How are you managing massive influx of ripe tomatoes?

[applestar]

OK I admitted a while back that I started way too many -- like over 100 -- tomato plants without planning ahead. Now they are coming in... Pouring in.

They are heirlooms, mostly indeterminates. They ripen here and there, and then in bursts.

On one hand, I have to keep them identified and separate because I want to save seeds.
I want to taste them individually to evaluate their worthiness to return to my garden inte future.
I'm growing different colors so I want to save them separately.

I'm harvesting them after fully blushed but still firm, then allowing them to ripen indoors, then processing them as they fully ripen.

...I have them in plastic and natural baskets, web trays, wooden berry pt containers for the smaller cherry size to saladette sizes,.... I'm using small removable labels for larger sizes.

I'm finding out about keeping qualities of different varieties....

I'm keeping 1qt freezer bags of different colors -- red, pink, yellow, brown, and add to them as they ripen. When a bag is full, I move it to the deep freeze chest freezer in the garage and start and new bag in the kitchen freezer. I started a single variety bag and probably will make more for the others.

When I have the time and inclination, I'll start canning them. Right now, I'm trying to decide whether to get a crank type strainer and a pressure canner (tougher decision since I have lass/smooth top stove and would have to either use the side burner on the grill or get a turkey fryer or a camp stove on top of other expenses)

:Nutz:

...how are YOU handling your harvest? I'm also curious about market gardeners who actually sell tomatoes. I'm thinking I have so many, but really, I don't think the quantity I'm dealing with are enought to sell. So how do you handle REALLY massive quantities of tomato harvest?

[TZ -OH6]

Canning is a problem so I freeze in gallon ziplocks after reducing by about half in wide square sided frying pans. Scalding and skinning is not a problem, and I don't mind seeds so I use a submersible stick blender in a big pot while they are cooking to make a smooth sauce before that gets laddled into the pans.

[bowhuntaz]

Once you figure out what you're saving for seed, then you can figure out a plan for the ones for consumption.
Basic options are canning, eating, drying, ands freezing.
I've read about some folks that dried a pile of very ripe tomatoes all the way to completely dry, crushed the bits into powder, then used that as a base for soups, sauce, seasoning, and the like.
Being that tomatoes have a lot of water in them, I would suspect about an 80 percent or better reduction in volume, with a corresponding increase in flavor concentration.
Selling some to friends and neighbors might also be an option to offset growing expenses or procuring seed for next year's garden.

[mattie g]

What massive influx of ripe tomatoes?




In previous years, I've seeded and frozen any and all ripe tomatoes that weren't used within a few days. We use them primarily for sauces and salsas, so that works out perfectly for us. We usually have plenty of tomatoes for fresh personal use. In fact, I usually have enough to give plenty away...but not this year!

[taradal]

Cut a bunch of tomatoes in 1/2, put them cut side down, in the oven, for about 2 hours at 250 degrees. Then cool, bag and put in the freezer. When I defrost I drizzle with a little olive oil and chopped herbs-they are DELICIOUS! Semi-drying really intensifies the flavor. They are great in sandwiches.

[applestar]

That sounds great! I'm trying that.

[taradal]

Whoops-that should read "about two 1/2 hours"

[gixxerific]

yeah Apple I am in the same boat as you know. With I do not know how many plants should be around 250 - 300. Of course some of my dwarfs (determinate) have bit the dust. But than I keep dropping more.

Been saving seed giving them away by the bag full and stuffing them in here as well as my other freezer.



Its basically 2 deep all over in there. I realized later if you squish all the air out that smash them flat the store much better.

[digitS']

Yeah, what "massive influx of ripe tomatoes?"

Give me a couple more weeks but, first of all, I have about half the number of plants you have, Applestar. Yes, I am hoping that quite a few of them will be sold but the tomatoes aren't the only thing on the market tables. Besides, my plants tend to be well-behaved - read: "puny." I don't live in the Garden State or even the Garden Wide-place-in-the-road!

Still, tomatoes are "eye candy" and attract consumer attention . Pile 'em high and kiss 'em goodbye! Well, maybe. If you have some things to go with them like cucumbers, sweet onions . . . leaf lettuce, a nice dressing .

What failed to go to the market because it was getting a bit beyond marketable - goes in a big pot, blanched, peeled, then back in the pot to be turned into sauce. Whatever is immediately at hand, that fits with the theme, goes in the pot with them. Do this about weekly until the season begins to wind down and I've got lots of gallon bags in the freezer with choices for pasta and other dishes for the next 10 or 12 months!

Steve

[JayPoc]

Whats a good recipe/method for making a good red sauce entirely from fresh maters? Right now, I've got plenty of maters, as well as green pepper, onion, basil, and oregano. I'd get a kick out of making a sauce entirely from my home grown produce...any tips?

[digitS']

Well, there you go, JayPoc !

No, I don't have a recipe. . . and, I'm not much of a cook . I'd put a little oil in a pan and fry the onions and green pepper just until tender. The tomatoes would need at least 90 minutes of stewing and the onions & peppers could go in with them a little late in the game.

The herbs, I would use without chopping. Later, I'd fish them out and toss. That's just me. I'm happy to have a lot of basil flavor, for example, but don't really want the basil left in the sauce. A little salt and a grind or 4 of black pepper and that could be one of my sauces. Meat/meatless, spicy/not spicy - as variable as the selection of tomato varieties available on any given week. I just write an ingredient list on the outside of the bag.

BTW- I misspoke in my earlier post. I may have gallons of sauce but the sauce goes in quart bags. A two person household doesn't need pasta sauce by the gallon!

Steve
who will now wait for wiser cooks to respond

[mattie g]

Here's how we do it, JayPoc. There aren't any really specific measurements - it's more of just a feel thing.

• Coat bottom of pot with olive oil and heat on medium
• Chop up onion (a cup or so), garlic (to taste - I like a lot), and rosemary (a tablespoon or two) and add to pot - sprinkle some salt on top (if you want to add oregano, I'd do it at this time - we use store-bought dried oregano now, and we add now)
• Cook on medium, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft - about 8-10 minutes
• Add chopped mushrooms if you like (we do) and cook for a few minutes
• Blanch and peel the tomatoes (or just thaw and peel frozen tomatoes), chop up finely and add to pot - you probably need 7 lbs or so of cored and seeded tomatoes for this
• Chop/chiffonade basil (I like a lot - a cup or more) and add
• Cook on medium-low for a while (15 minutes if tomatoes were frozen - quite longer if they're fresh), then add browned meat, meatballs, etc. if you like and cook for at least another 15 minutes
• Add to pasta, sprinkle liberally with parmesan and pecorino, and enjoy!
• If the sauce needs thickening, add tomato paste
• Cook for as long as you like, making sure to stir from time to time to keep from burning

[Cola82]

I cut up all my tomatoes made a pizza.



...I had a lot of tomatoes left over.

[imafan26]

I only have three tomatoes. Two were determinants and I did not know they were not going to produce again so I kept them a lot longer than I should. I determinates I grew before just died off soon after they produced. These plants hung on and stayed green so I waited for more fruit which never came. I just replaced them . The third tomato is a sungold cherry. I get all that I need from it, the birds pick off a lot of them so guess what, I am not inundated with tomatoes at all. However, looking at what you have harvested, I am really in awe at what you all have done. Good job everyone.

[applestar]

Cola, I was immediately taking a mental inventory of the pantry and fridge, getting ready to run downstairs and start some pizza dough, then realized I have no pizza worthy cheese at the moment.

I am inspired, though -- looks really yummy!

I decided I want to make some kind of tomato - ice cream combination -- yes ice cream -- that's what I said.
I started the experiment by simply squishing out the excess seeds from Matt's Wild Cherry and Coyote, then putting the handful of seed-less frsh sweet cherry tomatoes in the bottom of the bowl and piling on scoops of vanilla ice cream to see if they would work like fresh black cherries in ice cream.

The flavors work well together, but I don't like the skin -- they are thicker... more like grape skin. I'm not sure if I'm up to individually removing skin from these tiny cherry tomatoes, so now, I have about 1-1/2C of whole MWC heating in a saucepan with a bit of water to prevent scorching. I'm going to pretend they're cranberries and run them through the food mill, following a sweet cranberry sauce/jelly recipe to make sweet tomato sauce/jelly and try that as ice cream topping.

I may also try using this in a fruit tart recipe layered with custard cream or maybe use a more tangy/acid variety in a lemon square recipe.

Imafan, you'll be planting more for later fall/winter harvest right? I guess you are also in the summer lull right now like the southern state folks.

[Cola82]

ETA: Haha, I deleted my comment, because my squash pizza had parmesan. Sorry, I'm bad at this remembering things stuff.

ETA2: But Applestar, if nothing else, I was surprised how easy the pizza dough was to make. Maybe I've finally been baking long enough that I'm just not that afraid of yeast anymore. Your tomato ice cream sounds intriguing.

[applestar]

Here's my first sample tomato ice cream. Oddly, the first mouthful reminded me of pumpkin pie. I added ground cloves to the tomato syrup/jelly. I was going to mix into vanilla bean ice cream but DH insisted butter pecan was mine to do as I wanted but not the vanilla.... Before putting the mixture back in the freezer, I tasted and decided to add just a little bit of ground cinnamon. It's yummy - dd said she can taste the tomato in it, but I can't discern tomato flavor. Not sure you'd know if I didn't tell you

[gixxerific]

Why I never. I would say sounds good but I can't.