What would life be without tomatoes? Pizza? Pasta? Summer?
I have canned (bottled) whole tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato juice in the past. I now prefer freezing. If you have a freezer, it's quick, easy, and you can easily do the daily harvest from your garden in a few minutes everyday.
For some things I peel them; others not.
Peeling tomatoes: Bring a medium pan 3/4's full of water to a boil on high heat. Drop tomatoes in for 30 seconds - start timing immediately. Remove tomatoes and drop into a bowl of cold water. If you are doing a lot of tomatoes you will have to add ice or change water to keep it cold. Now peel them with a knife or your fingers - peel will come off very easily. (You can peel peaches the same way)
Freezing tomatoes:
Juice for cooking: Do not peel. Wash tomatoes and cut in half or quarters, removing stem. Put in a pot big enough to hold all of them easily, cover and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When thoroughly hot and simmering remove from heat and let sit, covered for an hour or so.
Put a large strainer over another pot big enough to hold the juice and dump the tomatoes in. Stir and mash the tomatoes in the strainer to release all of the juice. Discard seeds and skin.
Label heavy duty, zip-lock type freezer bags for 1 cup, 2 cups, etc. Measure the tomato juice and poor into appropriate bag. Get as much air out as possible and freeze.
This is for cooking.
Juice for Drinking: Same as above except add 1/4 green pepper, chopped, 1 shallot, chopped and 1 stalk celery, chopped for every 6 - 8 cups tomatoes. Cook at a low simmer for 2 hours, remove and let sit, covered, until cool enough to work with. Strain and get juice as above.
Before freezing, measure and add 1 tsp of lemon juice and 1 tsp salt for every quart of juice.
Note: When I did this in big batches, and bottled it, I would cook 4 green peppers, 1 bunch of celery, 3 big onions and 1 bulb of garlic in a bushel of tomatoes. 1 bushel = app. 15 quarts of juice.
Sauce: Do everything exactly the same as for juice except for the straining bit. Instead of straining put the whole lot, pulp, seeds, skins, etc. into a blender (in batches, of course) and purée.
Label bags for sauce, measure and freeze.
Chopped Tomatoes: Think whole, canned tomatoes, but ready to use. Peel tomatoes (see above) Cut in 1/4ths or 1/8ths and put into a pan, cover and just bring to a boil. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
Label bags, measure and freeze.
Grating tomatoes for fresh sauce: Cup half of a tomato in your hand and rub it on the big holes of a box (or other style) grater until all that is left in your hand is the skin. You'll have to press a bit, but not too hard. Be careful not to grate your hand. Repeat with as many halves as you think you want/need. You end up with fresh tomato sauce with no skin...and no cooking.
Roasting tomatoes: Cut tomatoes into large chunks. Mince some garlic. Sprinkle the garlic over the tomatoes, drizzle with a bit of good olive oil and roast, 300F (150C) for 2 - 3 hours, until very soft.
Use as is or put into bags and freeze.
Oven dried tomatoes: Cut Roma or Italian tomatoes in half the long way (through the stem end). Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and roast, 300F (150C) for 6 - 8 hours.
Eat, refrigerate or freeze in bag.
To store: Store tomatoes in a basket on the counter or in the pantry, away from light. Do not refrigerate as this causes loss of flavor and texture.
I use any kind of tomato I have for all of the above. The cherry tomatoes are best for sauce or juice. I like to freeze both yellow and red chopped tomatoes - separately, of course. The sauce and/or chopped yellow tomatoes can add an interesting twist to traditional tomato-based dishes, like lasagne....
To can/bottle: All of the above (except the dried) can be put into sterile glass jars, sealed, processed in a boiling water bath and stored without freezing. It is necessary to add salt and/or lemon juice when canning to increase the acidity. My canning books are still packed away so I can't give you the correct processing times.
