Frozen tomatoes for the winter - awesome recipes for freezing tomatoes

Does it make sense to freeze tomatoes? What can you do with them after defrosting?

If there is space in the freezer, then you can make blanks for the winter. You can cut the tomatoes into cubes, arrange them into bags and put them in the freezer in plates.

The second, more complex way of blanks, is to make cuts in the skin, scald with boiling water, remove the skin, and then cut.

These vegetables will have more vitamins and better taste than those purchased in the winter. Freezing is the best way to preserve the maximum amount of vitamins.

In addition, you can save a lot.

In winter, frozen tomatoes can be added to vegetable stews, borscht, spaghetti sauce, pizza, omelets, soups.

Thin slices of tomato are useful for pizza or I put them on top of meat, beaten and baked in the oven with cheese and tomatoes. Cherry can be added to any dishes that we cook, it is very convenient to freeze them, you do not need to cut them. Cubes - for sauté or vegetable mixes.

Since frozen tomatoes lose not only all vitamins and generally taste and become tasteless and watery - only slicing for soups or other dishes can be made from such tomatoes.

Since defrosted tomatoes will be like snot, it is best to peel and dice them when frozen. The skin is removed easily if frozen tomatoes are poured over with boiling water.

Put all the slices in bags (you can also add carrots, onions, peppers and other vegetables and then you get a vegetable mix that suits the meat, for example) and put it in the freezer. If necessary, I took it out of the freezer and fried it with onions and beets for borscht, for example))

The active period of consumption of tomatoes falls on the end of summer and the beginning of autumn: at this time they are the most delicious, aromatic and contain the least amount of nitrates. Of course, in winter you can buy tomatoes at the supermarket, but the price is very high, and the taste and smell are completely inadequate. Therefore, experienced housewives are looking for ways to solve this problem and are increasingly resorting to the method of freezing vegetables. Today we will look at how to freeze tomatoes for the winter in the freezer fresh and what can then be prepared from them.

Is it possible to freeze tomatoes for the winter

It is believed that freezing tomatoes for the winter does not make much sense, since vegetables contain too much liquid, which, after defrosting, will turn the original product into porridge.

But, firstly, in addition to fresh vegetable salads, tomatoes are used in the preparation of hundreds of hot dishes. And for such dishes, the consistency of the tomato is not decisive, while the aroma of summer and the tomato taste will be provided in due measure.

If we compare the benefits that defrosted tomatoes will bring to the body, in comparison with any tomatoes from the store in winter, then here the scales will undoubtedly lean towards the defrosted fruits. Especially if they were grown on their own site.

Finally, frozen tomatoes can bring significant savings to the family budget and save energy (no need to run to the store once again in winter).

And in order for freezing tomatoes to bring real satisfaction, you just need to understand its basic principles and follow the simple tips described later in the article.

Selection of containers

Before you start freezing, you need to take a suitable container. This could be:

A low-rise plastic food container, but with a large surface area.
Vacuum seal bags.
Plain plastic bag.
Plastic bottle.

Do not take glass jars or low-quality plastic containers.

Methods for freezing tomatoes

In principle, any variety of tomatoes can be suitable for freezing. It is only important that they are already ripe, since unripe brownish fruits can bring with them some bitterness.

Attention! Overripe or soft or overly juicy tomatoes are fine for freezing, but only in the form of juice or puree.

And strong and dense tomatoes can be frozen:

as a whole (with or without peel);
cut into circles;
cut into wedges or pieces;
with the addition of a variety of vegetables - peppers, zucchini, eggplants;
in a wide variety of containers - bags, cups, containers, silicone molds.

Fruit selection

Freezing tomatoes must be selected with the utmost care. They must meet certain requirements:

To be healthy, it is not allowed to freeze sick tomatoes with rotten pulp, affected by late blight, fruits with signs of fungal diseases.
The skin of tomatoes must be intact, free of cracks and have elasticity.
The diameter of the fruit should not exceed 7 centimeters; preference should be given to small tomatoes of the correct shape.
The pulp should be firm, without excess water.

Preparing tomatoes for freezing

The most important thing when preparing tomatoes for freezing is to thoroughly rinse and then dry the fruits. After all, it will be impossible to wash frozen tomatoes, and excess moisture on them during freezing is also not needed at all. Excessive moisture on tomatoes will turn into ice, which can glue the fruits and, when thawed, will worsen their taste and texture.

It is best to dry tomatoes on a paper or cloth towel, laying them in one row. The better they dry, the easier and faster the freezing process will be.

If tomatoes are cut into pieces before freezing, then to maintain their shape, excess juice is also allowed to drain if possible.

Important! In no case should tomatoes be salted before freezing, as this leads to the release of juice from the fruits.

Tanks for freezing and storing tomatoes must easily withstand low temperatures. These can be either plastic or silicone molds or containers. For good preservation, they also need to be fairly hermetically sealed to protect the tomatoes from additional odors and prevent excess moisture from evaporating during storage.

Thawed tomatoes cannot be re-frozen - this will completely ruin their taste and smell. Therefore, all storage containers must be selected to use their contents in one go. For ease of identification of products, it is better to sign all packages and containers, indicating the name of the product and the date of freezing.

Kitchen tools

To make harvesting fruits in different types, you should stock up on some kitchen utensilsthat will help the process and simplify the task of preparing the product for freezing:

knife with notches on the blade. It is with the help of such a knife that you can ideally cut tomatoes without crushing them, which will allow you to keep all the juice inside the pieces;
plastic tray for placing blanks for freezing in the freezer;
container for storing tomatoes, such as a plastic container or plastic bags;
paper towels to dry the tomatoes after washing;
freezer to freeze;
a kitchen board to chop the tomatoes;
deep bowls for intermediate storage of products prepared for freezing.

How to freeze fresh tomatoes for the winter

The procedure for freezing tomatoes differs somewhat depending on the purpose for which the ready-made vegetables will be used later.

How to freeze whole tomatoes

In general, only small and medium-sized tomatoes with dense pulp are frozen. A variety of cream is ideal for this purpose.

This is the easiest recipe for freezing tomatoes for the winter, especially if you don't peel them off. It is enough just to rinse the fruits and dry them well. Then they are poured in small portions into bags. Zip-fastened bags work well for this. But ordinary breakfast bags will work too. The maximum amount of air is released from them and the bags are tied or fastened, after which they are placed in the freezer.

Similarly, you can freeze tomato halves for stuffing.

Whole tomatoes are cut into halves, the pulp is removed from them, slightly dried, waiting for the juice to drain.
The halves are laid out on a tray or baking sheet and placed in the freezer for several hours to solidify.
The frozen halves are put into bags, tied and laid for long-term storage.

How to freeze mashed tomatoes in molds

Harvest from your own garden is rarely in perfect condition. All tomatoes damaged for various reasons can be thoroughly washed, cut off all damaged areas with a margin and freeze further in the form of mashed potatoes or juice.

How to freeze minced tomatoes

This recipe for freezing tomatoes will help to dispose of fruits with which there is no longer much time to mess around, but it is a pity to throw it away.

Prepared tomatoes are twisted through a meat grinder.
To the resulting tomato puree, you can also add chopped bell peppers and various greens - dill, parsley, cilantro, basil. This workpiece does not require any additional heat treatment.
Next, you just need to prepare (rinse and dry) suitable containers. It is best if they are small in size so that the contents of one container can later be thawed and used immediately.
Chopped tomato puree is laid out in containers, leaving about a centimeter of free space on top. During the freezing process, the tomato mass may rise slightly.
Close containers with tight lids and freeze immediately for storage.

In the same way, you can prepare freshly squeezed tomato juice, pour it into plastic bottles without topping it up, and then freeze it.

How to freeze tomatoes for borscht

If you do not have a sufficient number of suitable containers with a lid for freezing and storing mashed tomatoes, then you can use the following recipe, which will show you how to easily and beautifully freeze tomatoes for the winter.

Mashed tomatoes, with or without additives, are carefully distributed over silicone ice molds, which now come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes: in the form of cubes, and in the form of hearts, and in the form of flowers.
The molds are placed in the freezer for 5-6 hours.
After that, the frozen curly products are taken out of the frozen tomato and laid out in bags.
The bags are freed from air, tied and placed in the freezer for storage.
To prepare borscht or other first courses, you just need to take out the required number of tomato cubes or figures from the bag and use it for culinary purposes without defrosting.

How to freeze pizza tomatoes

You can freeze pizza tomatoes in a similar way.

The washed and dried tomatoes are cut with a sharp knife into circles with a thickness of at least 8 mm.
Attention! For these purposes, the fruits must be strong with a dense, not very juicy pulp.
Then the circles are laid out in one layer on a baking sheet or cutting board, which are pre-lined with parchment paper or cling film. This is done so that after freezing the circles can be easily separated from the surface.
If there are a lot of tomatoes, and there is enough space in the freezer, then you can lay out the tomato circles in two, or even three layers. Only each layer must be covered with parchment or foil to avoid the tomatoes sticking to each other.
The trays are placed in the freezer for several hours.
After they are completely frozen, the circles are taken out of the freezer, transferred to small bags for storage and put back into the freezer for storage for the winter.

Freezing tomatoes for the winter in slices

Tomatoes cut into pieces of different sizes are frozen in the same way. If the tomatoes turned out to be too juicy when slicing, then it is better to let them lie down a little before laying them out for freezing so that the excess juice stacks. It is even possible to freeze them in separate small containers, such as muffin tins and the like.

How to freeze cherry tomatoes

It is very beneficial to freeze cherry tomatoes for the winter. They retain their shape and taste in the best way, and due to their small size they do not take up much space in the refrigerator.

This process, in principle, is no different from freezing whole tomatoes. Often, only they are additionally peeled off - in this case, their use is more universal. This procedure is described in detail in the next chapter.

How can you freeze peeled tomatoes for the winter?

Peeling tomatoes is not as difficult as it might seem. In order for the peel to begin to separate from the fruit itself and it would only remain to slightly help it, it is first necessary to expose the tomatoes to high temperatures for 20-30 seconds. This can be done either by dipping the fruit in boiling water, or by placing it in the microwave, or by heating it over a burner flame on a fork.

It is advisable to cool the tomatoes in ice water immediately after this procedure.

Comment! Previously, it is advisable to cut the skin of each tomato crosswise in its smoothest part.

After that, removing the skin from the tomato is no longer difficult.

The peeled fruits are placed on a flat dish covered with foil, and the top is also covered with foil. Placed in a freezer for solidification, and then laid out in small bags. If possible, the bags are tightly tied and stored in the freezer.

Freezing green tomatoes

If everything is unexpectedly good and easy with freezing ripe tomatoes in the freezer, then any housewife is tempted to attach unripe brown and even green tomatoes in the same way. Indeed, in the early autumn season before frosts, there are often so many of them left in the beds. But don't do it. It is better to find another use for green tomatoes - pickling or boiling jam.

Thawed green tomatoes have a distinct bitter taste that is difficult to handle. In addition, apart from porridge after defrosting, it is difficult to expect anything else from them.

Reviews of housewives: who dared to freeze tomatoes and what happened

Tomatoes and bell peppers. I cut them into cubes, put them in sachets in portions, remove all the air and put them in the freezer.
Frozen vegetables are great for soup or stir-fry
Victoria izOrena

Tomatoes go very well if you grind them with a blender and put them in bags (or containers), then in the freezer. In winter, I took out, chipped off with a knife as much as necessary and added a thread to the soup, or when stewing something. The summer aroma was felt, and the taste too.
Cheboksarochka

for salad will not go - melt! quiche mish turns out. like when Victoria is defrosting.but for the stew borscht, that's it
ChamomileWhite

Freeze in the option: blanch, remove the skin, with a blender with herbs and a little rust. oils (somewhere so subtracted). In portioned containers. Used: in scrambled eggs. It's still better with live tomatoes, but my husband liked it anyway. I didn't want a second time. Into the soup. - so-so. I liked the borscht more. I made a conclusion - I will do so little for borscht (you can also use it in filling for stuffed cabbage rolls when cooking). Option: whole cherry. I didn't even think how well it would turn out for me with them. I froze it simply because it was a pity to throw it away. Lot. So that's it. Once they cooked a pork kebab. The meat was tough and so-so. A little "gnawed", a lot is left. I decided that I’ll play it all very well now. She cut off the frankly burnt, put it in a cauldron, added these very frozen cherry tomatoes, frozen eggplant, a drop of water - and into the oven. How delicious everything turned out! The meat absorbed the juice from the vegetables, stewed - softened; Cherries could not be said to have been frozen. This surprised me a lot. Eggplants generally like frozen. The smoky flavor of the meat gave it a special piquancy. She took note of the dish. I think I'll repeat it on purpose. Conclusion - I will still freeze cherry
ly_joyful

How to properly defrost tomatoes

Actually, only whole tomatoes are subject to defrosting, those that are planned to be used for stuffing and frozen in the form of mashed potatoes or juice, if it is planned to make tomato sauce from them.

To preserve the shape of whole fruits as much as possible, place them on the lower shelf of the refrigerator for 12 hours.

Important! Thawing tomatoes should take place in a non-metallic container, away from heat and light sources.

If whole tomatoes are supposed to be cut in any way, then it is better to let them first thaw for 15-20 minutes at room temperature, and then cut in any convenient way.

Tomatoes frozen in slices, slices and in other ways are not defrosted at all, but are used in the manufacture of dishes in their original form.