Freezer Tomatoes

Directions

We are lucky to have such an abundant tomato crop this year from Farmer Frank. The heirloom varieties have been tasty and beautiful! We do receive these tomatoes at their peak of ripeness, which means they should be used right away. If you aren’t able to eat all your tomatoes that soon, don’t let them go
to waste. You can freeze them, to be used in sauces later. The easiest way to do this is to cut the tomatoes in half, removing any hard core (squeezing out the majority of the seeds, if desired) and grating the cut side of the tomato on the large holes of a hand held grater. The juicy flesh will grate through, while the skin will remain whole in your hand. (Discard the skin or save it to use with corn stalks in a delicious summer vegetable broth.) Freeze the tomato sauce in ice cube trays,
transferring to a freezer bag once frozen. The tomatoes will add a delicious flavor to soups and sauces; just keep in mind that they are much juicier than canned sauce when using them in recipes.

If you’re short of time, you can simply put whole tomatoes in freezer bags and then in the freezer. When they thaw, they’re only good for sauce, of course, but this is a quick and easy way to save them.

Submitted by Sara Jones, Tucson CSA