What are you doing with your tomato harvest?

[femmocrat]

For those with too many tomatoes, what do you do with them all?

I over-planted and now have "hundreds" of tomatoes! I have made sauce, stewed, and soup so far. I have given away dozens of the best looking ones. I don't can, just freeze them.

My Brandywines are gigantic this year! What is the best use for those? I have been putting them in soup but they have so many seeds.

Read an article yesterday that said the seeds contain the flavor, don't discard them.

[Curmudgeoness]

1. Every year, I freeze tomatoes.

It is so easy that I can't believe anyone would can them, unless, I suppose, you don't have a freezer. All I do is throw the tomatoes in a freezer bag and throw them in the freezer. When you take them out, thaw them just a little and you can pull the skin right off of them without any fuss.

I also have cut them up and put them in the bags and into the freezer, but it isn't necessary unless you have more time now than you expect to have when you go to use them.

[femmocrat]

2. That is a great idea and super easy.

What do you make with them when they thaw?

I used to quarter them and freeze in plastic containers, which I cannot find this year!

But.... I have figured out how to make a great tomato soup! My (second) batch today turned out so yummy. I froze some in quart containers for homemade soup this fall and winter. It will be great with grilled cheese sandwiches.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. I use tomatoes in so many things.

I make spaghetti sauce with them because I like it chunky. I put them in my chili and soups. I make what we always called goulash with elbow macaroni, beef, peppers, and tomatoes. And of course, stewed tomatoes.

By the way, I freeze peppers too in freezer bags too. But they are more work at the time I put them up....I dice them and just put them in the bags and freeze. If you dice them or the tomatoes before freezing, it is so easy to store them in the freezer because they can just be laid flat in the freezer.

I have never made homemade tomato soup but it sounds wonderful.

[Lugnut]

4. I freeze them.

I slice them and lay them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Then I drizzle a little olive oil on and sprinkle minced garlic over them. Roast in a 350 degree oven for about a half hour, cool and pour them into gallon zip lock freezer bags. Over the winter I make pasta sauce with them. I add two cans of tomato sauce and give them a hit with the immersion blender to break up the chunks. They are delicious!

[femmocrat]

6. Thanks for the great recipe!

I'm going to try that one!

[Lugnut]

9. You're welcome.

I did up two baking sheets full yesterday. The garden is producing like mad so who knows how many I'll eventually have.

[shraby]

5. A food bank can always use produce.

[KurtNYC]

7. Making salsa, oven roasting

3 to 4 pounds of tomatoes, diced, seeded
1 pound of white onion, diced fine
1 or 2 poblano peppers (or jalapenos)
fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp of balsamic vinegar (optional)

And I like slow roast. Halve them, place on pizza pans, 250 oven for about 3 hours or until fairly dry. Nice for freezing because the volume is reduced.

[femmocrat]

8. Thanks!

I am going to try roasting them. I bet they would be good on pizza.