3 Ways to Preserve Tomatoes
Tips from a Master Food Preserver

Just about anyone will tell you that fresh local foods preserved now will taste better than what you can buy in the store next winter. Canning, pickling, and making jam from freshly harvested fruits and vegetables is something our grandmothers knew well. Today, with an interest in local produce and the desire to know what is in the foods we eat, home food preservation is making a major comeback. So is the can-do spirit. People want to learn practical skills, and home canning is one of them.

With the arrival of the summer harvest, Nutritionist and Master Food Preserver, Susy Hymas, who offers in-home Food Preserving Parties, demonstrates three ways to preserve the tomatoes.


Dehydrating Tomatoes

Roma tomatoes or other paste varieties work well for dehydrating. Tomatoes are cut into thin 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices, and placed close together, but not touching, on a drying rack in a food dehydrator. Roma or paste tomatoes take about 10 to 15 hours to dry at 140ºF. When dry, they will be paper-thin and will need to be peeled off the drying rack. Susy stores dried tomatoes in the freezer to maintain quality, or in oil in the refrigerator for up to two weeks only. Dried tomatoes are good in soups, sauces, quiches or combined with other vegetables. To rehydrate them, she simply soaks them in hot water until plump.


Roasting Tomatoes for Freezing

Oven roasting is an excellent way to prepare tomatoes for freezing. The tomatoes do not need to be peeled; they’re delicious, and you can either put them in a food processor to grind them up for tomato sauce, or just freeze them in cartons. Roasted tomatoes add extra flavor to spaghetti sauce, chili, salsa, bruschetta and pizza.

Slideshow: How to Roast Tomatoes for Freezing

Recipe: Roasted Tomatoes

Hot Pack Tomato Canning

Here, Susy Hymas demonstrates the hot pack canning method she uses for putting up tomatoes. “I think most people are interested in canning tomatoes because they know they’re something they’ll use on a regular basis,” she says.

Because ensuring food safety is paramount in canning, she recommends following USDA National Center for Home Food Preservation canning guidelines.

Slideshow: Canning Tomatoes Using the Hot Pack Method

Resources on Food Preservation:
National Center for Home Food Preservation
USDA Food Safety Education
Ball Home Canning website

Related Articles:
Can, Pickle and Preserve: Home Canning Parties Teach Skills Our Grandmothers Knew

Recipes:
Roasted Tomatoes
Tomato Onion Quiche