Enjoy homegrown tomatoes all year!
Nothing is more flavorful than tomatoes at their peak, and these two recipes will preserve your tomatoes year-round. First, pick the best tomatoes from your garden to experience ultimate freshness. Then, follow these tomato recipes below that will surely excite your taste buds upon the first bite. Trust me — you’ll be using these fresh tomatoes all winter-long!
Are we getting ahead of ourselves? If you want to learn how to grow tomatoes in your garden and get tips on producing a prized harvest first, my online course, Homegrown Garden: Harvest More in Less Space is the perfect place to start.
Preserved Tomato Juice
What you'll need:
- Garden fresh tomatoes
- Food processor
- Fine strainer
How to make it:
- Slice garden-fresh tomatoes in quarters and add them to a food processor.
- Pulse for 10 to 15 seconds.
- Pour through a strainer, collecting the juice in a bowl.
- Squeeze the tomato pulp dry to save for homemade tomato paste recipe below.
- Save the juice and serve it fresh over ice, make a bloody Mary, freeze it for future parties or water bath-preserve to share as party favors and holiday gifts.
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Practical Tomato Paste
Tomato paste is the base of all things made from cooked tomatoes. Once you have separated the juice from the raw tomatoes, you can use the tomato pulp to make a delicious tomato paste. I like to roast the paste unseasoned so that it can be seasoned to taste when I use it in recipes.
How to make it:
- 400 Degree oven — preheated.
- Add tomato pulp reserved from making juice to roasting pan, depending on volume you can use a bread loaf pan for smaller amounts.
- Roast for 45-60 minutes until paste is bubbling.
- Cool to room temperature.
- Freeze as roasted paste by adding servings to quart bags and laying flat so that, once they’re frozen, you can stand them on end. (You can also keep them flat, but starting flat to freeze ensures they aren’t lumpy or misshapen in the freezer.)
Let’s get started! Find more tomato recipes, get great tips on growing your best garden harvest possible and more in my online course, Homegrown Garden: Harvest More in Less Space.
