Best way to freeze ripe tomatoes for winter chili, etc?

[St. Louis gardener]

Should I freeze them whole or chopped? Peeled first, or wait until defrosting? Nuked for 5 min. before freezing, or not? I've read many different things. Want to know what works for you all. Thanks!

[TZ -OH6]

You can freeze them whole and the skins will slip off when you thaw them, but if you want to save space by quartering them and pressing them together into a ziplock bag you would probably want to scald them for a minute or two in boiling water and remove the skins first (I learned this the hard way last year). In order to save even mores space I cook mine down into a rough sauce before freezing.

[SP8]

you would probably want to scald them for a minute or two in boiling water and remove the skins first (I learned this the hard way last year). In order to save even mores space I cook mine down into a rough sauce before freezing.

Seconded!

[OldThymer]

you would probably want to scald them for a minute or two in boiling water and remove the skins first (I learned this the hard way last year). In order to save even mores space I cook mine down into a rough sauce before freezing.

Seconded!

[img]https://I.slickdeals.net/images/smilies2/iagree.gif[/img]

Here is a GREAT site for all of your canning/freezing needs:

https://www.pickyourown.org/allaboutcanning.htm

[SP8]

Here is a GREAT site for all of your canning/freezing needs:

https://www.pickyourown.org/allaboutcanning.htm

Some good tips there

[St. Louis gardener]

What a great site. It is definitely going in my favorites. Thanks so much!

[Duh_Vinci]

you would probably want to scald them for a minute or two in boiling water and remove the skins first (I learned this the hard way last year). In order to save even mores space I cook mine down into a rough sauce before freezing.

Seconded!

[img]https://I.slickdeals.net/images/smilies2/iagree.gif[/img]

Here is a GREAT site for all of your canning/freezing needs:

https://www.pickyourown.org/allaboutcanning.htm

[img]https://I.slickdeals.net/images/smilies2/iagree.gif[/img]

Makes it soooo much easier to deal with later on! Great tips indeed!

Regards,
D

[Gary350]

This is what I do for winter CHILI.

I am just now finishing 12 quarts of chili sauce. I am going to Can this is quart and pint jars but you can probably freeze it too.

This winter if I want to make Chili all I need to do is cook 1 lb of Ground Round, add 2 cans of Dark Red Kidney Beans and 5 pints of chili sauce and the CHILI is ready to eat in 15 minutes. Thats a pretty fast dinner.

I put all the tomatoes in a 3 gallon pot and cooked them to a boil. Mash with a potato masher then strain out the skins. Measure the liquid then add all the spices etc and cook about 25 minutes, then Can in mason jars.

Chili Sauce Recipe for 3 quarts of tomato juice.
1 very large onion sliced and diced.
10 cloves of garlic sliced and diced.
1/3 cup chili powder.
1/4 cup ground cumin.
3 teaspoons salt.
1 teaspoons black pepper.
1/3 cup Dark Brown Sugar.
Optional, 1 teaspoon RED Pepper to make it a tiny bit spicy hot.

[St. Louis gardener]

That's a neat alternative to what I had in mind for chunkier tomatoes in my chili. I'm always buying those small cans of diced tomatoes, at about $1 a pop, to which I add the canned chili beans and ground beef, then simmer and season. Having my homegrown tomatoes skinned, seeded, and chopped in meal size portions in freezer bags over the winter not only will save me a bundle, but I can't wait to see what it doesn't for the flavor of my chili. Bon appetit!

[PepperDude]

I just core them and freeze them on a cookie sheet whole, then I transfer them to gallon sized freezer bags. I freeze mine that way because my kids don't like tomatoes in there food, so me and the wifey just thaw out enough for us to add to our bowl of chilli, spaghetti or what ever.

[St. Louis gardener]

I've also been getting lots of tomato juice out of each batch of tomatoes I freeze for chili. After seeding and chopping, I strain what's left, puree a couple handfuls of the skinned/diced tomatoes to thicken the juice, then season with salt and pepper and it's ready to serve over ice. The freshest tasting tomato juice ever.