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
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
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
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.

leo