Freezing tomatoes--'tis the season.

Like it or not, the fruit and veggie seasons are quickly coming and going.  They are not stopping to wait for me to be less busy so that I can freeze, dehydrate, and can them.  No, I have to work around their schedule, not vice versa.

Right now it's tomatoes.  They are coming to the farmers market by the box-load.  I picked up a 20 lb box on Saturday, so that I can have some summer-sunshine in my lunches and dinners through the dark winter months.  But...time is of the essence, so I had to figure out how to best get this job done quickly.

I learned something great from a lady at the farmer's market, who grows a lot of the things we've been eating all summer.  She told me she just freezes her tomatoes, whole.  Then when she wants to use them, she just runs them under the tap water, and the skins slip right off.  Cut out the core, and they are ready to go into the pot for soups, stews and sauces.

The idea intreagues me, because...lets be honest...it involves, like, no work whatsoever, and virtually no time investment, unlike canning, and even dehydrating (which is far less work than canning, in my opinion).

So I looked for a reliable web resource to make sure I wasn't missing anything, and to make sure this was a safe and well-tested food preservation technique.  Major university extension departments are usually the best place to find such information, as they usually have up-to-the-minute research, and funding for new research all the time, on the topic of food safety and preservation.

The first university document I came up with on the particular technique was out of UC Davis.  I will link it for you right here .  This document recommends cutting out the stem scar prior to freezing.  Our own county extension agent (who I've been spending a lot of time with lately...I've been taking lots excellent food preservation classes from her) suggested perhaps leaving the stem scar intact to reduce cut surface area that would be more prone to freezer burn.  That was simpler and less messy, so I decide to try that route.

I wish I had the time right now to can tomatoes and make and can salsa, but this isn't the best time for immersion in such a delightful pursuit, sadly.  And tomato season waits for no man (or woman).  So I gotta just "make hay while the sun shines", and get them stored up as quickly as possible.

Truthfully, there's NOTHING like summer tomatoes.  They can not be replicated by those cardboard-tasting imposters that masquerade as tomatoes in the stores in the dead of winter.  (Those things make me sad.)  The next best thing is commercially canned, in my opinion, especially Muir Glen fire roasted (my fave)...but I don't love to serve food that comes out of a can super often, because of BPA in the can lining.  I'm not going to freak out over using some commercially canned tomatoes sometimes...but...the less BPA the better, in my opinion; and these freezer bags are BPA free.

Here's the 20 lb box I bought.  Paid $20. for it.

I washed the tomatoes and dried them off.  Then laid them on parchment-lined baking sheets and stuck them in the freezer.

The next day I took the rock-hard frozen tomatoes and sealed them up in vacuum-sealed food saver bags, but you could easily just use freezer ziplock bags.  Just try to squeeze as much air out of them as possible before sealing.

Use oven mits to handle the cold trays, and then use tongs to transfer the frozen tomatoes into bags, so you don't freeze your fingers!

Into the deep freezer you go.  See you in December.