Last week we had an article about how to plant and grow the tomatoes, today is how to harvest and store the tomatoes. Tomorrow I will post my salsa recipe. If anyone has some excellent salsa recipes, please feel free to share them in the comments tomorrow.
Pick tomatoes when they are a deep
red. There is no need to pick a homegrown
tomato early, so let them ripen on the vine; however, before pulling the plant
at the end of the season, pick all ripe, partially ripe, and large green
tomatoes. Place them one layer deep in a
box and lay a few pieces of newspaper on top or in a paper bag folded at the
top. Check them frequently and throw out
any that show signs of spoiling.
Tomatoes can be preserved by freezing
or bottling, but bottling produces a better end product.
To freeze, wash and core the
tomatoes. Then, place them on a cookie
sheet in the freezer until they are frozen and pack in bags. You can also blanch and peel the tomatoes
before freezing. They can be slightly
thawed to put in salads, but don’t wait too long or they turn mushy.
To dry tomatoes, wash, core them and
cut to ¼ inch (7 mm) thick, and then dry in dehydrator at 120 degrees F (50
degrees C) for 8 to 10 hours or until crispy. You can also use a conventional oven at 120
degrees F (50 degrees C) turning the slices a few times. To sundry the tomatoes, dry in the sun for 1
to 2 days until crispy, making sure you bring them in at night or if it is
going to rain. Put in airtight
containers.
*To make the Italian sun-dried
tomatoes, you can pour boiling water over dried pieces to partly hydrate them.
Then, put in clean jars and fill with extra-virgin olive oil. Use within a few
months.
Prepare tomatoes for bottling by running
the bottles in the dishwasher on a warm setting, and leave them going until they
are ready to use. Also, place some water
on the stove on the low setting to warm the lids.
Blanch tomatoes for 30-60 seconds to loosen skins. Then, transfer
them quickly into a bowl of ice water to cool.
1. Peel
tomatoes and you can then either cut in half, or put in the bottles whole.
2. Fill the
bottles until ½ inch head space and then pour in 1 tablespoon for pints and 2
tablespoons for quarts of lemon juice to help preserve. Then, ladle in hot
water until ½ inch head space, and use a plastic or wood spoon along the inside
of the bottle to press out any air bubbles.
3. Wash the
outside of jars, including the rim. Get lids ready; place the lid on and screw
on the ring, snugly, but not overly tight.
4. Process in
a boiling water canner for pints 35 minutes and quarts 40 minutes.
5. After they
are cool, check each jar lid to see if it has a proper seal by pressing on the
center for any give. You can also gently pull up on the lid to double check.
2 comments:
These ideas are great! I'm wondering if there is anything I can do with partially frozen tomatoes? The weather turned cool before I could get out there and pick them all off the vines.
Yes! You can use the in any processed way. They will just not be good to eat fresh. So you can make salsa, bottle them, tomato soup, or marina! Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I have moved this blog to www.thegardenerspot.com so it took me a while to get back to this one. Check that blog out for more ideas and update. Thanks for the comment!! Happy gardening.
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