Preserving/freezing tomatoes and cherry tomatoes

Posted by Brenda Gilbert on February 20, 2011 at 12:50am

Does anyone know if there is a way of freezing cherry tomatoes?  We would like to be able to take them out of the freezer later on to cook up and put on toast.

Also, how to preserve them in jars?  What sort of brine do we use?

Thank you very much, Brenda

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  • Rebecca Jane Jenkins April 20, 2011 at 1:36am

    Hi Brenda,

     

    very easy, wash and shove in a freezer bag...they will go soft when defrosted, and you can't do much about that because of their high water content.

     

    Preserving in jars is easy too...you can make tomato passata (or puree) or leave them whole.

    I usually just wash and throw in a pot and boil them, stirring every now and then to stop sticking. Clean and sterilize your jars by putting them through dishwasher, then in the oven for about 15-30 min on 100 -120 degrees C. For the lids, I boil in a pot for 5-10min.

    For puree, just put through a mouli or food mill and then put back on the heat and boil down until thicker. Then bottle

    My favourite though, is oven drying them overnight on about 50-70C, and then putting them in sterilized jars, and warming olive oil and pouring it over the tomatoes and sealing. They are just wonderful through casaroles, and eating. They keep their shape pretty well just a bit shrivelled. They will still be soft, and have a little bit of juice...the flavour though is really intense.

     

    Good luck!

    • Brian Adam > Rebecca Jane Jenkins March 2, 2012 at 11:30pm

      When you say you oven dry tomatoes, are they whole? We have lots of cherry toms now and I have always thought we were to halve them for oven drying. Or maybe that's just when we're preparing them for a recipe.

      Cherry tomatoes, whole or halved?

      Brian

  • moggy February 20, 2011 at 10:55pm
    Ours was hotter than usual, temperatures over 40C, nothing really stood a chance in that heat, even my garlic failed to do anything. The Jerusalem artichokes have brown leaves and it really should not be possible to kill thoses things.
    • Peter watson > moggy February 27, 2011 at 11:39pm

      Brenda,

      I don't use a 'brine' but simply boil in water to bottle.

      You also don't need to kave a comercial dehydratoe to dry food. There are some great plans/instructions etc on the web - I am about to start making one that is made of cardboard and a little plastic. Try google.

  • Steph Clout February 20, 2011 at 9:08pm

    Oh yum - stuffing tomatoes with feta and preserving in oil - tasty! My tomato crop has been down this year. I tried seed raising Amish Paste, Alma and another heirloom drying variety  - they all died soon after being put out to harden up. Its been a funny summer in Auckland for my cucmbers, squash and beans. Anyone else had an odd summer? (Operator error on my part I suspect!) ;-) Steph

  • moggy February 20, 2011 at 11:15am

    You can freeze them, but that seems a waste of prime tomatoes. I would semi dry them and preserve in oil. You can also stuff with feta before putting them into the oil as well. Flavour with a variety of herbs.

     

    You don't need a dehydrator, put them in the oven on the lowest heat possible and leave over night,

  • Ken Usmar February 20, 2011 at 8:49am

    Hi Brenda

    I don't know much about preserving but if you just want to have those on toast later on all you need do is free flow freeze them and put them in a bag in your freezer. When you fancy some on toast simply take out how many you want from the bag and run them under hot water which will make it easy to remove the skins, which might be a bit tough. They will then be fine to use.

  • Steph Clout February 20, 2011 at 4:14am
    Hi Brenda,
    Here is the link to the passata recipe: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&obj...
    Scroll down - its half way down. It says add three cloves of garlic, no way - we add 3 bulbs!!!
    Cheers and enjoy,
    Steph
  • Steph Clout February 20, 2011 at 3:58am
    Hi Brenda, we freeze all of our tomatoes because we have some many coming off the vines (1.5 - 2 kg a day!). For us, the best results come from removing the seeds and freezing in bags - with as little air as possible. We defrost them and turn them into passata and chutney. Its awesome and no difference between the fresh and frozen. Best passata recipe try the NZ Herald issue of Viva - 2 or 3 weeks ago - just cooked tomatoe, olive oil, salt, pepper, basil, garlic. We give it away and cannot keep up with demand...so much demand there is hardly any left for us! ;-) steph
    • Brenda Gilbert > Steph Clout February 20, 2011 at 4:11am

      Thanks very much for your freezing tips Steph.  And the passata sounds a great idea, I will try to track down the recipe. 

      Sounds like you have a lot of gorgeous tomatoes!  I didn't realise freezing was an option for tomatoes, but  I will certainly give it a go.

      Thank you again, Brenda

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