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It’s getting late in the season for local tomatoes and I have a ton of extras that I need to do something with. The best and easiest way to preserve fresh tomatoes is to freeze them. Canning is also good, but it can be a lot of work and my schedule is packed, so freezing is my preservation method of choice.
To freeze fresh tomatoes, you need to follow a few steps, but all in all, it’s very easy to do and you will be happy you did when the middle of winter rolls around.
How to Freeze Fresh Tomatoes
To freeze fresh tomatoes, you need to follow a few steps, but all in all, it’s very easy to do and you will be happy you did when the middle of winter rolls around.
Ingredients
- Fresh tomatoes
Instructions
- Wash tomatoes and score the bottoms with a little “x”. Scoring will help the skin peel off easier.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and prepare a large bowl with cold water and ice so that you can put the tomatoes in there immediately after blanching.
- Once the water is boiling, add the tomatoes to the pot (you may have to do this in batches, depending on how many tomatoes you have).
- Blanch the tomatoes for 30-45 seconds.
- Immediately remove the tomatoes and submerge them in the ice bath and let cool for 5-10 minutes, adding more ice if needed.
- Once the tomatoes have cooled, cut the core out and peel the skin off. The skin should peel off without any work.
- Cut the tomatoes into halves or quarters (depending on how big they are) and scoop out the seeds. Toss the deseeded pieces into a colander to drain. You want to try to get as much water drained off as possible.
- Once all of the tomatoes have been deseeded and drained, you can now portion them up and freeze them. I like to vacuum seal them. I find that the Ziploc vacuum sealer works really well and it is very inexpensive, so it makes food preservation that much more economical. Make sure you label and date the packages.
Now, when you want tomatoes for soup, chili, stew, or spaghetti sauce, you will have fresh tomatoes on hand. And, it is a great sense of accomplishment to know that you have preserved your own food. Makes me feel like I am more in control of the ingredients I use for my cooking!
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Thanks very much for that! My mum recently harvested a garden full of tomatoes before the winter really set in, and I found myself the owner of two or four buckets worth! Of course I couldnt eat them all, but I did find a website full of tons more tomato recipe at this site. A whole website dedicated the topic!! Crazy what you can find on the internetz these days!!
You can also use food sealer to keep its freshness.
I would of never knew you could freeze tomatoes or squash if I didn’t see this advertisement pretty cool
Hi Amber! Yep! You can! Helps preserve some of the delicious summer harvest for the dead of winter! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
I simply wash and dry mine, and freeze them whole – skin on. When I’m ready to use them (I just take out 1 or more depending on how many I need) and run them under hot water for just a second. The skin will slip right off. Then, if I want them diced or sliced, I use a serrated knife and cut them while they are still frozen (if they’re too hard, I only have to wait 5 minutes or so and they will be thawed enough to cut). If they are really small, I might use them whole or just cut them in half. If I need them crushed or pureed, I’ll let them thaw completely and then process the same as if they were fresh.
Great tips Nicole! 🙂
You really don’t need to blanch them. Wash and freeze whole. When you thaw them the skin just slips off. If you don’t want seeds in whatever you’re making, you can remove them when thawed. But removing seeds does remove some flavor.
Hi Leslie – Thanks for sharing! I’ll give that a try next time. I was always taught to do it this way, but I’m all about saving time and effort! 😉