Freezing ripe tomatoes retains more nutrients than canning and allows for versatile use in soups, sauces, and stews. Start with high-quality, ripe tomatoes, remove stem scars, and freeze whole or cut up. Mark containers with date and variety. Frozen tomatoes keep for about a year.
Freezing tomatoes is a great way to store ripe summer tomatoes so they can be used in the winter months. Typically, freezing retains more nutrients than canning and allows cooks to freeze tomatoes essentially as-is, meaning they can be used in many different ways. All types of tomatoes can be frozen, but it’s important to remember that freezing will make the tomatoes mushy, so frozen tomatoes are best used in soups, sauces, stews, and other dishes where mush won’t be a problem.
The key thing to know when freezing tomatoes is that it’s important to start with high-quality tomatoes. The tomatoes should be fully ripe, but still firm, with no green spots or signs of rot. Vine-ripened tomatoes are generally best for freezing. Once the tomatoes have been selected, they must be washed and dried thoroughly before being frozen.
Once the fruits have been washed, their stem scars can be removed and there are several options for freezing tomatoes that can be considered. To freeze whole tomatoes, place them on the stem on a cookie sheet and stick them in the freezer for 24 hours. After the tomatoes freeze, they can be bagged or placed in freezer-safe containers. Frozen whole tomatoes can be used in several recipes.
Tomatoes can also be cut up for convenience, in which case they should be drained in a colander and then packed in freezer bags. Tomato puree is also an option, if the tomatoes will be used in soups and stocks, as puree freezes and thaws well. Cooks who know they will only need a little puree at a time may want to consider freezing the puree in an ice cube tray or small bags.
Tomatoes can be frozen with or without the skin. For a quick and easy way to peel tomatoes, blanch them in boiling water for a minute and run them under cold water before gently pulling off the skins. The skins will slide off leaving whole tomatoes behind. If freezing tomatoes in their skins, cooks may want to keep in mind that the skins can become rubbery with prolonged freezing.
When freezing tomatoes, it’s a good idea to mark the date and frozen variety on the container. Frozen tomatoes will keep for about a year if temperatures in the freezer stay constant and the freezer isn’t overcrowded. It helps to know which type of tomato is in which container, as different types are suitable for different purposes and cooks may not be able to remember which container contains which after a few months.
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