How can you preserve tomatoes? Ripe, juicy summer tomatoes are worth the wait, but with a few tricks you can ensure they still taste good later in the year. In this article you will learn how you can preserve or freeze tomatoes.
Preserve tomatoes by boiling them
Canning tomatoes – ingredients:
- 7 kg ripe whole tomatoes
- 200 ml lemon juice from the bottle
Canning tomatoes – preparation:
- Gather the ingredients.
- Bring a large pot or canning kettle full of water to a boil.
- While the water is boiling (which may take a while), use a sharp knife to cut a small “X” into the bottom of each tomato.
- Prepare a large bowl of ice water and place it next to the pot.
- Once the water is boiling, add the tomatoes. Cook them for about a minute, then remove them with a slotted spoon and place them directly into the ice water to allow them to cool quickly.
- Once the tomatoes have cooled enough to handle them easily, use a sharp paring knife to remove the tomato skins. After blanching, the skins should come off without much fuss.
- Obtain 6 mason jars (with rings and new sealable lids). Bring the water back to a boil, place the jars on the canning rack, and boil the empty jars for 10 minutes to sterilize them.
- Remove the jars from the water (empty the water back into the pot and bring it back to a boil).
- Place the lids separately, also for 10 minutes, to soften the sealant.
- Put a tea kettle full of water to boil.
- While the water is boiling, add 2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice to each mason jar. Fill the jars evenly with the tomatoes. If you don't care how "whole" they end up being, really stuff them in, draining the juice from some so there's enough liquid left to cover them. If necessary, cover the tomatoes with boiling water from the tea kettle, leaving a 1.5cm gap at the top of the jars.
- After wiping the rims of the jars, place the lids and rims on the jars, place the jars in the canning rack, and lower them into the boiling water in the canner or other large pot. The jars should be completely submerged and covered by 1 inch of water. Let the water boil for 45 minutes, adding more hot water if necessary to maintain the water level.
- Remove the cans from the water bath and place them on a countertop to dry and cool. Do not disturb them for 12 to 24 hours. Check that jars are properly sealed and store in a cool, dark place until ready to use.
Keep these tips in mind
- It takes a long time for the water to come to a boil and varies depending on the stovetop. For safety reasons, it is important to monitor the temperature so you can adjust the burner temperature if necessary; this is not a project that you can just check off and forget about.
- While fresh lemon juice is the method of choice in almost all other cases, you should use bottled lemon juice when preserving tomatoes. The juice from the bottle has a standardized, consistent acidity level, which helps prevent the tomatoes from spoiling.
- Also note that lockable lids should not be reused, although jars and rings can. Mason jars cannot be used indefinitely and will develop cracks and cracks if used too often.
- Most people throw away the peeled skins of tomatoes, but you can also dry them into “chips”: place the skins in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake them in the oven at 90 degrees until crispy. This takes a few hours and depends largely on how humid the climate is. So check every 30 minutes after the first 2 hours. They are a great snack.
Tomato recipes for the perfect summer dinneryou can find here!
Preserve tomatoes by freezing
Freezing tomatoes is the easiest way tostore ripe tomatoesuntil you want to use it. There's no need to peel them first - freezing them yourself makes the tomatoes incredibly easy to peel - and you can freeze as many or as few at a time as you like.
Preserve tomatoes by freezing a small amount:Place the tomatoes in the bag in a single layer. Seal the bag mostly, then suck out as much air as possible - you can use a straw for this if you prefer. Seal the bag and place it in the freezer. Position it so that the tomatoes are not crushed and remain in a single layer. Allow the tomatoes to freeze completely before moving the bag. Once frozen, you can group them into bundles to take up less space.
How to freeze a large batch of tomatoes at once: To ensure the tomatoes freeze as quickly and evenly as possible, place the tomatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet and place them in the freezer to freeze for a few hours before transferring to bags. As with the bagging technique, you should remove as much air from the bag as possible before sealing to ensure freshness.
Drying tomatoes – How can you do it yourself? Thefind out here!
