Ok all you super home-canners out there - it's time to ante up. I've given out loads of advice on how to reduce your impact, find imaginary boyfriends and frighten your neighbors and now I'm the one that needs some help.
Last fall, I got a SUPER deal on a huge box of tomatoes so I decided to can them. Well, I got as far as blanching them and removing the skins before something shiny caught my attention and I put the canning project on hold. I put the naked tomatoes in some bread wrappers and tossed them in the freezer. After my four-month coffee break, I've decided to finish processing them.
Question 1. - Is this a lost cause? I hate to toss them because I joined Crunchy Chicken's No Waste Challenge and how big of an ass will I look if my first weeks' waste total is like 20 pounds?!?!?
Question 2. - Not really sure I want to "can" them, per se. I'd like to stick them in the crockpot until they turn to mush, cast a magic spell to remove all the seeds, then add some spices to create the world's most perfect spaghetti sauce. Is this possible?
Question 3. - OK, that's what I'd LIKE to do. Realistically, what is the simplest way to finish processing these? We like stewed tomatoes here. Is it possible I can just pull a couple out a time, heat them up and serve them with dinner?
Any help on this would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!
All My Internet Love,
Erin
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Supplemental Post - HELP!!!!
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6 comments:
As long as they don't taste "freezer-ey' you can indeed make the worlds best spaghetti sauce or stewed tomatoes from them. Any recipe calling for peeled canned tomatoes will use these...potroast, soup.
Oh, that 'magic spell' thingey you mentioned, to get rid of the seeds?..it's called a strainer.
Question 1: No. It is not a lost cause.
Question 2: It is possible to leave them in the freezer until you need them, if they are not freezer burned (you'll know by looking at them).
Question 3: The simplest thing to do is to leave them in the freezer until you want to use them, and then pull them out and use them like you would stewed tomatoes.
Enjoy!
It did strike me odd that you had 20 pounds of tomatoes - that's a lot. Then I read your 11/12/07 post...
Seems you perhaps have secretly engaged in that green tip and thus the "bumper crop of tomatoes"!
By the way tone down the funny. I've got work to do and I can't be expected to get anything done if I am constantly checking your blog looking for a laugh!
Just in case you are curious - when I read the post from 11/12/07 I laughed really hard when I read the "bumper crop" line but fortunately there were no coconut macaroons involved - you know, just in case!
Christyb,
At first I was like "hey, I don't remember posting about getting the big box of tomatoes". So then I went back to see what I DID post about that day.
Yeah, nice. :-) Don't ya love that story?!?!
No, I still haven't reached "Glad-Rag" level of green-ness. But stick with me, you never know how freaky I'll get!
We have every intention of doing this every year too. My mom grows a ton of tomatoes. Then I just put it all in the freezer. Still works, just let it thaw out and cook with it!
My first thought was "Tomato paste!" but that does involve getting the seeds out. Hmm. Perhaps Chili?
Alternately, find a friend with a juicer and go back to the paste idea. I've heard it's quite easy in a slowcooker.
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