Over the we/end, in an effort to make more room in the freezer; I took out several bags of frozen toms and made a roasted tomato sauce out of them that was SOOOOOO very delicious.

I filled a few roasting pans with the frozen toms and put 'em in a 400F oven. After half an hour, I took them out and removed their skins-much easier now after thawing a bit. Then put them back in for another hour.

After an hour was up, I added finely chopped garlic, italian seasoning, salt,red pepper flakes and a little olive oil. Stirred it around, reduced the heat to 300F and cooked for another hour.

The end result was a rich, thick, slightly caramelized sauce that was OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!

Now, it did contain alot of seeds since I just used reg. not paste variety toms(Black Krim, Moskvitch, Sweet Chelsea and Neves Azorean Red)but I don't mind seeds at all. It was so delicious and much better than any sauce I have made on the stove top.

For those who do this regularly and have had these results; I apologize for gushing-I was just so impressed, I had to share!

In the past few years, I have cut up tomatoes, seeded some, steamed, drained and frozen the juice in 1 quart amounts for a beverage or soup additive. The 'drained' tomatoes are frozen in 1-4 cup amounts and are just right for adding to omelets, tacos or pizza. We eat the skins as well as the seeds. Sometimes, I just process a packet to reduce the skins to little bits. This is practical for me, as I usually raise 4-10 various 'thin skinned' toms.

Am just now making raspberry jam since there is time. In season, I pick almost daily and freeze in 1-2 cup amounts (with 1-2 T real maple syrup), for use as a fruit dessert (our most common choice), topping for cottage cheese pancakes, or in combo cobblers. If any jams jars do not seal, I freeze them in a box for the frozen goods...ie green tomato chutney, homemade cranberry sauce, etc. Your tom sauce would fit in as well!

I have been placing ripe tomatoes directly in the freezer just like that. I might wash them first, then just freeze directly, peel and all and no bags. The peel comes off with a little warm water when I take them out of the freezer. Saves on containers, freezer bags, and work. Makes tomatoes really easy to find too, aha frozen red ball? here it is! I love it. You can easily tell which type it is too.

We already went tru our frozen tomatoes, now we only have dried tomatoes as far as preserves. We are still getting fresh sungold cherry tomatoes for salads though, so next year I am growing more cherries and preserving less!

Ow....ow....ow.....! LOL

:-(

Deanna (who hasn't seen a fresh tomato since October).

P.S. Got pictures? That might hold us over until...oh, say.....July!!!

I've only had the freezer for a little over a year and it's been so useful for so much. I too collect alot of fresh berries over the summer and freeze them immediately as I don't usually have the time to do anything with them when they are ready. I just checked last night and have 2 big bags of red currants-in there, what to do? Jelly is out-no one eats it here but me and then not so much. I'll probably turn them into a flavoured vodka-that worked out well before.

cabrita, I love Black Krim-did really well for me last year but I'll also be trying Cherokee Purple this year. Neves was just okay for me, not very prolific but then summer '09 was pretty lousy-rainy and cool.

I ordered some Sungold seeds too as they seem to be well-loved on the Tomatos Forum here. I'm looking forward to high yields!

I've cut my garden tomatoes in half, squeezed out the seeds, then put them cut side down on a baking sheet - sometimes I drizzle on a bit more olive oil, but most of the time I don't - then roasted them under the broiler until the skins start to blacken. Then I throw them, skins and all, into containers and freeze them. When I'm ready to use them, I thaw them and whirl them in either the blender or food processor, skins and all. I use those mostly for Mexican dishes like mole sauce or chili and things like that, so the "smokiness" that the blackened skins have is a nice added flavor. Once they're whirled in a blender or food processor, you don't have any problems with bits of skin since they pretty much pulverize so small.

It is absolutely unbelievable what a small amount of home grown tomato can do to a dish!! I don't usually make my gravy (tomato sauce) from all garden tomatoes alone. I don't see the need, altho if you have loads it's a good way to use them. I make mine using regular canned puree and paste, but I always add about a quart of garden tomatoes and it just transforms the whole pot into something special.

Lisa

Just finished gathering up all of the many seeds that I've saved over the past few years, which I garnered from all of the tomtoes that were superior specimens, cleaning out my seed saving containers. I realize, I'm rushing things as far as planting, but as luck would have it, almost all of them germinated - I have lots, and lots to experiment with.

So - will plant as many as I can find room for, and of course, cherry types for best dryers - small golf ball size iis best.

Last year, (cool summer) wasn't too good for larger sizes - so that figured in the "freeze rather than can" attitude. So whenever I had a surplus that we didn't eat, I just cut them up, cooked a bit, and froze. We use them mostly for topping meatloaves, and sometimes spagetti sauces anyway.

I doubt that I will can any great amount of tomatoes - either BWB or PC as long as the crop is not really great anyway, and we do eat fresh over a longer period of time. Still, I liked to have a nice cooked down sauce already pre-cooked in a jar, heretofor.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

The recipe for the tomato sauce posted here by the OP sounds wonderful, and I have found that frozen tomatoes cooked in sauce suffer the least from flavor changes. To me the sauces made with them taste very much like sauces you would make fresh from garden tomatoes.

The whole thing was a moot point after all, after freezing a few, drying a few more, and eating lots of them in fresh sauces, stews and in salads, we did not really have any left to can. I do have still 3 cherry tomatoes producing now, and I plan on planting a few more cherry tomatoes in different colors (sprouted) since they give the longest yield in my zone, so less need for preserving!

I am also sprouting a few larger tomatoes that I hope to freeze, dry and can this year. As far as canning, I will be doing only the soup, unless a new recipe for sauce gets tested and approved that does not use added acid, but I won't hold my breath ;-)

That does sound like some delicious sauce, though, something Elery would love. I might have to sneak some tomatoes into the freezer just for that purpose when summer tomatoes come.

Cabrita, I love those little SunGolds, I've wondered if I could grow them inside the house in a pot!

Annie

Running to the freezer,
FleetHart

We will experiment with planter tomatoes this year, and I have a couple more cherries I am trying. I have too many tomato seedlings sprouted and not enough room in the garden, so time for planters.

In my gardening notes, I've copied from somewhere that the Sungold hybrid tomatoes can grow to 10 feet tall! The plants are apparently huge! So I don't think growing them inside is very do-able for most people :-)

At the end of the summer I make a Roasted Tomato, Pepper and Corn mixture which has many uses and freezes wonderfully.

You can see the recipe here as well as some other options for frozen tomato sauces. Just scroll down.

Carol