In the past, I always just froze them whole to use during the winter as special treat, but they do take up a lot of space. So I decided to take hint from what I did with the sauce tomatoes below, and made some tomato juice and tomato soup with some of the bounty.
Today, I just picked out all of the butter yellow/“white” Coyote and Champagne Cherry (a few of my own crosses, too). Just enough water to cover the bottom of the sauce pan, all the cherry tomatoes with just the stem/calyx removed, a bit of sea salt and about 1 Tbs per quart of lemon juice to keep from oxidizing. Once they released liquid and rapid boil, I mashed them up with a potato masher, then strained the juice through a fine mesh strainer into a clean canning jar, wiped the rim, and put on a lid and a ring — this will vacuum seal enough to prolong storage in the refrigerator.
I puréed the remainder and strained through the mesh strainer to remove skin and seeds, pressing through all soft stuff, then added this to a vegetable broth DH made. Served with a whole boiled potato, a pat of butter, some home made rice milk and fresh dill greens as garnish, it was fantastic.
Ref —
Subject: What are you eating from your 2019 garden?
applestar wrote:We are enjoying the ripened to perfection “sauce tomatoes” — Cow’s Tit and what I believe are Canestrino della Garfagnana. 3-5 days after harvesting on the kitchen counter, they turned as red as they were going to get, and the just-picked “green” taste (that had been present in the fruits that had to be eaten right away due to splitting) has mellowed to straight up blast of sweet front-end flavor with building rich umami, and lingering tangy acid. Combined with my Shimofuri F6 determinates which are also “floaters” — tomato fruits separate into fruits that float in a bucket of water and fruits that sink. (Cow’s Tit and Canestrino della Garfagnana(?) -which are paste and stuffing varieties- float as expected.... Actually, Cow’s Tit is as dry as can be, but Canestrino della Garfagnana(?) is juicy and meaty enough to eat sliced in a sandwich — DH had some with his hamburgers the other night.)
Shimofuri F6 that don’t immediately get sunken spots within 3-5 days develop rich umami and, while not in same class as the other two, are more juicy and add to the liquid volume.
I cut out the stem end and pithy core as needed, and then roughly cut up the bigger fruits, put them in a pot sprinkled with sea salt, and just enough EVOO and water to keep from scorching. Heated to simmering with lid on, mashed with potato masher, and then just straight forward strained through fine strainer for tomato juice/broth (no more mashing or pressing/squeezing). I heated this juice/broth up with some rice milk, pats of butter and a glug of EVOO, and sprigs of fresh oregano and basil, freshly ground black peppers... added some cooked brown sweet rice and white rice, then poured over cheese of choice for nice “cream” of tomato soup. I had mine with extra cooked rice and Hatch/Cheddar cheese, DH had his with Wisconsin Cheddar curds, and DD had hers with extra cooked rice and mostly Cheddar Curds + a surprise chunk of Hatch Cheddar.
I reserved the remaining hot pulp, skin, and seeds by pouring into a hot quart jar and sealing with canning lid and seal, cooled until the lid pinged and then put in the refrigerator. 3 days later, I opened the jar — the lid was vacuumed shut but openable by hand so not a super tight seal, and taking inspiration from Gary350’s enchilada sauce recipe, added chopped onions, garlic, green Doux Long d’Antibes (sweet pepper), pale green Aji Dulce Amarillo (seasoning/sweet habanero ripens yellow) as well as green and red DK Snacker and ivory colored/“green” Pale Rider (these are test trials of no-heat jalapeño), honey, sea salt, lime juice, garden harvested and dried oregano, cumin, coriander, my own chili powder and hot pepper paprika, plus a bit of commercial Hot sauce (Red Hot) to deepen the flavors. Fitted the Oster blender rubber gasket and blade assembly onto the regular mouth quart jar and puréed the lot. Poured the puréed contents in a pot and heated to boiling with lid on, tasted and added a little more lime juice, sea salt, and some of my hot pepper jelly.
I’m not sure what you would call this sauce — maybe closest to taco sauce or something between taco sauce and salsa? Whatever it is, it’s very good and neither DH nor DD think anything more needs to be added or adjusted.
I’ve rinsed out the quart jar with hot water and filled with the sauce from the pot, and then re-“sealed” with the lid to keep in the fridge for now. If necessary, I’ll re- heat one more time and then distribute in smaller jars and hot-water bath at least before storing in the fridge. (the recipe is too random/doubtful this will keep in the room temp. pantry).