Freezing Tomatoes/Veggies - Page 2

**coronabarb** · March 9, 2006

farkee,

Be sure to freeze the tomatoes individually first, as the liquid will get sucked up into the machine if you vacuum them fresh.

Also, there is a very helpful foodsavers group at yahoogroups with lots of good ideas and tips on how to use the machine. A company representative even is a member to help with difficulties. I would recommend checking it out. It has been extremely helpful to me.

FoodSaver@yahoogroups.com

FILMNET · June 30, 2010

I used Roma's in the food savers last year, i just put 4-6 clean ones in a bag and froze the bag, then opened the bag to get 1-2 and close the bag with food saves again. Nice

MsCowpea · March 9, 2006

Barb, thanks for the info. A group of experienced people can be a great help--I know I have learned alot from the Harvest forum about canning so I will check out yahoo's FS group.

Bryan24 · July 9, 2006

Alton Brown recommended using dry ice for freezing strawberries. Faster freeze time, smaller ice crystals, firmer fruit upon thawing. Wonder if it would work well for tomatos? I may have to try it this year. If I can get slightly firmer fruit upon thawing, I think it would nake better chunky style sauce, no?

laurel-tx

**coronabarb** · July 9, 2006

farkee,

I would no longer recommend that FS group. There's a real strange weirdo there who jumps down peoples' throats and the owners/mods tolerate him. I'm outta there!

Here's a new Food Saver/food preservation group that can answer questions and they expect everyone to be polite. :wink:

FoodSaverPlus@yahoogroups.com

Barb

Mantis · July 27, 2006

Hi folks. Thought I would pull this thread up again as tonight I got some of my frozen tommys out and made a spag bol sauce with them. Just filled up the small sink with hot water from the tap and dropped them in. Left them while I chopped up an onion then pulled them out, peels fell off, cut out core bits and into the pot. Added the usual ingredients and meatballs. The flavour was fresh and wonderful.
The homemade pasta with fresh eggs was gosh darnoodley good as well

Warren · June 12, 2007

I was thinking about using the Dry Ice Method that Alton Brown use to freeze strawberry's.

get and Ice chest and fill the bottom and put dry ice in there. it would freeze the maters (strawberrys) faster. I will see if I can find it for you.

here is what the foodnetwork page says.

Quote:

1 quart strawberries, de-stemmed
1 (3 pound) block dry iceWash strawberries and place in a paper towel-lined colander. Cover with another paper towel and place in the refrigerator for 4 hours. Break your dry ice into small pieces, and toss with berries in a large bowl. Place into a container and cover with a towel. Place this in a cooler for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove berries and put into sealable bags and store in the freezer.

I am still trying to find a video on youtube.

shlacm · June 29, 2010

hmmmm... I'm curious about the dry ice method... seems like it would "burn" the tomatoes (or strawberries) if it came into direct contact... Did you ever try it?

gardener · July 9, 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by shlacm

hmmmm... I'm curious about the dry ice method... seems like it would "burn" the tomatoes (or strawberries) if it came into direct contact... Did you ever try it?

No way it would burn the berries. My company sells liquid nitrogen to shrimpers - they freeze the shrimp right on the boats. Considering LIN is at -196 deg Celsius and solid CO2 is at -78 deg Celsius, I can't see a problem.

It is known that liquid nitrogen produces a superior frozen product as it flash freezes foods retaining more moisture and not giving time for ice crystals to form which pierce cell walls and degrade the food. However it is more expensive than "mechanical" refrigeration (like using a conventional Freon type freezer with a compressor)

Just think about it - typical fruit goes in at room temp - 25 C. Normal freezer is 0 deg C. We all know from basic engineering that heat flux is proportional to delta T - that is why it costs more to heat your house in the dead of winter than a cool fall day.

Conventional freezer - delta T is 25 C
Dry ice - delta T is 105 C
LIN delta T is 225 C

Thus LIN has the capability of freezing 10x faster. I make ice cream in 5 minutes using LIN.

Ted Posey · May 27, 2012

We have never tried freezing whole tomatos or even quartered ones. Maybe they will taste more like fresh.
We dump our toms into boiling hot water for a minute or so to split the peel, Then cool quickly. Peeling slips right off easily. We then cube them and pareboil a few minutes before dipping into freezer bags. We have found 3 yr old bags in the bottom of the chest freezer that had slight freezer burn but still made excellent spaghetti.
My frozen tomatoes taste almost identical to canned, not like the fresh which may be what was meant by "Off Taste" .

pauldavid · April 27, 2015

I froze and canned tomatoes last year. The frozen ones are good in soups and Mexican dishes. I made spaghetti sauce using canned tomatoes and my wife and I loved that spaghetti!

NarnianGarden · April 28, 2015

We also froze toms in several ziplog bags, and used them in sauces, soups, pie etc.
Good taste!
It is wonderful to have enough of harvest to stuff the freezer

What I'll try this coming season, is to mark on the bags what specific variety it has inside - instead of random shapes and colors. I'd love to have black, yellow, green and pink ones to choose from for future stews and soups...

ermentrude · April 28, 2015

Last year I froze chunks in mason jars. I did keep different types of tomatoes in separate jars and used two different sizes of jar depending on how much I needed. As each type ripened, I could chop and add to the appropriate jar. I didn't grow a whole lot last year and didn't have a ton to freeze, but it was nice to pick a specific tomato out in January. I had frozen in ziplock bags before but finally had enough of leaking bags and made the investment in glass and the plastic lids.

BarbJ · May 1, 2015

I like to freeze them whole in bags. I think the skin helps prevent freezer burn, and it's sure easier.
As I'm only going to use them in sauces and stews, it works well. I take them out whole and frozen, rinse them under warm water and the skins slip right off. Chop and dump into the sauce. I've have them last for a year easy. My old neighbor first told me of this method.

bower · May 9, 2015

If you folks haven't made frozen tomato gazpacho yet, you should really try it. Random red tomatoes will make an ordinary gazpacho, but try pink or black or orange sweet ones and wow - so sweet and cold and fantastic with no cooking. If I lived in the south and those hot summers, I think I'd be freezing tomatoes just to treat myself on a hot day,

Last year I had an indoor cuke plant and made 1/2 cuke, 1/2 tomato gazpacho. No cukes this year so it's all tomato. I just put a tablespoon of olive oil and some grated garlic into the blender, chop the frozen tomatoes skin and all about 3/4 full, a dasth of red wine vinegar or lemon, and blend until the slushie is made. "Liquid summer".

Not all tomatoes lose their texture severely by freezing. The worst are fleshy tomatoes like pastes and hearts, best made into sauce. But lots of beefs and small tomatoes can be used straight from the freezer if chopped fine into a 'frozen pico' - with frozen peppers too and some fresh green onion of course.. cilantro, parsely or rosemary as available from the windowsill. It's not the same as fresh but still a great way to enjoy them in winter and so much better than anything bought. The sloppy juice at the bottom is a great drink, whether you strain it before or after serving.

I also made aspic from fresh-frozen tomato and pepper salsa by heating a little juice with the envelope of gelatin, then stir into the half frozen mush - sets quick in a couple hours. Yep, aspic! A retro food.

You can slice it.

I also use frozen peppers and tomatoes sliced thin as toppings for pizza all winter. You can't tell them from fresh after baking. Peppers are best sliced up as soon as they come out of the deep freeze, tomatoes you have to wait just long enough for them to slice instead of crumbling.

I freeze lots of tomatoes whole, because at the peak season there's no time to be standing over a hot stove.

March 9, 2006	#1
coronabarb Tomatoville® Recipe Keeper Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Roseburg, Oregon - zone 7 Posts: 2,821	farkee, Be sure to freeze the tomatoes individually first, as the liquid will get sucked up into the machine if you vacuum them fresh. Also, there is a very helpful foodsavers group at yahoogroups with lots of good ideas and tips on how to use the machine. A company representative even is a member to help with difficulties. I would recommend checking it out. It has been extremely helpful to me. FoodSaver@yahoogroups.com __________________ Corona~Barb Now an Oregon gal

March 9, 2006	#3
MsCowpea Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: S. FLorida / Zone 10 Posts: 369	Barb, thanks for the info. A group of experienced people can be a great help--I know I have learned alot from the Harvest forum about canning so I will check out yahoo's FS group. __________________ "When we kill off the natural enemies of a pest we inherit their work." Carl Huffaker

June 30, 2010	#2
FILMNET Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: North Charleston,South Carolina, USA Posts: 1,803	I used Roma's in the food savers last year, i just put 4-6 clean ones in a bag and froze the bag, then opened the bag to get 1-2 and close the bag with food saves again. Nice

July 9, 2006	#4
Bryan24 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 176	Alton Brown recommended using dry ice for freezing strawberries. Faster freeze time, smaller ice crystals, firmer fruit upon thawing. Wonder if it would work well for tomatos? I may have to try it this year. If I can get slightly firmer fruit upon thawing, I think it would nake better chunky style sauce, no? laurel-tx

July 27, 2006	#6
Mantis Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Oz Posts: 1,241	Hi folks. Thought I would pull this thread up again as tonight I got some of my frozen tommys out and made a spag bol sauce with them. Just filled up the small sink with hot water from the tap and dropped them in. Left them while I chopped up an onion then pulled them out, peels fell off, cut out core bits and into the pot. Added the usual ingredients and meatballs. The flavour was fresh and wonderful. The homemade pasta with fresh eggs was gosh darnoodley good as well

June 29, 2010	#8
shlacm Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Central VA Posts: 436	hmmmm... I'm curious about the dry ice method... seems like it would "burn" the tomatoes (or strawberries) if it came into direct contact... Did you ever try it?

May 27, 2012	#10
Ted Posey Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Rainbow City, Al. Posts: 6	We have never tried freezing whole tomatos or even quartered ones. Maybe they will taste more like fresh. We dump our toms into boiling hot water for a minute or so to split the peel, Then cool quickly. Peeling slips right off easily. We then cube them and pareboil a few minutes before dipping into freezer bags. We have found 3 yr old bags in the bottom of the chest freezer that had slight freezer burn but still made excellent spaghetti. My frozen tomatoes taste almost identical to canned, not like the fresh which may be what was meant by "Off Taste" .

April 27, 2015	#11
pauldavid Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: NE Louisiana, Zone 8A Posts: 1,179	I froze and canned tomatoes last year. The frozen ones are good in soups and Mexican dishes. I made spaghetti sauce using canned tomatoes and my wife and I loved that spaghetti!

April 28, 2015	#12
NarnianGarden Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Finland, EU Posts: 2,550	We also froze toms in several ziplog bags, and used them in sauces, soups, pie etc. Good taste! It is wonderful to have enough of harvest to stuff the freezer What I'll try this coming season, is to mark on the bags what specific variety it has inside - instead of random shapes and colors. I'd love to have black, yellow, green and pink ones to choose from for future stews and soups...

April 28, 2015	#13
ermentrude Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Charleston SC Posts: 34	Last year I froze chunks in mason jars. I did keep different types of tomatoes in separate jars and used two different sizes of jar depending on how much I needed. As each type ripened, I could chop and add to the appropriate jar. I didn't grow a whole lot last year and didn't have a ton to freeze, but it was nice to pick a specific tomato out in January. I had frozen in ziplock bags before but finally had enough of leaking bags and made the investment in glass and the plastic lids.

May 1, 2015	#14
BarbJ Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: California, USA Posts: 154	I like to freeze them whole in bags. I think the skin helps prevent freezer burn, and it's sure easier. As I'm only going to use them in sauces and stews, it works well. I take them out whole and frozen, rinse them under warm water and the skins slip right off. Chop and dump into the sauce. I've have them last for a year easy. My old neighbor first told me of this method.

May 9, 2015	#15
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	If you folks haven't made frozen tomato gazpacho yet, you should really try it. Random red tomatoes will make an ordinary gazpacho, but try pink or black or orange sweet ones and wow - so sweet and cold and fantastic with no cooking. If I lived in the south and those hot summers, I think I'd be freezing tomatoes just to treat myself on a hot day, Last year I had an indoor cuke plant and made 1/2 cuke, 1/2 tomato gazpacho. No cukes this year so it's all tomato. I just put a tablespoon of olive oil and some grated garlic into the blender, chop the frozen tomatoes skin and all about 3/4 full, a dasth of red wine vinegar or lemon, and blend until the slushie is made. "Liquid summer". Not all tomatoes lose their texture severely by freezing. The worst are fleshy tomatoes like pastes and hearts, best made into sauce. But lots of beefs and small tomatoes can be used straight from the freezer if chopped fine into a 'frozen pico' - with frozen peppers too and some fresh green onion of course.. cilantro, parsely or rosemary as available from the windowsill. It's not the same as fresh but still a great way to enjoy them in winter and so much better than anything bought. The sloppy juice at the bottom is a great drink, whether you strain it before or after serving. I also made aspic from fresh-frozen tomato and pepper salsa by heating a little juice with the envelope of gelatin, then stir into the half frozen mush - sets quick in a couple hours. Yep, aspic! A retro food. You can slice it. I also use frozen peppers and tomatoes sliced thin as toppings for pizza all winter. You can't tell them from fresh after baking. Peppers are best sliced up as soon as they come out of the deep freeze, tomatoes you have to wait just long enough for them to slice instead of crumbling. I freeze lots of tomatoes whole, because at the peak season there's no time to be standing over a hot stove.