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Permalink Reply by diana Z9 Houston, Texas on July 17, 2010 at 9:51am

I have never frozen tomatos before. I have the jars for freezing but have always canned them and put them in my pantry. I have made tomato preserves, exactly how my grandmother use to make it, but I have to convience people that its sweet and tasty. I have also made salsa this year but it was not very hot. Its hard to taste while its being processed. Any suggestions? I would also like recipes for making soup base too or anything else that you think is tasty. I have sent a picture of all my canning for this year yet.

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Permalink Reply by diana Z9 Houston, Texas on July 20, 2010 at 9:14pm

Cathy, In Texas, we have a headstart with tomatoes and other spring plantings. We can also plant tomatoes in September and get more during our fall weather but its too much trouble. After Alex, I had to pull out all my tomatoes because we had too much water. The only thing that survived was the peppers and summer squash. I also planted some Asian beans that grow over a foot and are real tasty. I made some cubs/onions/carrots combination for canning and came out well. Send me some good soup recipes if you have any. Diana

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Contributing GardenerPermalink Reply by Donna H 5-6/CT on May 16, 2012 at 9:35am

I am incredibly lazy when it comes to canning my tomatoes...so I freeze them until I have a good time (or batch) to can at once...then all you have to do is run them under hot water, and the skins fall away. 

I'm curious: do people hot water bath their tomatoes, or do you pressure can your tomatoes? I've done both, and haven't really seen much difference.

Permalink Reply by Bob (Z9B Florida) on May 18, 2012 at 1:48pm

Donna ... we hot bath, peel and put into freezer bags with plans to use up in 6-7 months.  We get two growing seasons in Central Florida.

Contributing GardenerPermalink Reply by Donna H 5-6/CT on May 18, 2012 at 4:01pm

i've done hot bath too; to be honest, i hate peeling them *laugh*. By freezing, it cuts that step out. But i like canning them because they take less room in the freezer. For example, i canned 12 gallons of tomatoes this past fall. There was no way I could've fit all those tomatoes at once in the freezer.  (and i'm utterly jealous of the 2 growing seasons!)