Growing your own tomatoes means that you can have many tomatoes at the same time. Sometimes this can be a problem because you might not have the time to eat them fresh or to cook them.
Then what to do if you have an abundance of tomatoes?
I could say that you can preserve tomatoes in a jar, but that takes lots of time and space, isn’t it?
The easiest way to preserve tomatoes is to freeze them. Yes, you can freeze tomatoes cooked, raw, chopped, or as a whole. You can even freeze tomatoes from a tin that you couldn’t use.
In this article, I will teach you how to freeze and store tomatoes in more ways, so you can use them later in your food, directly from the freezer.
How to Freeze Raw Tomatoes?
You don’t have to cook tomatoes to freeze them. You can put them in the freezer whole or sliced.
This is the easiest way to freeze tomatoes. However, there are few steps you have to follow for the best results.
How to Freeze Whole Tomatoes?
Whole tomatoes can be frozen no matter their size. They can be small cherry tomatoes or steak tomatoes. Just follow the steps below.
Step 1: Select the healthiest tomatoes. You don’t want to freeze anything with mold or rotten parts, isn’t it?
Remove the stems and then wash the tomatoes with cold water. After washing them, thoroughly dry the tomatoes before step 2.
Step 2: After the tomatoes are clean and dry, put them in a non-stick baking tray or parchment paper (baking paper). Arrange the tomatoes in a single layer, and if possible, avoid putting them too close to each other.
You don’t want them to stick together.
Step 3: The next step is flash-freezing. This is when you put the tomatoes with the tray in the freezer for about 1 hour, depends on their size. If the tomato is a bigger variety, you might leave it for 2 hours.
The idea is to freeze them solid so they are not getting crushed.
Step 4: When tomatoes are solid from the flash-freeze, you can put them in a Ziploc bag, remove the air from the bag to win more space, and date the bag.
Then you can put the bag in your freezer and it is ready to be stored for the winter.
How to Freeze Sliced Tomatoes?
To freeze sliced tomatoes is also a good idea, as you can save lots of space if your tomatoes are bigger.
Also, sliced tomatoes can be great as a topping for pizzas, casseroles and baked grain recipes.
The steps are the same as with the whole tomatoes, but you slice them before the flash-freeze.
You choose the healthiest tomatoes, wash and dry them. Then slice each tomato and place them in the non-stick tray or on a baking paper, and then put them in the freezer.
After the slices are solid, put them in freezer bags and date them. That’s it. Ready to be used in your lovely food, when it is needed.
How to Freeze Cooked Tomatoes?
If you want to prepare tomatoes to make cooking easier and quicker, it is possible.
You can cook it, prepare it as you would do for your recipe, and then after it cooled down, you can put it in the freezer.
You can either put the sauce directly in Ziploc bags or containers. Or if you don’t know how much you need at once, you can make smaller portions by flash freezing them in ice cube trays and then put the frozen cubes in Ziploc bags.
Remember to date the bags so you don’t end up throwing them away. Because cooked tomatoes can be frozen for 6 months.
How to Defrost Tomatoes?
Is very easy to use the frozen tomatoes, no matter in what form they have been frozen.
You can either defrost them fully before using or you can use them frozen, depending on the recipe.
For example, the raw whole tomatoes should be defrosted before use, as you might want to peel them and chop them.
However, the tomato sauce can be used frozen in your Bolognese spaghetti, or the sliced tomatoes on the top of your pizza.
But be careful to defrost always as much as you would use at once because once defrosted, you should not freeze it back.
That is why I recommend portioning the tomatoes before you freeze them.
How Long Can You Freeze Tomatoes?
As any other frozen food, tomatoes can be also stored in the freezer for 6 months.
Some people say that the freshly frozen, such as the whole or the sliced tomatoes, can be stored for a maximum of a year. But I think that after 6 months will change its flavor and will lose the nutritional value.
Do Frozen Tomatoes Lose Flavor?
Frozen tomatoes will not lose their flavor or nutritional value. Except if you keep them in the freezer for too long.
However, fresh frozen tomatoes will change their texture. These will lose their crunchy texture and will become squishy. So, these will be no longer suitable to use in salads as you would use them when you pick them freshly.
Can You Refreeze Tomatoes?
No, it is not recommended to refreeze anything that has been defrosted.
So, tomatoes are not suitable to refreeze after they have been taken out from the freezer. If you couldn’t use it all for your dish, you can keep it in the fridge for another 48 hours maximum. After 48 hours, you should throw it away.
Always try to defrost the amount that you would use at once.
Wrap Up
If you have too many tomatoes and you have no idea what to do with them, but also you don’t have the time and space to preserve them in jars, then freezing tomatoes is the best idea.
Frozen tomatoes can be used in many dishes such as sauce, soups or stews, but they can be prepared together with roasted veggies or even with pasta.
