Have your tomatoes been especially generous this year? I don’t know about you now we have an overabundance of vegetables – specifically our tomatoes. This post will discuss how to use up that extra yield in your garden. Let’s start with what you can do with excess tomatoes.
Tomatoes are a summer garden favorite and exceedingly versatile. You can toss them into your dinner dishes, eat them raw and sliced, sit them on top of your pizza, etc., but if you find yourself surrounded by bushels of them, sometimes it is hard to figure out what the hell to do with them.
Here are six practices that you can use to store and use your tomatoes, and I have included some recipes.
1. Give Extra Tomatoes Away
Giving extra tomatoes to friends and co-workers is always a good plan because nothing can beat that garden-grown, sun-kissed taste of fresh tomatoes. After gifting if you still have tomatoes left, try gifting to a homeless sanctuary or a school that gives to those in the community that are in need. You could also contact a regional major core and find majors that need help elongating its own budget. Having a garden-variety is a blessing and an excellent way to extend your bounty to other people.
2. Freeze Tomatoes
Tomatoes freeze easily and you are eligible to even “re going away” with not blanching them. All you need to do is rinse, gave them into a freezer suitcase or receptacle, and then place them into your freezer. When you are ready to use them, gargle each tomato with warm water. You will notice the surface comes right off, and then it can be used in soups and sauces. I slice them in half and scoop out the seeds and remove the spot where the stem used to be. Be sure not to thaw them first since they are turn squishy.
3. Can Tomatoes
You can make your own entire, halved, diced, or crushed tomatoes canned tomatoes. Due to the high-pitched acid content of tomatoes, liquid tub canning is perfect for canned tomatoes. Read more about spray soak canning here. Here is how to do it.
Fire Tomato Recipe
Ingredients
13 -lbs tomatoes
9 tbs converged lemon juice
Directions
Wash and value the tomatoes. Blanch the tomatoes by declining them in a container of stewing spray for approximately one minute. Remove the tomatoes with a slotted spoonful and lieu them in an ice-water bath. Rind off the scalp when the tomatoes are cool enough to handle. Compute 2 tbs lemon liquor per quart or 1 tbs per pint. Complete each hot, sterilized jar with peeled, entire, halved, diced, or crushed tomatoes, and be sure to include their liquids, and leave 1/2 – to 3/4 -inch headspace from the top. Remove aura froths by loping a spear along the side of the receptacle, and then wipe the rims empty. Place a sterilized eyelid and then clamped on the canning strips until they are finger tight. Process the tomatoes in a hot water bath.( The recommended process meter for my area is one hour and 25 times, but that varies by altitude, so double-check yours .) Remove the cups and allow them to cool before accumulating.
4. Pickle the Tomatoes
Did you know that you can make refrigerator marinaded cherry-red tomatoes? I can’t think of a better addition to a Fourth of July picnic or beach accumulate. You could also lent that is something that a charcuterie timber. So go out and gather up a mixture of colorful tomatoes. My favorites for pickling are the yellow and red pear cherry tomatoes. Yum!
Pickled Tomatoes
Ingredients
8 oz amber pear cherry tomatoes 8 oz red pear cherry-red tomatoes 2 sprigs of rosemary 4 stems of fresh dill 1 tbs black peppercorns 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 4 cloves garlic
Pickle Brine
1 1/3 beaker lily-white vinegar 1/3 cup granulated sugar 2 tbs Himalayan Sea salt or pickling salt 1 goblet spray
Directions
Remove any branches or needles from your freshly picked tomatoes and protrude small-scale flaws into each of them. Next, divide the tomatoes between two, 16 -oz mason pots. Include 2 fresh dill sprigs per pot and 1 rosemary sprig. Divide the peppercorns, red pepper flakes, and garlic between the two containers. Generate the ingredients for the brine to a boil over high heat until the sugar evaporates. Remove the brine mixture from the hot and allow it to cool for 10 instants. Pour the brine mixture over the tomatoes, rosemary, garlic, and dill. Cover with a tight lid and shivering for two days. Store in your refrigerator for up to two months.
5. Make Delicious Sauces
Who doesn’t desire sauces shaped with garden-fresh vegetables. You can oblige homemade marinara sauce or “re trying” of my favorite tomato sauce recipes. My kids enjoy it!
Homemade Tomato Sauce
Any blemish-free, firm-flesh tomato from your garden or from a farmer’s market can be used to meet homemade tomato sauce. If your tomato has a blemish spot, then cut off the defaces before using. Traditional Italian recipes call for a Roma tomato because they have thicker skin, firmer chassis, and less sweat. You can even use colored tomatoes for a colorful heirloom tomato sauce. I love to reach homemade tomato sauce with my frozen tomatoes, and I am positive that you will too.
Ingredients
1/2 goblet olive oil 8 cloves of garlic 1 diced onion 20-24 vanquished frozen tomatoes 14-oz tomato sauce 2 tbs tomato glue 1/2 tsp dried basil 1/2 tsp dried oregano 1 sprig of fresh basil 1 parmesan rind Salt and pepper to perceive
Directions
In a Dutch oven, combining the olive oil and garlic cloves in a large saucepan over medium-low heat and cook, budging rarely until the garlic has softened and turned a gilded chocolate-brown. Once they have turned golden, being withdrawn from the flowerpot and adjusted them aside for last-minute. Include the onion to the oil and cook until translucent. Add the crushed tomatoes. I like to hand crush them. It’s easy since the tomatoes were already frozen. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Chopper the earmarked garlic and add it to the sauce. Arouse in the parmesan crust and contributed the basil. Bring the sauce to a smolder and concoct until it has increased in dye and shortened slightly or reached a thickness that you prefer. I cook it on low-grade heat to keep it from burning, and I stimulate seldom for a few hours. Frozen tomatoes harboured additional ocean, so it takes a little while to cook off the extra liquid content. When the sauce is ready, abandoned the parmesan husk and basil. If you are serving right away, top it with fresh basil and parmesan cheese If you aren’t going to use the sauce right away, then pour the finished sauce into receptacles. You can freeze the sauce for up to a week, freeze it, or can it. If you do can them, add 2 tbs lemon juice or 1/2 tsp citric battery-acid to boost the sournes. Canned tomato sauce will obstruct for at least one year if it is stored in a cool, dry, dark environment.
No-sugar Added Homemade Ketchup
My daughter has epilepsy and cannot have store-bought ketchup. If I am transparent, it helps my son and I out because we are both on a Ketogenic diet. This recipe has become a family favorite.
Ingredients
3 medium tomatoes 3/4 cup tomato paste 1 tbs apple cider vinegar 1 tsp salt 1/8 beaker friar result 1 tsp onion pulverization 1 tsp garlic 1 tinge of allspice *If you want to add a little kick, contributed a tinge of chilli pepper
Directions
Clean and chop tomatoes. I chipped them in half, withdraw existing seeds, and cut off where the stem was attached to the tomato. Neighbourhood the tomatoes in a saucepan or small-scale Dutch oven and allow them to stew for a few minutes. As they smolder, mush them. Add the salt, onion powder, monk return, tomato glue, vinegar, garlic, and allspice, and cause the motley evaporate for approximately one minute. Remove the concoction from hot and either employment a hand emulsifier or a blender to puree until the combination is smooth. Contribute the combination back to the saucepan and cook for a few minutes more. If you aren’t going to use the sauce right away, then pour the finished sauce into jars. You can freeze the sauce for up to a week, freeze it, or can it. If you do can them, add 2 tbs lemon liquid or 1/2 tsp citric acid to boost the acidity. Canned tomato sauce will hinder for at least one year if it is stored in a cool, dry, dark environment.
6. Create a Delectable Soup
There was no like fresh tomato soup. It’s unquestionably their own families favorite at my home! My son had his wisdom teeth removed last week, and he could only have pureed soups. He requested my Beer Cheese Soup and Creamy Basil Tomato Soup. No matter what season it is outside, Tomato Basil Soup is a favorite that gets you thumbs up from your pickiest eaters every time.
Creamy Basil Tomato Soup
Ingredients
1/4 goblet butter 1/4 cup olive or avocado oil 1.5 cups diced onions 4 cloves garlic 10-12 whole humbled tomatoes 1/2 beaker fresh basil leaves 1/2 tsp Himalayan Sea salt( or to savor) 1/2 tsp seasoning( or to taste) 1-quart chicken asset 1 cup heavy cream 2 tbs sherry 1 tsp monk result
Directions
In a large saucepan, saute the onions and garlic in butter and olive oil over medium heat until the garlic is sweet-scented, and the onions are translucent. Contribute tomatoes, chopped basil, salt, and spice. Spew in the chicken furnish, shorten the heat to low-pitched, and cook for about 15 minutes. Utilize an emulsifier, merger until the soup is smooth and then return the soup to a steam. Shorten hot to low-toned and mix in the heavy cream, sherry, and friar return.
* Some parties made the soup through a sieve before serving.
If you have found yourself stuck on what you should do with your tomato reap, I hope this helps you out of your bushel-filled bind.