How To: Freeze Summer Tomatoes

Blanched, stewed and frozen. Ready for fall!

Our garden was overflowing with tomatoes and puppies (and puppies who love tomatoes) for a while this summer.

After taking some to work to share, I needed to find another solution. Canning makes me a little nervous and despite their delicious summer perfection, I didn't feel like I had a lot of time to devote to tomato preservation.  I delivered this BALT to Anna and her mom, Jan while she explained how to freeze the tomatoes.

You’ll need:

• A dozen summer tomatoes (or all the summer tomatoes you can manage)
• About 4 cups boiling water in a large pot
• 2, one gallon sized Ziploc baggies
• Sauté pan

Directions:

1. Blanch the tomatoes:  
• Cook the tomatoes in boiling water for about 1 minute.
• Remove transfer to ice water or cold water and let cool completely. This is when the skin begins to separate.
2. Once cool, remove the core and peel the skin off the tomato
3.  Chop/dice/cut into desired size and sauté in a pan for 1-2 minutes until desired consistency then let cool again.
4. Divide tomatoes into different Ziploc baggies. You want as little air in the bags as possible so they freeze flatter and take up less space.   
5. All finished and ready to be frozen until soup weather…or margarita night (salsa anyone?!)