Freezing Tomatoes without blanching them?

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

I have TONS of tomatoes and would like to freeze them to make sauce this winter. Can you core them, deseed them and run them through a processor and freeze them as is or do they need to be cooked? I would love to go into my freezer this winter, grab a bag, throw it in the crockpot with some spices and ground meat and come home to a nice sauce for dinner. Has anyone done this?

 

[sms]

you can freeze them raw or cooked, but def. have to use them in sauces or something like that because they will be mushy when they thaw out! enjoy!!

 

[golfgal]

We did this a couple years ago--core the tomatoes, put on a cookie sheet and freeze. When totally frozen put in a freezer safe bag. They kept very well in the freezer that way. They are VERY mushy when they thaw but we just dumped them into a pot and mixed them up in whatever-usually chili. It took about 10 minutes to do a LOT of tomatoes.

 

[denisem]

Good question.

I've always removed the skins first by blanching as I heard the skins can get tough & bitter when freezing. But if you're processing them first, maybe that avoids that problem?

Try it out and let us know!

 

[golfgal]

Good question.

I've always removed the skins first by blanching as I heard the skins can get tough & bitter when freezing. But if you're processing them first, maybe that avoids that problem?

Try it out and let us know!

When we took ours out of the freezer the skin literally fell off when they thawed.

 

[tzolkin]

The first year I had a garden I put the tomatoes through the food processor (or a blender would work) and cooked them before freezing. This got very old each time I had a batch ripen, so I decided to just run them through the food processor and freeze them without cooking. The sauces from each turned out exactly the same.

I left the skins on and put them in ziplock bags, so I could lay them flat to freeze. Then you have nice little flat packages that you can easily organize in your freezer.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

The first year I had a garden I put the tomatoes through the food processor (or a blender would work) and cooked them before freezing. This got very old each time I had a batch ripen, so I decided to just run them through the food processor and freeze them without cooking. The sauces from each turned out exactly the same.

I left the skins on and put them in ziplock bags, so I could lay them flat to freeze. Then you have nice little flat packages that you can easily organize in your freezer.

Did you cut them up or just blend them whole with the skins and seeds? I am going to do it tonite and start freezing them asap..we are over run with tomatoes!!