17 Garden-Fresh Tomato Recipes That Showcase This Garden Staple (2024)

FAQs

What can I do with a lot of fresh tomatoes? ›

Tomatoes may be frozen raw or cooked, whole, sliced, chopped, or puréed. Tomatoes do not need to be blanched before freezing. Frozen tomatoes are best used in cooked foods such as soups, sauces and stews as they become mushy when they're thawed.

It is a perennial but is usually grown outdoors in temperate climates as an annual. Tomatoes are the most common and beloved vegetable crop for home gardeners. They require relatively little space and can yield 10 to 15 pounds or more of fruit per plant.

For each quart jar of thin sauce, you'll need about 5 lbs of tomatoes.

The best and easiest way to preserve cherry tomatoes is to freeze them by adding handfuls to re-closable freezer bags. Wash and pat dry the fruits before freezing so they can be added to cooked dishes straight from the bag.

'Hillbilly' tomatoes are best enjoyed fresh: a single slice fits perfectly in a sandwich or on a burger. These large tomatoes can also be made into an eye-catching yellow soup. Insects like aphids and whiteflies can severely weaken tomato plants. Not every insect is bad for your plant though!

Mulching with a thick layer of straw: Keeps the soil under the straw cooler. Preventing the sun from directly hitting the soil around the plant which raises the soil temperature, kills surface roots of tomato plants. Prevents moisture from evaporating.

What to do with too many tomatoes? ›

Ripe Tomatoes

And unless you're eating them immediately, ripe, locally grown tomatoes will also last longer in the fridge; eat within a few days. Store ripe tomatoes in your fridge stress-free and enjoy them within a couple days of purchasing.

But, can you freeze cherry tomatoes? As it turns out, the bite-sized fruits couldn't be easier to pop in the freezer, so you can enjoy the taste of summer all year long. Just remember that freezing changes tomatoes' texture, so it's best to eat frozen tomatoes cooked into a sauce or soup, rather than fresh.

Freezing tomatoes is by far the most straightforward way of preserving them for later use in cooked dishes. Very little preparation is necessary. However, the freezing and defrosting process reduces the fruits to a pulpy mush, and so they're best reserved for use in soups, stews, and sauces.

Simply cover the cut side with plastic wrap—tightly—and loosely wrap the uncut side. Set the tomato on a small plate cut side down and put it in the refrigerator. Stored this way, sliced tomatoes will last a few days.

Freezing Tomatoes

If you've got freezer space, you can simply wash your tomatoes, chuck them in a bag or container, and put them in the freezer. If you prefer tomatoes for sauces without the skins, there are two ways to go about it. You can blanch them in boiling water for a minute, then dump them into cold ice water.