Freezing extra tomatoes?

[socalgardengal]

I was wondering if you freeze tomatoes, do they get mushy?? Just trying to find different ways of preserving for later use. I don't know how to can yet. Kind of putting that off because pressure cookers scare me a bit Also, how do you sun dry them? Won't they get moldy sitting outside? Thanks for helping

[FarmerShawn]

Originally Posted by socalgardengal

I was wondering if you freeze tomatoes, do they get mushy?? Just trying to find different ways of preserving for later use. I don't know how to can yet. Kind of putting that off because pressure cookers scare me a bit Also, how do you sun dry them? Won't they get moldy sitting outside? Thanks for helping

Canning tomatoes does not require a pressure canner - they are acid enough to be safe with a hot water bath. We've been doing them that way for forty years with no unfortunate incidents.
I dehydrate lots of tomatoes these days with a dehydrator. That apparently is the more common way to dry them, and even dehydrator-dried tomatoes are referred to as "sun-dried." They make a great snack by themselves, they top a salad wonderfully if chopped, or even an ingredient in salad dressing, slightly reconstituted they top a pizza or a meatloaf with fantastic concentrated flavor, or just added to a canned tomato sauce, they will thicken it as well as adding paste would.
I would probably try freezing them, but they will not emerge from the freezer with the texture of a fresh tomato. Yes, they would turn mushy upon thawing. The reason we don't freeze them is a lack of freezer space, and the ease of preserving them by other methods.
Shawn

[ArcherB]

I have also canned using the hot water bath method. If, like me, you are worried about the acid levels (tomatoes vary in the amount of acid contained), you can always add a tablespoon or so of lemon juice just to ensure that you past the acid threshold.

[Rockporter]

I roast tomatoes and fill a freezer bag when they have cooled. I use them in spaghetti sauces and soups. Works great for me.

[socalgardengal]

Great info everyone! Thank you so much! Gonna do some research on hot water bath and go get myself a dehydrater Roasting sounds wonderful too! Can't wait to harvest now!!

[MissS]

I put my extra tomatoes in the blender for a minute or two. Then I put that in a freezer bag and freeze them until in need some for sauce or something. For me it is just easier as I do not like to heat up the house for canning or reducing sauce. I also tried freezing whole tomatoes but found that for me it just took up too much space.

[marc_groleau]

I have scalded tomatoes, removed the skin, crushed them and then vacuum sealed and froze them. I've used them for sauce and other recipes after having been frozen for well over a year and they were fine.

[RebelRidin]

Originally Posted by marc_groleau

I have scalded tomatoes, removed the skin, crushed them and then vacuum sealed and froze them. I've used them for sauce and other recipes after having been frozen for well over a year and they were fine.

If you want to freeze and dont have a vacuum sealer you can get good results by submerging the filled ziplock bag in water to evacuate the air as you seal it.

Also... Water bath canning of tomates is relatively simple and goes pretty fast. I would encourage you to look into it. If you can find someone who does it I'll give ten to one odds that they will be happy to show you. In my experience people who home can are glad to share their knowledge. That said... I also suggest that you familiarize yourself with approved guidelines.

Good luck and I hope you find it enjoyable. I always do!

[marc_groleau]

Originally Posted by RebelRidin

Also... Water bath canning of tomates is relatively simple and goes pretty fast. I would encourage you to look into it. If you can find someone who does it I'll give ten to one odds that they will be happy to show you. In my experience people who home can are glad to share their knowledge. That said... I also suggest that you familiarize yourself with approved guidelines.

Good luck and I hope you find it enjoyable. I always do!

This is better than freezing it just takes a little extra time but uses no freezer space.

[JLJ_]

Originally Posted by socalgardengal

I was wondering if you freeze tomatoes, do they get mushy?? Just trying to find different ways of preserving for later use. . . .

We do pressure can tomatoes and tomato sauce -- and it isn't hard to learn if you pay close attention to instructions -- things like letting the pressure canner cool by itself, don't try to hurry it or open it early [g].

But something we did for the first time last year was roast and freeze tomatoes. Most of the time we scalded them to get the skins to come off easily, then cut and roasted them -- with some, like the Russo Sicilian Togeta, we just cut them in half horizontally, leaving skins on to preserve their shape. Sprayed pyrex baking dishes with PAM type oil, put in tomatoes, drizzled a little extra virgin olive oil over them, a little salt and maybe pepper, no other seasonings, roasted them uncovered in the oven for about two or three hours, let them cool, weighed and packaged them in zip lock freezer bags, not overfilled so they froze into flat, square packages that stack well.

For us, the reason for this was the times when we have more tomatoes than we are using fresh, but not enough to make a batch for canning. Also, with this technique it's easier to safely use tomatoes that are varying stages of ripeness (which can affect acidity). But the main reason, for us, was to preserve tomatoes when the batch was too small to can. We're still eating them and have liked them very much -- mostly using them for soups and other cooked tomato recipes, but when they cooked, not dry, but cooked until the tomato halves looked like juicy tomato slices, I froze those individually on trays, then packaged them in freezer boxes for individual use in sandwiches or other times a slice is wanted.

I got the idea from this site -- she seasons more than we did -- but we like to determine how we want them seasoned when we're ready to use them. The flat-package freezing was one of the best elements, really cuts down the freezer space they take, once processed.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Roas...toes/?ALLSTEPS

I'm sure we'll be roasting and freezing some again this year -- if it ever stops snowing

[ddsack]

re: the roasted tomatoes

We're still eating them and have liked them very much -- mostly using them for soups and other cooked tomato recipes, but when they cooked, not dry, but cooked until the tomato halves looked like juicy tomato slices, I froze those individually on trays, then packaged them in freezer boxes for individual use in sandwiches or other times a slice is wanted.

Well, this is a great idea I never would have thought of! My freezer is too full of green beans, broccoli, corn and venison to have room for raw tomatoes, but I sure would make some room if I could use them as slices on sandwiches during the depths of winter. The roasted flavor would be a bonus.

[Sun City Linda]

Yes, that sounds quite nice! I will try the roasting - freezing this year.

[RobinB]

I do freeze tomatoes raw and cook with them. I think the flavor is better than canned, but that's just my preference. I'm the only one around here that likes roasted tomatoes, so I roast them with olive oil and garlic and, once they're cooled, I fill muffin tins, freeze them, then pop them out and store in freezer bags. I also do this with pesto (but in ice cube trays). It makes for one of my favorite lunches. Cook up some pasta, thaw one "chunk" of roasted maters and 1-2 of pesto, add some parmesan and it's a quick meal.

[rockhound]

When the tomatoes are ripening faster than we can eat, I freeze some just whole. Then when I get around to processing I thaw them a little and the skin comes off easy. Let them finish thawing and run them thru my food mill to get out the seeds before cooking them down for sauce. This reminds me I have one good batch left in the freezer that I need to make sauce out of.

[JLJ_]

For us, roasting as above -- like the linked article, but with minimal oil and just a little salt for seasoning -- creates tomatoes that maintain flavor/texture well, and the moisture reduction involved in the roasting, plus storing them as the author of that link suggests -- in slightly underfilled zip lock bags so they freeze into flat packages -- makes them store compactly so they take minimal freezer space. Definitely not the same as fresh-from-the-garden, but we think they compare favorably with store tomatoes. Plus we're quite a ways from stores -- distance is much greater in winter -- and the roasted, frozen ones are there when we want them.