Project Tomato Freeze

Tomato hoarders take heed.

A huge harvest of tomatoes led to what we call project freeze.

It sounds much harder than it really is. The whole process takes a little time but during the winter it is so worth the effort.

We begin by taking the stems off, washing them under running water, and cutting out the stem scar.

Stem scar sounds gruesome to me but it is almost Halloween so I guess it fits the theme.

Popping them into a pan on the stove and cooking over medium heat for about 10 minutes softens them so they run through the strainer easily.

We use a Squeezo Strainer, which is a marvelous tool for straining any fruit or vegetable. It makes the job easier and you are left with juice ready to freeze.

In the past we just measured the juice out and put it in freezer bags and threw them in the freezer only to find out later that the ones on the bottom had frozen around the wire racks.  With hammer in hand I began chipping away at the bag to loosen it. I must have looked like a mad woman hacking at the tomato juice and to no avail. I literally had to take a hot rag and melt it to get it to loosen up enough to remove it. Needless to say, there must be a better way.

I know that there are people who use a cookie sheet and freeze them on it before putting them directly on the rack, which works perfectly fine. We decided that we wanted to freeze them in manageable portion controlled amounts that could be frozen together and yet taken from the bag one at a time as needed.  Then we came up with the brilliant idea of using plastic cups to freeze them in then dropping them in the bag as little frozen tomato popsicles.

When we were ready to put them in the freezer bags we just set them in a pan of warm water for a few seconds, tipped them upside down, tapped on the bottom, and out they popped ready to go in the bag with their frozen tomato cup friends. Now we just grab the bag out of the freezer and pull off a chunk and pop it in the pan for spaghetti sauce, soup, or any other recipe that calls for tomato juice.

Clean up always seems to be the hardest part but with the Squeezo Strainer it goes pretty fast. We recycled the cups and washed up everything and the job was complete. Now all we have to do is sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor.