Michele,

I've done it a bunch of different ways and what I found easiest was to only partly thaw them --- I let them sit in a colander over a bowl for a few hours.

This way the skins are very easy to remove (drop them in boiling water for just a few seconds), but the 'maters are still quite solid, and so easy to chop --- with very little mess. Once they are fully thawed, they are all soft and sloppy and I find them much messier to handle.

They exude a lot of liquid when defrosting, but it's all liquid that would have been in my salsa (and exuded in the cooking) anyway.

So if using meaty paste-type tomatoes I save the liquid (hence the bowl under the colander above) and include it. (If I'm using juicier tomatoes, and I want my salsa thick, I discard the liquid --- in fact, sometimes I freeze juicy tomatoes before making them into salsa BECAUSE it makes it easy to get rid of some of the liquid like this; AND because it's less messy to chop them when still partly frozen.)

Just my own preferences.

I've also thawed them completely and it works fine, too. Just, IMHO, a little more trouble and mess.

Z

+1 for freezing tomatoes for salsa. harvest when they are ready, freeze whole, stash until you have time to cook. i like to let them thaw just long enough (just minutes) where the flesh is still solid but twisting them in my hands takes the skins right off. then into the stew pot they go. i don't mind seeds, but i don't care for skins. forget about trying to skin a boiled tomato (1) ouch and (2) more flesh comes off with the skin than with frozen.

Thanks everyone for the advice! I made Annie's salsa tonight and it was so easy to remove the tomato skins when the tomatoes began to thaw. It was my first time making Annie's salsa and wow, it is great. Per an old post of Digdirt Dave's, I used 1/4 cup cider vinegar and 1/4 bottled lime juice and pressure canned for 25 mins. Yum!

Make sure if your kitchen is warm not to leave out overnight. I had 40 lbs of tomatoes spoil this summer while defrosting and had to throw the whole batch out.

So I can use frozen tomatoes AND frozen peppers, defrosted, to make Annies salsa? What about tomatoes that are green then ripen off the vine?? I have sloowww tomatoes...and I wanna make salsa. I had to buy salsa yesterday :(
Thanks!
Sherri

>> So I can use frozen tomatoes AND frozen peppers, defrosted, to make Annies salsa?

Yep!

>> What about tomatoes that are green then ripen off the vine??

Yep, once they have ripened!

>> I have sloowww tomatoes...

I hear you! Have about 15 pounds sitting on my counter in various stages of partial ripeness....

Z

I've seen some folks here say they defrost their frozen tomatoes at room temperature or in warm water. Never do this! You're creating the perfect for bacteria to grow on your food.

Here's a super useful article on how to freeze and thaw cherry tomatoes. Hope this helps!!

Wow something from the wayback machine! Good point Michelle.

I'll often run enough tomatoes thru my Roma strainer to make multiple batches of Annie's salsa during the peak of tomato season. I drain them and then freeze them in freezer bags in the quantity needed for a batch (8 cups/drained). Then in the fall or winter I thaw the bags in the fridge and make the salsa as I have time.