The Fruits of Our Labour: Tomatoes

We love our tomatoes at Harvest Moon Farm. And this my friends is high tomato season. This year we are *only* growing 9 varieties and have over 600 plants (last year, we had 15 varieties of cherry tomatoes alone). Tomato season ranges from mid August to the first frost. And with a bit of tender loving care, you can have tomatoes all winter long (take that John Denver). This post outlines the types of tomatoes we grow, how to preserve tomatoes nose to tail (storing, cooking, freezing, dehydrating, canning), and I’ve shared a couple of my go-to recipes for preserving tomatoes.   

Types of Tomatoes

(there are 100’s, these are the varieties we grow)

Roma

Roma Supremo
Meaty, plum shaped tomatoes. Valued for cooking because their flesh is thick, almost dry. Tangy-sweet flavour. More flesh + fewer seeds = more sauce. 

Slicers (also known as ‘field tomatoes’) 

Polbig
Red, meaty. A medium size slicer. (shown in the picture)

Celebrity
Red flesh. A large tomato with great classic tomato taste.

Carolina Gold
Golden coloured. Lower acid, with a sweet, mild flavour.

Cherry tomatoes

Black cherry 
Heirloom variety with a complex, full flavour. Distinctive purple-black colour.

Sakura 
A larger sized, red cherry tomato with a perfect balance of acidity and sweetness. 

Sungold 
An orange coloured, smaller cherry. The sweetest variety we grow. These are basically candy.

Esterina
Bright yellow, with low acid and mild sweetness.

Sweet 100s 
A more “standard sized” red cherry. Very sweet. 

Selection and storage

The best advice for choosing tomatoes: choose the ones that smell good. The skin may not always look ‘perfect’ (remember, we grow organically and for taste), yet the skin should not be cracked or split. 

Store ripe tomatoes at room temperature for as long as 5 to 7 days in a single layer, out of the sunlight, with the stem side down. Do not store in the fridge as it will destroy their flavour. If they get too soft on the counter make a quick sauce and refrigerate or freeze.

You can also wrap firm / slightly under ripe tomatoes in ink free newsprint and store them in a single layer,  in a cool place (like your garage) for 6 to 8 weeks. Ripen them in a sunny window as needed. 

Quick guide to tomato quantities: 

Round / globe shaped (i.e. slicer): 
1lb = 2 lg, 3 med or 4 sm

Plum shaped (i.e. Roma): 
1 lb = 3-4 lg or 5 med 
1 bushel = 53lbs
1L jar whole tomatoes (for water bath canning) = 6/7 med Roma tomatoes 

500ml jar homemade sauce (for water bath canning) = 2lbs Roma tomatoes (approximate, skins and seeds removed) 

Prepared tomatoes: 
1 lb = 2 cups chopped (approximate)

Preserving tomatoes: nose to tail

Skin - The most bitter part. Typically removed by blanching (see peeling a tomato below)

Seeds - Often removed for preserving with a food mill (or spoon). 

Flesh - Sauce! Salsa! Can also be dried. 

Water - What you see on your cutting board after slicing tomatoes. You can extract tomato water with a steam juicer. 

Leaves - So much aroma. Sometimes used in final stages of cooking. Often discarded. 

I think that anytime you are preserving for future use, it is a preserve. Whether the product is a jam, jelly, salsa, or it’s frozen, dehydrated, pickled, cured, fermented, or placed in a cellar - it’s all a form of preserving. 

Cooking

Oven roasted tomatoes are a favourite in our house. I often roast whole field tomatoes, but any tomato works (just try to keep similar sizes on the same tray and skin sides up if you cut them). Cherry tomatoes will yield less sauce, but it is so sweet and flavourful (no need to cut!). We typically freeze the sauce in 1L portions (in jars, freezer bags or containers - whatever is easy) and use it throughout the winter for pasta, pizza, chili, soups, shakshuka. SO GOOD. Honesty, you will not want to eat tomato sauce any other way.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

1. Preheat oven to 400F

2. Place whole or halved tomatoes on a baking tray. Drizzle generously with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. 

3. Optional: add garlic cloves (or a whole head as seen in the photo) and/or spices (such as thyme, rosemary, or fennel). 

4. Roast for 45-60 minutes (this will depend on the size of your tomatoes). When the skins have popped and they start to get some colour, they are ready. Your tray will have lots of juices on it, so be careful removing from the oven. 

5. When cool enough to handle, add the tomatoes and their juices to a blender or a large pot with an immersion blender. If you want to add fresh basil, do so now. Blend until smooth. If you prefer sauce without skins and seeds, you could process the sauce through a food mill. Alternatively, you could mash the tomatoes with a spoon or potato masher for a chunkier, stewed-style tomato.

Sometimes, when I am feeling fancy, I will slow roast tomatoes. Cut them in half, placing the cut side up (thus allowing the skins to ‘catch’ the juice) on a tray lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil. Add spices (optional). Roast for 3-4 hours in a 275F oven. Turning the trays and checking often to make sure they do not scorch. You want them slightly dried out, but still soft and juicy. Let cool completely. Pack into glass jars, pour in enough olive oil to cover them, and store in the fridge for up to 2 months (I have not tried freezing these). Best bruschetta or addition to cheese board.  

Freezing

You can freeze whole tomatoes (cherry, field, Roma and even green). Yes, really. I freeze way more tomatoes than I preserve in jars, simply because it is so easy: core tomato, freeze it. Then to use, just remove the desired number of tomatoes from the freezer and either defrost in the microwave for a minute or let sit on the counter for a few minutes. You want them to still be frozen but thawed enough that you can cut them. Use in place of canned stewed or whole tomatoes (note: these do have the skins on).

How to freeze tomatoes:

1. Rinse tomatoes. Remove the core and any blemishes. 

2. Place in a single layer on a tray lined with parchment paper. 

3. Freeze overnight. (This will ensure the tomatoes are individually frozen)

4. Once tomatoes are frozen, store in freezer bags. Use within 6 months (however, Joy of Cooking notes that frozen tomatoes should be used within the month - we use them all winter long though and they taste great). 

Canning

First, please ensure you use a recipe from a reputable, trusted source that is specifically made for hot water bath canning or a pressure canner. Second, acid content is important when canning tomatoes. Typically, tomatoes add acidity to recipes (Samin Nosrat has a whole section on acid in her cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat and tomatoes are featured quite prominently), however, when it comes to water bath canning tomatoes are in the grey zone (they have a pH value of 4.6). Plums and apples have more acid than a basic tomato! This means that tomato products have to have acid added to them to be safe for canning. So never skip the bottled lemon juice / citric acid your recipe calls for or add additional vegetables (which will lower the pH even further). 

Tip: To peel tomatoes cut an X in the skin on the bottom of each tomato. Lower one by one into a pot of boiling water for about 30 seconds (to a minute). Lift them out with a sieve and drop into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Peel off the skin with fingers (or the back of a knife). If the skin sticks, return to the pot of boiling water for 10 seconds.

Dehydrating

A dehydrator is best for this, but it is possible to use your oven at 200F or its lowest setting. Cherry tomatoes are easiest, as they are small and take less time (cut in half, place cut side up), but you can use Roma and even field tomatoes (sliced thin and seeds removed). Roast until leathery and the edges are crispy. If using a dehydrator at 135F this can take 8 to 20 hours. If using an oven at the lowest setting, this can be 3 to 8 hours and I would recommend storing the finished tomatoes in your freezer (or in olive oil in your fridge) as an oven can be tricky to dehydrate. All of the moisture needs to be fully removed for shelf stable dehydrated goods. 

What is your favourite way to preserve tomatoes?

Feel inspired? Send us an email if you would like to order some tomatoes - roma, field or cherry - to get you through your fall preserving. Winter is coming. 

Peace + Carrots, 

Cassondra