of your garden or from a friend.  They sit on your counter-top day after day after day.  You finally look at them and say, “I have GOT to do something with those tomatoes before they go bad!”  As recently as 5 years ago I threw bunches of tomatoes out because I just didn’t know what to do with them.  Here’s what I do now:  I freeze them, so I can use them in soups, stews, chili, and sloppy joes during the fall and winter!

Here’s how you do it.

First, you’ll want to blanch the tomatoes in order to peel them easily.  Bring a big soup pot of water to a boil.  Have a separate large bowl of ice cold water near it.  Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water for 30-60 seconds.

Immediately put them into the ice cold water.  I use a slotted pasta spoon for the transfer.

After they have cooled off a bit, you can wash the peel right off.

The next step is to cut up the tomatoes (or you can just freeze them whole if you’re really running low on time).  I use a grooved cutting board to catch all the juice and seeds.  Dice the tomatoes to whatever size you will want to use them later on.  (De-seed if you want to.  I try to get rid of as many seeds as possible, but I definitely don’t get all.)  Put them in freezer bags, push out all the air, and stick in the freezer for later!

Here is what the baby was doing while I was preparing the tomatoes!