It was a long hot summer here in the northwest and now we are in a blissful tomato avalanche. They are all ripening at light speed. I savor this window of perfect ripeness– plucking little Sungold cherry tomatoes off the vine and popping them like candy, topping every dish with juicy slabs of slicing tomatoes with a drizzle of olive oil and a dash of salt and pepper– but it’s hard to keep up! In years past, I often scrambled to give them away because it’s heart-breaking to let that kind of nourishing perfection go to waste. Each year I would think to myself, “I really need to learn to can or at least make time to scald these tomatoes so I can freeze them.” I didn’t know until last summer that it could be THIS simple!
Without further ado, allow me to share one of my prized new tips for the busy (or lazy, or just plain efficient) tomato growing food-lover.
The simplest hassle-free way of preserving tomatoes:
Chop and Freeze. That’s it.
Chop them up, put them in containers (freezer safe glass, plastic storage containers, old yogurt containers, anything will do), smoosh them down so they are steeped in their juices, and stick them in the freezer. Done.
All winter long, rather that opening a can of diced stewed tomatoes for your chilli, soup, sauce, or stuffed cabbage recipe, just pull them out of the freezer and enjoy your home grown goodness.
Really. No boiling water, no pressure cooker, no peeling skins off, and no hot jar holding devices. No stress. Just a sharp knife, a container, your tomatoes, and minutes. That’s all it takes to keep the abundance of the harvest season lasting beyond the waning days of late summer. May no tomato fall to the ground rotten this year and may your freezer be stocked with the best.
Here’s to eating well and keeping it simple!
