We use most of our tomatoes to turn into salsa and sauce. Of course, we eat them fresh too!
This year, I cut way down on the amount of cherry tomato plants we grow, and concentrated on growing Romas and Amish Paste.
Ours never ripen at the same time. So, I pick them as they ripen, cut the large tomatoes into quarters, throw them in a Ziplock bag and put them in the freezer.
Over the next weeks, more and more ripen and more and more bags end up in the freezer.
When frost really threatens, we pick all the green tomatoes left on the vine. I put them in large paper bags (from the grocery store) and add a few red tomatoes. We check the bags every couple of days, and before we know it, all the tomatoes have ripened in the bag. (I usually keep the bags right in the kitchen, so I don't forget to check on them.)
Come November, when I have a lot more time, I pull them all out and spend maybe 2 days making sauce. I use a Vittoro mill to take away the skin and seeds.
Very very easy....plus the freezer always runs better and cheaper when it is full. So the tomatoes in there help in that regard. Come November, we need the freezer room to store the pork that we grow....so out comes the tomatoes and in go the pigs, lol!
Annie
"stop tooting the weed annie"
