This past week we harvested more than 60 purple calabash tomatoes, all grown from seed (purchased from the Monticello Garden Shop!). Who knew that in my tiny suburban townhome back yard I could have such abundance? Remember when I was starting out (see post here). Well, they ended up growing like crazy.
Being that I have a small family, I decided to stew and freeze them so that we can enjoy our bounty this winter. Here is what I did:
- Add tomatoes to rapidly boiling water for 5 minutes
- Immediately immerse in ice water for 5 minutes
- Pull the skins off (when you boil then chill, they come off easily!)
- Add garlic, salt and herbs if you like
- Pack in freezer containers and freeze!
I guess you can also can these, but I have never done that before. I am sure there are resources on the web and in bookstores that explain how. I will leave that for next summer.
If you have resources to share on how to harvest and store your home-grown harvest – please share!
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You would love dried tomato slices seasoned with sea salt and Italian seasonings. When they are crisp it is like pizza chips – all natural and healthy! Come over to my blog and leave a comment as entry into the drawing for an Excalibur dehydrator.
Thanks Angie! This sounds delicious – a drawing for a dehydrator? I am SO there!
You can also freeze them whole. Wash and put them in a freezer bag, then just take out how ever many you need at a time. Hold the frozen tomatoes under warm running water for a couple of seconds and the skins slide right off. Let them thaw a bit, then you can cut them up easily. Great for pasta sauce and soups.
Tomato sauce is also easy to make. Peel and quarter lots of tomatoes, toss in a stockpot, add some olive oil, basil, other herbs and salt and pepper, then simmer for 5-7 hours, until sauce is reduced by a third. You can then can or freeze the sauce in quart jars.