On Monday, October 7, 2013 10:13:53 PM UTC-5, Leonard Blaisdell wrote:
> I love homegrown tomatoes. I've probably produced a hundred in my life
>
> and mostly get them from the kindness of friends/not strangers. A old
>
> friend from a different town stopped by yesterday and fooled my wife
>
> into opening the door with the seductive phrase, "You want some fresh
>
> tomatoes"?
>
> He delivered thirty to forty pounds worth. I was looking at three
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> plastic grocery bags loaded to just less than the tear point with
>
> tomatoes picked that day. It would be a crime to waste such bounty.
>
> So, thanks to this group, I went to work after he left. I hadn't planned
>
> on a chore, but there you go. I put more tomatoes than we can possibly
>
> eat fresh on a glass server and processed/am procdessing the rest for
>
> freezing.
>
> I have skinned, seeded and simmered three batches of fifty tomatoes. I
>
> added a half cup of olive oil to each batch while it was breaking down.
>
> I reduced the tomatoes to a certain point, and then, I buzzed the
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> tomatoes with a hand blender and brought up salt to taste. I needed no
>
> sugar. Homegrown took care of the sugar.
>
> I'm processing the last batch now. It looks like I'll get the whole
>
> damned lot into eight of those 22 ounce containers that Hillshire Farms
>
> sells thin sliced process meat in. Those will fit in my freezer door.
>
> That's eighteen tomato's worth of flavor per 22 ounce container! A few
>
> approached cherry and some were half-beefsteak size.
>
> I'd never peeled a tomato before. Now I'm a pro.
>
> I *know* that with one of the batches, I just have to add cream to have
>
> a grand tomato bisque. I wouldn't have had a clue without guidance from
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> this group over the years.
>
> Oh, and I think I'll make a "salsa cruda" out of half the ones on the
>
> glass server. I might just get through this without waste.

Nice! I've been processing my tomatoes too. I skinned, seeded, and chopped one batch and froze them in ziplock freezer bags. Next was some nice tomato sauce. I love having that nice homemade tomato sauce around in the winter, it makes a killer Bloody Mary mix!