When the garden does well, early August can be a busy time getting all of the produce stored.
I love to eat the fresh tomatoes from the garden! The first BLT sandwiches are always a favorite part of summer.
When the harvest is good, I can or freeze them as we can’t eat them fast enough. I have come up with a fairly efficient way to prepare them to be canned or frozen.
Blanching
Blanching fresh vegetables before they are frozen helps to reduce the loss of vitamins. It also helps when preparing tomatoes to make the skin easier to remove.
I put the tomatoes in boiling water for about a minute. You will often see the skin split. I lift them out of the water and let them cool.
My work area
Tomatoes are a messy project. I set my self up at the sink to help contain the mess. I put a large glass pan across the sink to raise the work area up so it is easier to work.
All the scraps – skin, seeds, and stems – end up in the pan. The chunks of the tomatoes end up in the container in the corner. Once the container is full, I dump it into a larger container.
Depending on the quantities I have, I can or freeze them. We usually eat all of the tomatoes from the garden by January or February.
Sherrey
Wonderful harvest!