Tomatoes out the ears!

[WiredEek]

This year, I planted my first garden. I had never grown anything before, but I learned a lot and I continue to learn as my garden continues to grow. I have a large amount of collards, kale, and tomatoes, but I'm stuck because I don't know what to do with them. A huge part of the harvest was given to my neighbor who cooks and cans for the locals. She's done and the pots are put away. Now, I have to figure out what to do with all that's left. Usually, I'll keep collards cooking in the crockpot because that's the only way I know to cook them. I don't know how to store the leafy greens, so I leave them on the stalk until I need them. I won't be able to do this much longer since it's getting cold here. My tomatoes are either rotting, fed to animals or dehydrated and chopped to dust. In my freezer, I have 5 bags of various small tomatoes, so I don't want to freeze anymore. In my kitchen, I have trays of cherry tomatoes and a half bucket of romas and enough gold medal tomatoes to fill a bread rack. My tomatoes aren't even done producing, there's twice as much on the vines and more varieties. I just don't know what to do with it all. I need recipes and storing suggestions. Any help and advice would be very much appreciated.

 

[Dawgluver]

Tomato sauce and juice will use up a lot, tomato soup base. Dehydrated tomatoes take up very little space. I'm making hotdog relish with my green tomatoes.

I have the same problem, only with apples! Good luck, and welcome to DC!

 

[Kayelle]

Hi WiredEek and welcome to discuss cooking. Do you have a "food share" in your area? They'd be happy to get your last harvest. If not, do you have more that one neighbor? You could always make up some bags for them, and do the "ring and run" trick. It's kinda like a backwards pre Halloween "treat and trick".

 

[Dawgluver]

Yes, drive-by drop-offs. It's worked for me.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Home made salsa freezes well. Simply blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for a few seconds to remove the skins. Dice, put in a pot, add fresh garlic, onion, peppers of choice, cilantro, and salt. Let it stew a bit, taste, and adjust flavors. Place in freezer safe containers and freeze.

Turn some into diced tomatoes to freeze. They aren't good for just munching, but will work great in any cooked recipe requiring tomatoes.

Ever make your own ketchup? There are a host of recipes on line.

Tomato basil soup is always a crowd pleaser.

Ok, the best soup/stew on the planet - Chili. Make it, freeze it, eat it.

Seeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[buckytom]

keep them in a cool, dry place so they rot slowly.

halloween isn't too far off.

i have tips on how to make a can of shaving cream squirt 10 ft if anyone's interested.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

If you live on a busy-enough road, put a cart/wheelbarrow/little red wagon at the edge of your front yard with a sign that reads "Free Tomatoes". My street is tucked back into a residential neighborhood, but every time my neighbor does that when he has too many somethings everything is gone by dusk. Even the zucchini!

My Mom had a method of storing tomatoes, especially if they weren't ripe enough. Wrap each loosely in newspaper, then layer into a metal can. Start with the greenest on the bottom. Check each week, removing each tomato from its paper and then re-wrapping and returning to the can. We did this faithfully and sometimes had home-growns until Thanksgiving or so. Not like fresh off the vine in the summer good, but I remember them being better than grocery store ones.

One summer I didn't have time to do anything but uproot the plants and tie them to the ladder in the garage. I hung them upside-down and picked tomatoes until Halloween. We lived 20 miles south of Cleveland at the time.

Hope you're able to make use/give away out of most of them. If not, like buckytom said, Halloween isn't too far away.

 

[Claire]

I had to laugh at this one. Once upon a time, many moons ago, I lived in Hawaii. The tomatoes tasted like ... nothing. I tried and tried. But they just didn't taste right. Then ... in the mail I got a tin of tomatoes from friends in Virginia. Illegal as all get-out. My husband made some fresh pasta, we invited friends over, and had a blast. They were yummy!

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

keep them in a cool, dry place so they rot slowly.

halloween isn't too far off.

i have tips on how to make a can of shaving cream squirt 10 ft if anyone's interested.

You and I need to talk. I haven't decided on what I'm going to do with the trick-or-treaters yet this year. I've hunted them with a nerf bow, caught them on my largest fishing pole with a bag of candy, and various other gags, including silly string after they received their candy. I need ideas, and quick. i know I'm off topic here, but times-a watin'.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[WiredEek]

Ever make your own ketchup? There are a host of recipes on line.

Tomato basil soup is always a crowd pleaser.

Ok, the best soup/stew on the planet - Chili. Make it, freeze it, eat it.

Seeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

Tomato basil soup! Sounds great, but unfortunately, my basil got hit by frost. There's still a little green left underneath, but not much. I picked off the black leaves, dehydrated them and put them in a jar, but I haven't tasted it yet. I did get a trim to soak in water, hopefully, it'll sprout roots.
Chili is my 2nd favorite thing to cook and eat. Lasagna is the best. I normally just use a jar of sauce for lasagna, but I could add a layer of chopped tomatoes and make a sweet lasagna with kale instead of noodles.
I don't really like ketchup, but maybe other people will. I'll look up a recipe.
My mind is roaming a few different directions. I'd better get busy. Thank you all.

 

[WiredEek]

Hi WiredEek and welcome to discuss cooking. Do you have a "food share" in your area? They'd be happy to get your last harvest. If not, do you have more that one neighbor? You could always make up some bags for them, and do the "ring and run" trick. It's kinda like a backwards pre Halloween "treat and trick".

I live out in the country. I have a neighbor across the street, but all the other houses are a mile away from each other. I have a friend in the cities (200 miles away) who invited me to cook for the homeless. As I had been homeless and living on the streets in another state, this project would be near and dear to my heart. If that friend would call me and tell me where I need to go, all my problems would be solved. Just kidding, nothing ever gets solved around here.

 

[Kayelle]

I live out in the country. I have a neighbor across the street, but all the other houses are a mile away from each other. I have a friend in the cities (200 miles away) who invited me to cook for the homeless. As I had been homeless and living on the streets in another state, this project would be near and dear to my heart. If that friend would call me and tell me where I need to go, all my problems would be solved. Just kidding, nothing ever gets solved around here.

You'll find no greater reward than cooking for the homeless and the needy.
My husband and I have done it for years in our small (30,000) town. Lately it's been harder for us to stand for long hours, so now he helps with administration duties with his computer. Find a way to donate your talents. You will be richly rewarded.

 

[GotGarlic]

If you don't have time to deal with all the tomatoes you have before they go bad, you can freeze them whole and process them later.

 

[letscook]

I cut them up in chunks with garlic and onions and some of them add green peppers, olive oil salt and pepper - put them on sheet pans and roast them in the oven , then add some basil, lil oregano and some put in freezer as is or some put in food processor and then freeze. I use zip lock bags so I can stack them

 

[Steve Kroll]

I wish had the problem of too many tomatoes. I planted six vines this year and we use them up as fast as I can pick them.

The tomato has to be the most versatile veggie in the garden. Rarely does a day go by that I don't eat them in some form or another.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

Get yourself a food mill, turn the tomatoes into puree and freeze it in 1 gallon zip-lock bags.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

Tomatoes out the ears!

That must be embarrassing when you go out in public.

 

[Caslon]

Italians have an annual event where they take all their excess overly ripe tomatoes and....hehe...

 

[buckytom]

oh, that's disgusting...

 

[GA Home Cook]

we can tons of tomatoes for many uses. Boil water, add tomatoes for 1 minute or until the skin breaks. remove and cool. remove the skin, core the white center where the vine was attached, remove seeds and place in a quart fruit jar, add lids and rings and process in a pressure canner at 10 psi for 30 minutes. They will keep for several years before they turn dark.
Here is my recipe for collards:
In a large pot, put in enough water and chicken stock to cook the collards. Its hard to say how much depends on how many collards you go. I have a three gallon pot and I can do 2 plastic grocery bags stuffed as full as I can get them in the pot, with about a gallon or 1 1/2 gallons of water.

I use chicken base instead of bought chicken stock and it works great.
Add 5-6 strips of thick cut bacon
3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
bring to boil and add collards (I remove the thicker stems)
cook until the collards are tender.

I have a side burner on my grill and I do this outside. Helps to keep the smell out of the house.