Kitchen Garden Forum

I,m harvesting too many nice ripe tomatoes to use so some must be frozen in some way to preserve the surplus.

What I,m looking for is some way of preserving tomatoes in a frozen form which might still enable me to continue enjoying the "sun ripe flavour" of fresh tomato salads we're enjoying now instead of the miserable flavourless commercial tomatoes we have to buy in winter.

Any ideas anybody?

some sort of preserved salsa? sorry, not much good !

I,m wondering about oven dried tomatoes with herbs which could be frozen in small batches, as an alternative. Does anybody have a recipe. I think many of them include olive oil which of course will,solidify when frozen. Is there any way they can frozen satisfactorily without the oil? This would obviously involve omitting the oil during the oven drying process.

I try to freeze a lot in summer , I love tomatoes on toast for breakfast as well as home made tomato soup, freezing to use for salads i don't know about sorry

You'll never freeze them & make them suitable for salads as they contain too much water & the cells burst when freezing Primrose. I actually found something last night on Pinterest with brining them which I will try for cherry toms. It says that the natural sugars in them mix with the brining solution & when you eat them they are like exploding fizzy bombs of tomato flavour & generally keep whole - can't be too ripe though!

I plan to give it a go as not complicated & my self sown cherry is very productive. When I go on later I will copy the link & post for you.

Hi Primrose! This is the link:

https://www.growforagecookferment.com/f ... ato-bombs/

Thanks Westi. I have never heard of fermented tomatoes before and am intrigued. . Have some spare cherry tomatoes which are not over-ripe. May give this a trial.

Dear Primrose,
what about pickling them? It looks really easy and they are not cooked so they should taste ok.
Regards Sally Wright

Well I was intrigued enough to actually try the recipe. From the giant Tupperware box I picked yesterday I lost loads as they split on the journey home or the hole left when I pulled the calyx was a bit big so to get enough to try I left the calyx on the ones I have left so they will have their own handle or I have green mush!. Funnily mine where either red or green on the plant & few in between so I went for hardness.

This is the result - one wee bottle but the other's were not wasted. It's in a dark corner hidden behind the basil & veg bowl - opted not to put it in the cupboard as disaster might be looming & didn't fancy a clean up!

Willl look forward to your verdict Westi in due course. My husband pulled a wry face when I shared this recipe with him so I used my small tomatoes for soup instead. Probably rather wise to store the jar somewhere away from a cupboard. Fermenting things are always a bit unoredictable!

Well they didn't turn into green mush & look pretty cheery in the jar in the fridge so I gave them a try & very pleasantly surprised. Now 'bomb' is a bit of an exaggeration but firstly they are cold as were in the fridge, they kept their shape & firmness & were a salty start with a full ripe tomato taste following with a little bit of effervescence. I couldn't pick up any of the basil & garlic in the flavour but I suppose you could shove more in the bottle.

Yes I will make more, easy way to save whole tomatoes, look colourful & have the home grown taste, & I still have masses to harvest, split they go into soup etc., whole & slightly under ripe this is an alternative. I don't think it would be as nice with bought ones though, need that extra juiciness you get with home grown! Give it a try, not hard to make & see what you think & leave the calyx on, it is a handy handle & although not vibrant green remains green so looks right! Good Luck with your brining!