Tomato Time

June 21, 2020

Because tomatoes are abundant in the garden and at the market right now, I wanted to share a quick tip as you process and possibly can all those scrumptious, ruby orbs.

If you like to make your own sauce, you’ll find recipes that tell you how to peel, core, etc. Personally, I like to skip that step and use a device to do that. I have an attachment for my stand mixer that strains out all the skins and seeds and leaves me with the pure juiced, tomatoes.

The first thing I do is wash them and take off the stem. Then, in a big pot on the stove, place a few halves in a bottom layer and cook on low until the juices come out. After that, you can add more tomatoes, a layer at a time until the pot is full. Put the lid on the pot and cook just until the tomatoes are softened. (Or, you can wash and freeze the tomatoes which will bring them to a soft texture without any heating. Just place in a single layer on a tray lined with parchment paper and place in your freezer. Once frozen, you can bag and store frozen until you're ready to deal with them. Thaw and proceed with the straining/skinning.)

Once they are soft enough, I run them through my fruit/veg strainer. I have this attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer, but you can also use a manual Mouli or similar.

I collect the juice in large pitchers and catch the seeds and stems in a bowl. Then I place the pitchers in the refrigerator overnight and let the solids settle to the bottom. In the morning, I ladle off the top layer of liquid. This tomato water is an intensely flavored and refreshing drink that will revive you on the hottest day of summer. Test me and see if I’m wrong. Farmers and folks who work in the heat, you NEED this.

From 1 liter of my tomato puree, I get 600ml of tomato juice and 400ml of tomato water. And to think, prior to learning this trick I had been cooking this down and letting all that liquid go up into thin air.

The remaining ‘juice’ can be canned as is, or cooked down just a little for tomato sauce and frozen or canned. If you are canning, just make sure you use a safe tested recipe. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can3_tomato.html is a guaranteed safe source.

If you are very thrifty or adventurous, spread the skins and seeds that would normally be thrown out onto a sheet tray lined with parchment and dehydrate in your oven on the lowest setting you have. My oven has a dehydrate feature, but if yours doesn’t you have a couple of options. For a gas oven, the pilot light is often enough to dehydrate most things overnight or all day. In an electric oven, you may be able to do the same thing with just the oven light on. You’re looking for a temperature of about 150F.

Once the skins and seeds are dry, they look really gross. Like scabs. That’s how you know they’re done. Sorry. You can grind this up with your spice grinder, that is, a cheap coffee grinder that you use only for spices. It is great for thickening soups and stews and for making dips.

Be thrifty, be healthy, eat well!