Frozen Garden Tomatoes for Winter Soups and Sauces

Submitted by Dreamer in Ontario

"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."

 

• Ready In: 10mins
• Ingredients: 2
• Yields: 1 batch

ingredients

• 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.

 

[BecR2400]

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!

 

[farmchick 2]

I've done it this way for years...thanks for putting it on "Zaar, because my sister had her first garden this year, and was sure this wouldn't work...but this helped convince her not to toss all the produce she couldn't use fresh. So easy, and so good in stuff like soup, and chili. They will be soft because they were frozen, but you can use them in almost anything you cook.

 

[Faye M.]

I dont core them...i just freeze in big bigs...then pull out what i want to use...pull off the stems and use...I also freeeze some capicums in with them and when I need a sauce I pull out them throw both in a pot and then use the hand blender to puree...I dont even take off the skins ..I use cherry tomatoes to do this not big ones....

 

[Nodnyl]

I just saw this tomato freezing procedure. I can attest to its viability for winter tomato usage for any cooking requiring canned tomatoes. I cut up my tomatoes, eliminating the stem end, but not peeling. I doubt the tomatoes would be good longer than a year without freezer taste/burn, but I've never had to worry about that, as we always use them before new crops come in in spring. "Fresh tomato basil soup" made with these tomatoes taste just like you picked the fruit today, ... in January. Oh, and I also wash, cut, and freeze fresh basil leaves the same way, to be sure I have it available for the soup. Glad you posted this process.