| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| SuzieQ |
Posted - May 13 2009 : 2:15:34 PM
Has anyone frozen tomatoes then thawed them and then canned them. I am wondering, because I know my tomatoes are coming in late and there are some at the markets now. I want to start buying them in small batches (organic are alot more expensive) so I can build up enough to can. I am planning to only do organic. Come on ladies I know that there are many experienced canners out there. |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| lovelady |
Posted - May 27 2009 : 12:03:47 PM
I just did this the other day! I basically cleaned out my freezer into my crockpot and made two and a half quarts of pasta sauce! I had a few gallon bags of tomatoes along with a quart of shredded yellow squash, some green peppers, and some garlic all from my freezer, then added herbs and other seasonings, cooked down overnight, then in the morning I ran through it with my immersion blender to break up some of the bigger chunks. So easy and great for making room in my freezer. |
| pamcook |
Posted - May 27 2009 : 11:57:23 AM
You all are amazing! I still have some whole tomatoes in the freezer from last summer - never would have thought to cook them down in a crock pot. Pure genius! My plants are now over 4 feet tall - lots of baby heirloom tomatoes are showing up on them already. I hope to do some canning. We get hurricanes and ice storms - we've gone for a week without power more than once - everything in the fridge/freezer gets thrown away. It's too sad.
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| Sheep Mom 2 |
Posted - May 27 2009 : 11:53:01 AM
Actually when I did the freeze to can thing I mixed them half and half - half frozen with half fresh but then I hot pack my tomatoes as I don't like quite so much juice in the jar. My partner and his dad love to drink the left over juice by the gallon and that does freeze well or you can can the juice separate for use in cooking rice or using in soups later. I have always left the seeds in - too much work to sieve them out. Now if I was making paste or ketchup then I would sieve the seeds out. You can also do the slow cook in your oven - I use a huge stainless bread bowl and cover it with foil and cook over night on low temp. This works really well for apple butter as well.
Sheri |
| Buffalomary |
Posted - May 26 2009 : 8:52:39 PM
My grandma is always freezing her tomatoes and they do just fine.
Two more suggestions: To help prevent freezer burn of anything, after putting your food in a plastic bag, use newspaper as outer freezer paper. I put my corn-on-the-cob in plastic freezer bags and then wrapped each bag with newspaper and there was no freezer burn. I wouldn't use the newspaper as the only thing though. I would put something inbetween the food and newspaper (wax paper, tin foil, plastic, something).
To cook down your tomatoes, in an easy, no fuss way, use your crockpot without the lid. It can sit overnight and cook down. I do use a metal splatter guard that one usually uses for cooking in a fry pan to help keep any splatters down and keep the cats from investigating. I do stir it occasionally, but it did just fine last year. Since I have to work, it worked out great to cook down my sauce and then all I had to do was can it. If you're concerned about it burning, just set the crockpot on low. It will take a little longer, but it will give you the flexibility of making the sauce without babysitting the pot on the stove. I plan on hitting the yard sales and thrift stores this year to see if I can find a few more crock pots. I only planted four tomato plants last year, but this year I planted a dozen!! 
Buffalomary
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| GreenMeAlison |
Posted - May 19 2009 : 08:08:56 AM
Tracy -- great idea to use bread bags! I have those a plenty has my husband likes his sandwich bread. I froze some tomatoes last summer for canning too, as my plants took several months to produce and I only wanted to heat my kitchen up for one day (even with AC canning can be intolerable in Aug/Sept). Question though regarding freezing -- I've been trying to eliminate and or not bring in any new plastic -- do the tomatoes get freezer burn when you use your bread bags? And or do you double/tripple bag them?
Also -- if I can add a second question to this thread, does anyone have a recommendation on a small second freezer -- brand and or where do you keep yours? Basement, garage? Is it worth the savings? My main reasons for only temporarily freezing tomatoes last year and still canning them early on was first I like things better in glass than plastic and second that we have very little freezer space. However the freezer space issue could be remedy if we bought a stand alone freezer. Anyone out there have a solar powered one? I've seen those too...
Alison
Suburban tree hugger with three hearts: one on the farm, one in the city, and one in the woods!
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| FebruaryViolet |
Posted - May 18 2009 : 07:37:48 AM
So...wait. You freeze them without seeding them? I'm going to have a lot of heirloom sauce and paste tomatoes this year and I am starting to worry about preserving them.
Musings from our family in the Bluegrass http://sweetvioletmae.blogspot.com/ |
| milkmaid |
Posted - May 17 2009 : 7:49:29 PM
I do this to can tomato sauce... it takes a bit of time for the sauce to cook down and I can't do that in thet summer so I freeze tons of tomatoes whole and then when I am ready to make sauce I thaw them,run them throught the food mill and simmer. It is a great way to can sauce. I don't think that the quality for say a crushed tomato would be the same using a frozen tomato to can I think it would be mush. The frozen tomatoes though once thawed work just as well in recipes as the canned.
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Farmgirl #542
Mother to five awesome kids, wife of 17 years and milk maid to two beautiful cows. Living the good life!!! |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - May 17 2009 : 5:45:26 PM
Me too...August and Sept are tomato months here for sure.
Jenny in Utah
Proud Farmgirl sister #24
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| mellaisbella |
Posted - May 17 2009 : 04:38:33 AM
this doesn't answer your question Suzie.....I just wanted to say that I am sooooooo jealous that there are ripe tomatoes where you live now. My tomato plants are only 5 cm high...it will be August before i have my first tomato :(
"we must be the change we wish to see in the world"
farmgal #150 |
| Alee |
Posted - May 16 2009 : 7:09:24 PM
DiAnn- You rock! What a great idea and saves a lot of energy from having to cook off the extra liquid too! I am going to have to try this this year!
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
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| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - May 16 2009 : 3:04:13 PM
I can't imagine why that wouldn't work. I can jam from frozen berries and always freeze chopped peppers from the garden for salsa making when the tomatoes get ripe (always at least a month later for some reason) and I know my sister in law freezes tomatoes all the time. I would say to go for it!
Jenny in Utah
Proud Farmgirl sister #24
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
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| Farmers Daughter |
Posted - May 16 2009 : 12:24:41 PM
Hi SuzieQ~
We always put our tomatoes in the freezer and then start canning in the winter. Can't tell you how warm and toasty the kitchen is come Jan. And the smell is so welcoming. We never had air growing up so to can in the summer would heat the house up way to much. We wash, core, skin, and quarter the tomatoes then put them in plastic container and freeze.
Then when we are ready to use them we thaw them in the fridge. Takes a few days.(so you do need to plan ahead) Once thawed we take some of the liquid off the top of the container and use that for the liquid to make soup. You can leave the extra liquid, but will have to cook longer if you are wanting a thick sauce or Ketchup. My mom has done this since as long as I can remember, and that is how I do it now too. Have never had any problems.
We also do the exact same process to freeze tomatoes for soup we just put them in smaller containers. |
| mommatracy |
Posted - May 13 2009 : 4:47:38 PM
When I had a large garden years ago I froze most of my tomatoes with the skins left on. I put them in plastic(back then bread bags!) that I saved and they were fine. I took out what I needed and actually just ran them under hot water or poured boiling water over them and the skins would just slip off. I used these tomatoes for soups,spaghetti sauce, any kind of dish that called for canned tomatoes. Easy Peasy.
www.cottagebythebay.blogspot.com |
| SuzieQ |
Posted - May 13 2009 : 4:33:24 PM
Rene' thanks so much. I am a very early beginner of canning. I have the ball blue book and some jars and that is all so far. |
| ruralfarmgirl |
Posted - May 13 2009 : 4:09:24 PM
Suzie,
I havent done both. I do make my tomatoe sauce and just freeze it, but here is a link that might help..http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/ciqtomatoes.shtml
Rene~Prosser Farmgirl #185
http://www.maryjanesfarm.com/RFBlog/
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Circumstances made us FRIENDS; MaryJane's has made us SISTERS :) |
