3 Ways To Use Those Tomatoes From Your Garden
Making a burger? Relish an unrivaled first bite by topping it off with a fresh tomato slice. Planning on making spaghetti? You can never go wrong with a tomato sauce. Does your salad taste dry and flat? Just toss in some small tomato slices for satisfying, flavorful bites! There are countless ways to use tomatoes and you’ll rarely go wrong with them. If you grow them at home, however, and you’ve been lucky enough to get a generous yield, you’ll be needing more than just one-slice recipes to consume them.
Here Are 3 Excellent Ways To Consume Your Homegrown Tomatoes
Instead of letting your fresh new yield turn into rotten tomatoes, treat your family with the following cool and tasty recipes:
Homemade ketchup
Quick to make, super-easy, and certainly healthier than store-bought ketchup bottles, tomato ketchup is a super versatile sauce that can go with anything and everything. Our favorite part about it? You can store it in your refrigerator for as long as you like!
Ingredients and preparation:
- Tomato paste — boil around a dozen tomatoes, mash them, and separate their pulp.
- Add 2 tbsp vinegar.
- Add 3-4 tbsp sugar or as per your preference.
- Add 1 tsp garlic powder for a profound taste.
- Add salt and pepper (use these to adjust the taste at the end).
- Use water to achieve your desired consistency.
- Add 1-2 tbsp cornflour at the end for a proper, thick ketchup texture.
Garden fresh tomato soup
One of the best ways to consume fresh tomatoes from your garden is to make a nice soup on a cold winter evening.
Ingredients and preparation:
- Cut about 4lbs of tomatoes in half and toss them in a large pan.
- Add some onion powder, garlic, salt, and pepper, and stir for 2-3 minutes.
- Add some basil, parsley, oregano, and olive oil on top.
- Let it cook and keep stirring until all the ingredients have perfectly blended.
- Top up with some cream (if desired) and serve in separate bowls with some parmesan and a mint leaf on top.
Lamb tomato stir-fry
We wanted to include a recipe of each type — from tomato ketchup that everybody uses, to a casual evening meal (soup), and a full-fledged family meal (a lamb tomato stir-fry). Heads up; it will be one of the easiest and most delicious recipes you’ll ever get your hands on!
Ingredients and preparation:
- Throw in some lamb fat in a large pan and add 2lbs of lamb meat (small-cut). You may also use oil if you’re unable to get your hands on lamb fat.
- Turn the stove on but keep the heat extremely low. Cover the pan with a lid. The meat should take around 2 hours for you to cook it all tender and tasty.
- About 45 minutes in, toss in a dozen whole tomatoes in the pan and let them sit in there for 3-5 minutes.
- Start stirring with a spatula and make sure the tomatoes blend in fully.
- Add salt, green pepper, and some ginger as per taste.
- Wait until the meat becomes aromatic and the oils come up to the surface.
- Serve with veggies and salad.
If you still have some tomatoes to spare after trying out these recipes, don’t hesitate to give them away or sell your yield at the farmer’s market.
Want To Increase Your Yield? Understand the Types of Tomato Seeds
If you’re planning to grow tomatoes for yourself or have been unable to get the desired yield, you need to kickstart your plans with some homework on tomato seeds. There are about 700 different types of tomatoes in cultivation today, it’s not possible for you to ace them all. Here are some leads to get you going:
Color-based choices
Sun gold, lemon boy, and orange slice are the primary options for planting color-based tomato seeds.
Size-based options
If you want to grow large tomatoes, you need to hunt for tomato seeds of the goliath, napa grape, steakhouse, and Juliet varieties.
For added health benefits
Midnight snack and sun sugar are some prominent nutritious tomato seed varieties. The latter is rich in vitamin A.