Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Freezing tomatoes (the easy way)

For the past 3 years I have utterly failed at growing a garden. I am not good at weeding (partially due to allergies), but I honestly just don't like it. So for the past few years I haven't had fresh garden tomatoes from my own garden. There is just something about knowing you grew your own produce... it just tastes better! 
Last year I purchased large quantities of tomatoes from one of our friend's local organic farms. Their tomatoes were delicious and had beautiful color. I decided to take an afternoon to freeze the tomatoes, however something didn't work because a month later when I went to get some diced tomatoes out of the freezer they had a white mold growing on them. So into the trash they went. 
This year I was bound and determined to freeze tomatoes and have them work so I can add them to soups and chili's this fall/winter. After searching on Pinterest and reading through several different methods this one sounded the easiest since there was no pre-boiling or removing of skins. It also came from a huge canning website - so hoping it will work for us. 
Yesterday I gathered a group of my tomatoes out of my garden and decided to give this new method a try! 
Step 1: Gather your tomatoes, a cutting board, good knife, food processor,  and muffin tins.

Step 2: Remove the core of the tomatoes and dice them up! Remove as many of the seeds as possible! 

Don't they look delicious!

Step 3: Add tomatoes in small groups to your food processor and puree to desired texture. I like a few chunks of tomatoes in mine. 

Yum! - Preparing for puree!

Step 4: Spray your muffin tins with a cooking spray. Pour pureed tomatoes into muffin tins. Freeze for 4 hours.

To remove tomatoes: Set muffin tins in warm water to loosen discs. Put discs into labeled freezer bags and place in freezer! ENJOY later! 

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