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You could have labored exhausting cultivating your backyard and have been rewarded with a tomato harvest—now what? This put up will present you precisely tips on how to benefit from the fruits of your labour (pun supposed!). Right here’s what to do with tomatoes, whether or not they’re ripe or nonetheless inexperienced.
As summer time involves an finish, it leaves us with an considerable bounty of recent, scrumptious meals. It’s fantastic to chew right into a ripe, sun-warmed tomato presently of yr, however it additionally feels just a little unhappy as a result of you already know that the chilly season is coming and shortly you’ll have to attend nearly a complete yr for the recent style of summer time.
Fortunately, it doesn’t need to be this manner! Take some time now to find out about preserving tomatoes. These easy strategies will show you how to discover consolation within the sunny style of summer time, even within the useless of winter.
This put up will cowl…
What to Do With Tomatoes
With just a little planning and easy preparation, you possibly can harvest that bounty of tomatoes in your backyard and protect them for the winter months. Whether or not you need the best attainable technique (freezing) or one thing a bit extra advanced (canning), the strategies outlined on this put up are easy and sensible.
Rising tomatoes is nice for everybody, newcomers and professionals alike as a result of they’re tremendous simple to develop. Plus, the flavour of the homegrown model is unparalleled within the grocery retailer.
There are such a lot of sorts of tomato which you could absolutely discover some that fit your backyard. Small-space gardeners can select dwarf or container vegetation, short-season growers can select fast-maturing varieties. Even those that reside in wet climates (like me!) can develop tomatoes that produce properly on cloudy days.
With all of those choices, it’s exhausting to not have a bumper crop of tomatoes prepared on the finish of the season. Having extra harvest than you already know what to do with is overwhelming, not solely as a result of you end up scrambling so as to add them to each meal attainable however as a result of you know the way a lot you’ll miss them within the winter.
Once you’re overwhelmed with a crop, it’s unattainable to not begin taking it as a right and get just a little bored with consuming it. However, come January, you’ll be wishing for that recent summer time style which you could not get your palms on.
Fortunately, there are a number of methods to take when preserving that assist you to get pleasure from them within the colder months. If the climate is starting to chill or your tomato vegetation have succumbed to the dreaded Late Blight, then it’s time to reap the lot of them and put them away for the winter.
Listed below are some concepts that can assist you determine what to do with tomatoes.
Freeze Tomatoes
It is a smart way to make use of a big crop, and it couldn’t be simpler. Listed below are the three steps to observe:
- Merely wash ripe tomatoes and take away the stems. I like to recommend following the steps on this put up about tips on how to wash fruit and greens correctly.
- Gently pat them dry.
- Pop them right into a freezer bag and freeze them till prepared to make use of.
What to Do with Frozen Tomatoes
To begin with, it’s necessary to notice that when frozen, the feel will change. Thawed tomatoes aren’t agency just like the recent ones are, however if you’re planning to make use of them in cooking, they’re fast and simple to take away from the bag and toss within the recipe.
I discover myself reaching for these tomatoes at any time when I wish to make sauce, soups, or casseroles. The flavour is great for these saucy type of meals.
Dehydrate Tomatoes
Seize a dehydrator and make some dried tomatoes! These style identical to the sun-dried model that was in nearly all the things 20 years in the past. Drying grape tomatoes at dwelling makes for a scrumptious strategy to protect them for the winter months. Right here’s how one can simply dehydrate tomatoes:
- Lower cherry or grape tomatoes in half.
- Add them to the layers of a meals dehydrator. You too can use the oven and place them on a baking sheet within the oven on low for 8-12 hours
- Retailer in an hermetic container.
What to Do With Dehydrated Tomatoes
That is certainly one of my favorite strategies I exploit when determining what to do with tomatoes from my backyard. I like the style and discover myself including them to all the things. A couple of concepts embrace:
- Add them to your pizza or quiche
- Marinate them in herbs and oil to serve with antipasto
- Layer them in a salad
- Sprinkle them onto your favorite dinner
Truthfully, you possibly can’t go fallacious with these! Somewhat goes a great distance so be conservative.
Can Tomato Sauces, Soups, and Extra
After all, one of the vital well-liked choices when questioning what to do with tomatoes is canning. You’ll be able to prepare dinner tomatoes and make a wide range of totally different recipes, reminiscent of pasta sauce, soup, salsa, and pizza sauce. I wish to roast the tomatoes with garlic first after which use them within the recipe.
As with all canning recipes, you’ll want to observe the elements and course of them accordingly, as canning will be harmful if not completed correctly.
What to Do With Inexperienced Tomatoes
On the finish of the season, you’ll often find yourself with a bunch of tomatoes in numerous levels of ripening, that means you’ll have fairly a little bit of inexperienced tomatoes.
Whereas inexperienced tomatoes are beautiful fried and in salsa, there may be a straightforward strategy to ripen the remainder of the crop indoors the place it’s nonetheless toasty heat. Select to ripen solely the tomatoes which might be clear and disease-free.
Tips on how to Ripen Inexperienced Tomatoes
Ripening inexperienced tomatoes is easy! All you will have to do is:
- Maintain them on the vine as you’re choosing them.
- Set them in a field or bowl away from direct daylight.
- Examine them on daily basis and take away those who have ripened.
Simple and scrumptious!
Save Your Tomato Seeds for Subsequent Yr
Maybe an important a part of what to do with tomatoes for gardeners is saving the seeds. It will assist you to have one other nice harvest subsequent yr! Be taught all about tips on how to save tomato seeds via fermentation right here.
FAQ About Harvesting Tomatoes
Tomatoes start to ripen from the underside, turning from inexperienced to numerous shades of pink, yellow, and orange. To know when to select the tomato, take a look at the underside. When it begins to melt ever so calmly, it’s time to reap.
If you wish to eat it instantly, choose it when the color has reached the highest. If you wish to eat it in a day or two, depart just a little little bit of inexperienced on the prime. It should absolutely ripen in your counter in a day, shielded from rain and bugs.
Depart just a little little bit of vine in your tomato till you’re able to eat. If all of the tomatoes on one vine are prepared on the similar time, I’ll clip the entire vine and depart the tomatoes connected. But when they’re all prepared at totally different levels, I take one by one, leaving the highest little bit of vine that linked it to the plant.
It’s utterly as much as you. You’ll be able to choose them simply earlier than they’re prepared, as talked about above, or once they’re absolutely ripe. Take into account that once they’re absolutely ripe, they’re extra more likely to be eaten by birds or bugs like tomato hornworms. They’ll additionally break up in the event that they obtain a sudden consumption of water, reminiscent of a from a rainstorm. That being stated, you may get barely higher flavour in the event you permit it to ripen absolutely on the vine.
Extra Methods to Protect Backyard Produce
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