To Peel or Not To Peel ...

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JMediger

Head Chef
Joined
Sep 7, 2005
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1,178
Location
Wisconsin
Hello All,
I have a ton of tomatoes from my own garden and then from everyone else this year (I hate to see people just toss them so I tend to take on everyone else's overflow!). I am canning the regular tomatoes to use over the winter but want to make spaghetti sauce from the romas (going to freeze, not can).

Here's what I'm going to do ... chop the tomatoes, simmer with garlic, onion, carrot and celery (and seasoning), run through blender, divide and freeze.

Here's my question ... would you recommend peeling the tomatoes first or can I leave them on since I'll be running them through the blender? I won't run them through very long as I want it a little chunky, not a puree.

Suggestions?

Thank you in advance!
 
IMO, first step would be to core the tomatoes and make an x on the opposite end... then blanch them in boiling water for around 30 seconds and submerge in ice water to stop the cooking. this will make the skins slip off easily.

You won't be happy with your canned tomatoes if you have left the peels on, I don't think....... :ohmy:
 
By all means do remove the skins. Your resulting sauce will be better, especially if you want to leave it a bit chunky.

I've been canning my Romas for years and always remove the skins. I also wash and dry them, then freeze them whole for soups, chili, etc. The nice thing about freezing them whole is that, as they thaw the skins almost jump off without needing to be put in boiling water. It's great.

Katie
 
I always peel mine before making sauce or salsa, and I use mostly romas. I just drop them in hot water and the peels slip right off. Of course, when you are dealing with lots of tomatoes it can be time consuming.
 
Do exactly as ChefJune says. That is how i do them for my Portugaise sauce and tomato confit. Removing the seeds in imperitive as they will be bitter in a sauce.
 
Thank you all for your responses!

carolelaine said:
when you are dealing with lots of tomatoes it can be time consuming.

This is what I was trying to avoid ... but because I'm peeling my regular tomaotes to can, I guess it's not that much more to do the romas too.

For those of you who freeze them whole ... do you blanche them first?

Thanks all!
 
For tomato suace, I run them through the juicer/strainer on my kitchen Aide. w.
You don't even have to cook the tomatoes...you can run them through raw, if you wish.
You could also use an old-fashioned food mill and lots of elbow...but they must be cooked for that.
 
Not sure if this will be any help to your particular situation, but this is how I do it.

For any tomato product I can, I first wash the fruit, core the tomatoes and immediately chunk them into the blender container. I blend the whole tomato, minus the core or any blemish. This means the skin and seeds are incorporated in the finished product. I do this not to save time, but to include all the nutrients, fiber and goodies the entire tomato has to offer. As I type, I have a canner load of chili sauce processing. For this, I briefly blended the tomatoes and all the assorted vegetables that I add to the chili sauce. Once the vegetables have been run through the blender, be it for sauce, juice, or chili sauce, it is ready to can when it gets up to a boil or has cooked down enough. Been canning tomatoes for nigh on 30 years this way, and I guarentee you there is no bitter flavor related to having the seeds incorporated.

I am a hugh advocate of not peeling fruits and vegetables. I do not peel potatoes, sweet potatoes, apples, pears. The only vegetable I can think of that I do not eat the peel is winter squash.
 
I made smooth sauces for canning, and just cooked the chopped tomatoes down for about an hour, then ran them all through a food pureer; got rid of skins and seeds at the same time! Than back on the stove for a slow, low cook til the sauce thickened. I never seasoned my 'base' sauce when I canned; always waited til it was used for a dish, then added seasonings.
 

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