Here’s how to store tomatoes and keep them fresh and juicy all winter long
Preserving tomatoes to have them available all winter is possible. In fact, we will see how we can preserve it in different ways. Let’s find out.
Store the tomatoes
Our grandparents always taught us that in their time, when summer came, they prepared various canned tomatoes. Usually we used to buy very large quantities of pachino tomatoes or similar, sterilize a large quantity of glass jars and prepare a supply of sauce and peeled tomatoes for the whole winter. In fact, there are many who still try to keep this custom alive today, and others who are doing it, given the excessive increase in prices.
Today I’m going to show you how to preserve tomatoes in another way, very simple but which will allow you to have tomatoes available throughout the winter in different formats. These rules that we are going to see can apply to all types of tomatoes. Obviously, smaller tomatoes can also be kept whole, but larger tomatoes will necessarily have to be cut.
So let’s see how to proceed.
How to store tomatoes
Preparation 20 minutes
Cooking 20 minutes
Equipment
- 1 large pot
- to taste, tips and food bags with airtight seal
- 1 cutting board
- 1 blender
- 1 knife
Ingredients
- 3 kg of cherry tomatoes or whatever you prefer
Instructions
- Let’s start immediately by washing the tomatoes thoroughly and removing the stems.
- We cut each tomato with a knife, creating a side cut that runs along its entire length.
- Fill a saucepan with plenty of water.
- Add the tomatoes and cook for 20 minutes. (if necessary repeat this operation several times until the tomatoes are complete).
- Once cooked, drain the tomatoes and, using a knife, peel them, starting with the incision made previously.
- We can now decide how to store them.
Store tomatoes whole
- In this case, if we have chosen small tomatoes, we can keep them whole.
- We place them in a bowl.
- We pour a spoonful of salt.
- And we cover with water.
- Close the jars and boil them for 20 minutes.
- We turn the jars upside down until they cool (to create a vacuum).
- The jars can be stored in the pantry for 1 year.
Sliced Tomatoes
- Once cooked and peeled, tomatoes can be sliced in different ways.
- We can cut them into quarters or slices.
- Then we close the tomatoes in airtight freezer bags.
- We remove the air and create a vacuum.
- We can therefore store tomatoes in the freezer or refrigerator.
Tomato puree
- You can also blend the tomatoes once cooked.
- Pour them into a blender and mix roughly.
- We will get a rustic tomato puree.
- From now on, you can pour the puree directly into glass jars naturally or with aromas such as basil.
- We close and proceed to boiling the jars for 20 minutes.
- We turn it over and create a vacuum.
- We store jars in the pantry for up to 1 year.
Ideas in the kitchen
These preserves can be used in different and innovative ways. As for tomato puree, it can be used to create traditional dishes like Bolognese sauce . Whole tomatoes can be used for simpler dishes like pan-sautéed spaghetti with cherry tomatoes and basil, or to decorate pizzas and focaccia. Finally, sliced or quartered tomatoes can be cooked to create sauces , or used for rustic pizzas and timbales.
Stock the fridge and pantry with your canned goods and never run out of tomatoes again.