Frozen Garden Tomatoes for Winter Soups and Sauces

Dreamer in Ontario's Note:

This is absolutely the easiest way to preserve all those tomatoes from your garden. You don't even need to peel them before freezing. Family friends in Northern Ontario used to do this but this method was found in Chatelaine Food Express Quickies. The servings depend on how many tomatoes you're freezing. Preparation time also depends on how many tomatoes you intend on freezing.

• Total Time: 10 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 1 batch

• fresh tomato
• ziploc bag (freezer bags)

Directions:

1. Core tomatoes, then freeze in freezer bags (don't bother peeling them).
2. To use frozen tomatoes, plunge into simmering sauces or soups; burst skins will float to the surface making them easy to remove.

Reviews

[Chocolatl]

I've been meaning to review this for a while now. This is the perfect way to preserve tomatoes for winter cooking. It works best with Roma-size or smaller tomatoes. You can also peel them while frozen; the skin scrapes right off. You can cut up or dice them frozen as well. They're too soft for salad, of course, but wonderful in spaghetti sauce and chili. Thanks for posting. Made for 1-2-3 Hits tag.

[BecR]

With a glut of beautiful red tomatoes still on the vine along with the cold temps we've been having, boy was I glad to find this great recipe! Am happy to report that the wonderful summery goodness is all there, fully intact, and most delicious in a batch of homemade spaghetti sauce simmering away on the stove. The peels rose right to the top for easy removal, too. Can hardly wait to pop open my freezer in the depths of winter to find more of these delightful red orbs to pop into an ongoing parade of flavorful soups, stews and sauces. Thank you so much for posting, Dreamer!

[2Bleu]

Sept 06, 2011 - I tried this today with just 2 tomatoes and will make a sauce next week to update the review. But for now, 5-stars for easy peasy preserving! UPDATE: I tried this today on Johnny Jalapeno's Chicken Tortilla Soup 389618 in lieu of canned Rotel tomatoes and it worked out great. Although they looked a little (not much) mushy, the taste was still there and that's what matters in soups/stews. A keeper recipe, thanks for sharing!