Coring green tomatoes for salsa?

10 years ago

So the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving has a recipe for Salsa Verde, which is not anything like the tomatillo salsa of that name, but I have tons of tomatoes in every stage of ripeness and can only use just so much of the nice ripe ones. The big question is that in the recipe the green tomatoes call for being "chopped, cored, peeled". So if you peel one and you take out the core - what is left is 1/10th of the original tomato since the "core" is the most generous part. Am I reading this incorrectly?
Nancy

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digdirt2

10 years ago

I think you are reading it correctly, just perhaps over-defining the core. Core size is basically determined by growing conditions so some years the core will be substantially bigger than normal. In those cases yes, it may require removing a great deal especially in small tomatoes.

But in most years with tomatoes normal for their variety size the core is basically what fits in the center of a tomato corer (scroll down to see pics below).

I can't really give you a specific size. Just don't remove any more than is necessary but only you, with tomato in hand, can determine that.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato corer

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Comments (8)

seysonn
10 years ago
Coring is just removing the seeds . I would even extract the juice out of them and reuse it.

To Skin, Drop them in boiling water fro about 15 seconds, take them out put them in ice cold water and hand peel . Then go on with coring.

Romas are much easier to core than some others, of course. But you should do it with your favorite tomato.

WITHE GREEN TOMATOES I dont think that you need to de seed them. Just core the stem end and chope.
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digdirt2
10 years ago
No "coring" is removing the "core" -the stem and its internal base. It does not include removing the cell pith, the seeds or the juice which are included in recipes such as this.

Dave
NilaJones
10 years ago
Is there some safety reason to do this coring?

I normally just chop up the tomatoes whole, including the seeds, the brown bit where the stem was attached, etc.

Though I don't think I will can them anymore, myself, since I deliberately choose low-acid varieties and now the instructions say I should add acid or pressure can!
cannond
10 years ago
I've made this salsa verde recipe a couple of years in a row. The first time I actually tried peeling green tomatoes. It was nearly impossible, and certainly the blanching thing was worthless. Just chop them. I removed the core end, just as I would if I were slicing tomatoes. Does this help? Deborah
digdirt2
10 years ago
Nila - hate to tell you this but there really isn't any low-acid tomato. It is deceptive as the pH of all varieties of tomatoes test out with 2 tenths of a point from 4.6. (4.4-4.8)

The "low acid" taste is caused by the increased brix (sugars) of the fruit not that it actually has less acid.

So for canning purposes, since we now know that pH doesn't remain stable during shelf storage (it rises) all tomatoes are considered borderline low-acid and canning all tomatoes requires the addition of additional acid in some form - even when pressure canned.

Dave
Linda_Lou
10 years ago
You remove the core, the place where the stem was, because that is where a big part of the bacteria is.
You don't consider the seeds, etc. as core.
NilaJones
10 years ago
@Dave:

What I mean is, I choose varieties that don't give me sores in my mouth the way vinegar and lemon juice do -- so I certainly don't want to add lemon juice!

If all tomatoes are so similar in acidity, why the change in canning recommendations?

They used to say BWB, no added acid. I thought the change was due to people growing at least some varieties that were too high a pH.