storing/freezing tomatoes

Quoted message said:

[snip]
This week they have heirloom tomatoes for about 79 cents a pound.

I want to buy a whole bunch for use in tomato sauce. If I cut them up
and put them into a plastic container, will they freeze and defrost
well?

Okay. Or you can just freeze them whole -- put them in the freezer as
they come from the store. When they're frozen, then bag or box them.
Unfortunately, the texture won't hold for slicing or salads, but
they'll be fine for sauces. -aem

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

I've got a great market near my house that has great discount prices on
produce.

This week they have heirloom tomatoes for about 79 cents a pound.

I want to buy a whole bunch for use in tomato sauce. If I cut them up
and put them into a plastic container, will they freeze and defrost
well?

Probably not. They need to be boiled, if only briefly, to destroy enzymes
that will degreade them.

--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

Peter Aitken said:

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've got a great market near my house that has great discount prices on
produce.

This week they have heirloom tomatoes for about 79 cents a pound.

I want to buy a whole bunch for use in tomato sauce. If I cut them up
and put them into a plastic container, will they freeze and defrost
well?

Probably not. They need to be boiled, if only briefly, to destroy enzymes
that will degreade them.

Should I just drop them whole into boiling water?

"Briefly" means what...5-10 seconds?

Quoted message said:

--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

Peter Aitken said:

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've got a great market near my house that has great discount prices on
produce.

This week they have heirloom tomatoes for about 79 cents a pound.

I want to buy a whole bunch for use in tomato sauce. If I cut them up
and put them into a plastic container, will they freeze and defrost
well?

Probably not. They need to be boiled, if only briefly, to destroy enzymes
that will degreade them.

Not really true with tomatoes. They are usually scalded in order to
loosen the skins for peeling before freezing them, but they are not
cooked long enough to blanch them.

Some people just freeze them whole and peel them as they thaw them.
That's what I would do for freezing a few of tomatoes.

I wouldn't pay 79¢ per pound for tomatoes to freeze for cooking though;
commercial canned tomatoes are better for cooking IMHO.

Buy a bunch of the tomatoes and eat BLT sandwiches, tomato and
mayonnaise sandwiches, fresh salads with tomatoes, etc. Buy canned
tomatoes for cooking.

Bob

Quoted message said:

I've got a great market near my house that has great discount prices on
produce.

This week they have heirloom tomatoes for about 79 cents a pound.

I want to buy a whole bunch for use in tomato sauce. If I cut them up
and put them into a plastic container, will they freeze and defrost
well?

Just put them on trays and freeze them whole, then pop them into freezer
bags in weighed quantities. When you make the sauce or soup just put
them in the pan frozen and they'll collapse with the heat.

Christine

zxcvbob said:

Peter Aitken said:

Probably not. They need to be boiled, if only briefly, to destroy enzymes
that will degreade them.

Quoted message said:

Not really true with tomatoes. They are usually scalded in order to
loosen the skins for peeling before freezing them, but they are not
cooked long enough to blanch them.

Some people just freeze them whole and peel them as they thaw them.
That's what I would do for freezing a few of tomatoes.

That's what I've done with home grown tomatoes. When you take them out
of the freezer the skin slips off quickly as they begin to thaw.
Whether their store bought status means there are enzymes to worry
about, I don't know.

Quoted message said:

I wouldn't pay 79¢ per pound for tomatoes to freeze for cooking though;
commercial canned tomatoes are better for cooking IMHO.

I agree in general, except that he said these are 'heirloom' tomatoes.
Some of those old varieties have great taste. I grow mostly
Brandywines for that reason. -aem

zxcvbob said:

Peter Aitken said:

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've got a great market near my house that has great discount prices on
produce.

This week they have heirloom tomatoes for about 79 cents a pound.

I want to buy a whole bunch for use in tomato sauce. If I cut them up
and put them into a plastic container, will they freeze and defrost
well?

Probably not. They need to be boiled, if only briefly, to destroy
enzymes that will degreade them.

Not really true with tomatoes. They are usually scalded in order to
loosen the skins for peeling before freezing them, but they are not
cooked long enough to blanch them.

Some people just freeze them whole and peel them as they thaw them.
That's what I would do for freezing a few of tomatoes.

I wouldn't pay 79¢ per pound for tomatoes to freeze for cooking
though; commercial canned tomatoes are better for cooking IMHO.

Buy a bunch of the tomatoes and eat BLT sandwiches, tomato and
mayonnaise sandwiches, fresh salads with tomatoes, etc. Buy canned
tomatoes for cooking.

Bob

I never scald mine, but I don't peel them either, I put the sauce or
soup through a food mill.

Canned tomatoes are indeed good for cooking, better than fresh for most
recipes, but has nobody ever *given* you a load of tomatoes? It's not
unusual at this time of year, I'm not going to knock them back if I can
freeze them for later.

Christine

Old Mother Ashby said:

zxcvbob said:

Peter Aitken said:

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

> I've got a great market near my house that has great discount prices on
> produce.
>
> This week they have heirloom tomatoes for about 79 cents a pound.
>
> I want to buy a whole bunch for use in tomato sauce. If I cut them up
> and put them into a plastic container, will they freeze and defrost
> well?
>

Probably not. They need to be boiled, if only briefly, to destroy
enzymes that will degreade them.

Not really true with tomatoes. They are usually scalded in order to
loosen the skins for peeling before freezing them, but they are not
cooked long enough to blanch them.

Some people just freeze them whole and peel them as they thaw them.
That's what I would do for freezing a few of tomatoes.

I wouldn't pay 79¢ per pound for tomatoes to freeze for cooking
though; commercial canned tomatoes are better for cooking IMHO.

Buy a bunch of the tomatoes and eat BLT sandwiches, tomato and
mayonnaise sandwiches, fresh salads with tomatoes, etc. Buy canned
tomatoes for cooking.

Bob

I never scald mine, but I don't peel them either, I put the sauce or
soup through a food mill.

Canned tomatoes are indeed good for cooking, better than fresh for most
recipes, but has nobody ever *given* you a load of tomatoes? It's not
unusual at this time of year, I'm not going to knock them back if I can
freeze them for later.

Christine

That's not the case here.

I have frozen and canned many hundreds of pounds of tomatoes (not at one
time <g>.) OP was talking about buying "heirloom" tomatoes at 79¢ per
pound and freezing them for cooking with later. That's over $40 per
bushel. Not knowing what variety they are (Brandywine?), I still think
she'd be better off buying 5 or 10 pounds of 'em and pigging out on
fresh tomatoes for a week.

Even though I freeze tomatoes, they are not as good as canned. And
home-canned are not as good as commercially canned. (Home canned salsa
is a different matter.) It would be a waste of good tomatoes unless she
gets them for free, or close to it.

Bob

Quoted message said:

I've got a great market near my house that has great discount prices on
produce.

This week they have heirloom tomatoes for about 79 cents a pound.

I want to buy a whole bunch for use in tomato sauce. If I cut them up
and put them into a plastic container, will they freeze and defrost
well?

A sin to cook heirloom tomatoes, and also quite stupid. Their water
content is too high for sauce, you'd need to simmer them for at least
24 hours to reduce them enough to become sauce and then you'd not have
very much... you'd only be wasting them.... use these for salads, wait
for Romas to make sauce.

Sheldon

Quoted message said:

Should I just drop them whole into boiling water?

"Briefly" means what...5-10 seconds?

What I'd do is I'd blanche them, take the skins off, dump them in a
big pot, and cook them for 5 - 10 minutes. Let them cool somewhat,
then dump them into some kind of freezer-friendly storage containers.
You can use ziploc bags, margarine containers, or even glass jars.

If you put them in the freezer right away, there's no need for any
kind of further processing.

(The ziplog bags will take up the least amount of space in your
freezer.)

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Peter Aitken said:

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've got a great market near my house that has great discount prices on
produce.

This week they have heirloom tomatoes for about 79 cents a pound.

I want to buy a whole bunch for use in tomato sauce. If I cut them up
and put them into a plastic container, will they freeze and defrost
well?

Probably not. They need to be boiled, if only briefly, to destroy enzymes
that will degreade them.

Should I just drop them whole into boiling water?

"Briefly" means what...5-10 seconds?

No, that's not what I mean. Cut them up and put the pieces, with juice and
nothing else, into a pan. Bring to a boil for a minute or 2 and them let
cool and then freeze. Or, as I do, you can simmer for a while to boil off
some of the water and get a more concentrated result.

--
Peter Aitken

"Peter Aitken" <[email hidden]> hitched up their panties and
posted news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've got a great market near my house that has great discount prices
on produce.

This week they have heirloom tomatoes for about 79 cents a pound.

I want to buy a whole bunch for use in tomato sauce. If I cut them
up and put them into a plastic container, will they freeze and
defrost well?

Probably not. They need to be boiled, if only briefly, to destroy
enzymes that will degreade them.

I find you a plethora of info these days. Howz ya' doing these days?

Michael

--
“It requires a certain kind of mind to see beauty in a hamburger bun.”
_Ray Kroc, creator of the McDonald's franchise

zxcvbob said:

Old Mother Ashby said:

zxcvbob said:

Peter Aitken wrote:

> <[email hidden]> wrote in message
> news:[email hidden]...
>
>> I've got a great market near my house that has great discount
>> prices on
>> produce.
>>
>> This week they have heirloom tomatoes for about 79 cents a pound.
>>
>> I want to buy a whole bunch for use in tomato sauce. If I cut
>> them up
>> and put them into a plastic container, will they freeze and defrost
>> well?
>>
>
>
> Probably not. They need to be boiled, if only briefly, to destroy
> enzymes that will degreade them.
>
>

Not really true with tomatoes. They are usually scalded in order to
loosen the skins for peeling before freezing them, but they are not
cooked long enough to blanch them.

Some people just freeze them whole and peel them as they thaw them.
That's what I would do for freezing a few of tomatoes.

I wouldn't pay 79¢ per pound for tomatoes to freeze for cooking
though; commercial canned tomatoes are better for cooking IMHO.

Buy a bunch of the tomatoes and eat BLT sandwiches, tomato and
mayonnaise sandwiches, fresh salads with tomatoes, etc. Buy canned
tomatoes for cooking.

Bob

I never scald mine, but I don't peel them either, I put the sauce or
soup through a food mill.

Canned tomatoes are indeed good for cooking, better than fresh for
most recipes, but has nobody ever *given* you a load of tomatoes?
It's not unusual at this time of year, I'm not going to knock them
back if I can freeze them for later.

Christine

That's not the case here.

I have frozen and canned many hundreds of pounds of tomatoes (not at
one time <g>.) OP was talking about buying "heirloom" tomatoes at 79¢
per pound and freezing them for cooking with later. That's over $40
per bushel. Not knowing what variety they are (Brandywine?), I still
think she'd be better off buying 5 or 10 pounds of 'em and pigging out
on fresh tomatoes for a week.

Even though I freeze tomatoes, they are not as good as canned. And
home-canned are not as good as commercially canned. (Home canned
salsa is a different matter.) It would be a waste of good tomatoes
unless she gets them for free, or close to it.

Bob

You're right, I overlooked the word heirloom.

Christine

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

I've got a great market near my house that has great discount prices on
produce.

This week they have heirloom tomatoes for about 79 cents a pound.

I want to buy a whole bunch for use in tomato sauce. If I cut them up
and put them into a plastic container, will they freeze and defrost
well?

You will lose texture. Big time!

I'd suggest you learn to can.......

Tomatoes are one of the easiest things in the world to can. :-)
--
Peace, Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack Nicholson

OmManiPadmeOmelet said:

You will lose texture. Big time!

I'd suggest you learn to can.......

Tomatoes are one of the easiest things in the world to can. :-)
--

Oh, come on. We know you are an expert canner, but that doesn't mean
we think you are able to can tomatoes without radically changing their
texture. :-)

Freezing is for the rest of us, and in a case like this it's far
easier, probably safer (since we don't know how to can), and produces
a very similar result. -aem

Peter Aitken said:

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've got a great market near my house that has great discount prices on
produce.

This week they have heirloom tomatoes for about 79 cents a pound.

I want to buy a whole bunch for use in tomato sauce. If I cut them up
and put them into a plastic container, will they freeze and defrost
well?

Quoted message said:

Probably not. They need to be boiled, if only briefly, to destroy enzymes
that will degreade them.

I'd also try gently roasting some of them. Halved, seeded and roasted
at 325F for 35-40 minutes of so, watching to be sure they don't burn

modom

aem said:

OmManiPadmeOmelet said:

You will lose texture. Big time!

I'd suggest you learn to can.......

Tomatoes are one of the easiest things in the world to can. :-)
--

Oh, come on. We know you are an expert canner, but that doesn't mean
we think you are able to can tomatoes without radically changing their
texture. :-)

Freezing is for the rest of us, and in a case like this it's far
easier, probably safer (since we don't know how to can), and produces
a very similar result. -aem

Canning destroys the texture, although I'm working on that (calcium
chloride, etc.) Freezing gives them a nasty texture, although if you
cook them enough afterwards the texture goes away.

Frozen tomatoes almost taste fresh (except for the nasty texture.)
Canned tomatoes taste cooked.

Bob

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

I've got a great market near my house that has great discount prices on
produce.

This week they have heirloom tomatoes for about 79 cents a pound.

I want to buy a whole bunch for use in tomato sauce. If I cut them up
and put them into a plastic container, will they freeze and defrost
well?

Why not make a big batch of the sauce and then freeze the sauce in small
containers or jar it? My dad used to grow a bumper crop of tomatoes.
When the tomato season was over, whatever tomatoes he still had after
eating the others and given away some were made into tomato sauce,
jarred, and stuck in his 'fridge. He had sauce all winter!

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I've got a great market near my house that has great discount prices on
produce.

This week they have heirloom tomatoes for about 79 cents a pound.

I want to buy a whole bunch for use in tomato sauce. If I cut them up
and put them into a plastic container, will they freeze and defrost
well?

I used to buy whole boxes of tomatoes a while back for a couple of bucks in the
season (the person who brought them in by the truckload is no longer in
business unfortunately).
Wash, dry, free-flow freeze with the skin on. I used baking trays, then
transferred them into ziplock bags once they were frozen. They don't seem to
get freezer burn with the skin intact. I'd just add them to stews frozen, or
cut them into slices with a serrated knife for pizzas ... they didn't defrost
all that well, mine turned to mush, that's why I always used them frozen.

-P.

--
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