Don’t Throw Those Away!
Delicious Tomato Soup from the Peels
To make homemade tomato sauce, tomato paste, or stewed tomatoes, you have to peel them first.
I have a 3-seconds-per-tomato rhythm and I promise it does not take that long.
Unless, of course, you are buried in tomatoes.
Using a snorkel to breathe through your tomato avalanche is, indeed, a good problem to have. I have determined that our family’s tomato consumption is just not sustainable, and I for one cannot grow enough to meet the demand. Enter my love for the local co-op. I have purchased and sauced/stewed/pasted 4 boxes of tomatoes thus far since just October (it’s the end of January), and I will need to implement a Rations Program to make these last.
I do hope you know that the scraps that leave your kitchen are little earthworm banquets, and they will reward you by providing the blackity-blackest of deep earthy soil in your vermicompost bin. That is, over course, after the chickens pick over the scraps first!
But have you gotten first dibs on those nourishing, juicy peels? We’re Victory Gardeners, we’re make-do tough, we’ve got grit, and we can feed our families nourishing whole foods without spending a fortune in the “Organic Aisle” at the grocery store. Well, some of us do that too (wince), but here is a great answer to the question….”What’s for dinner?”
How To Peel Tomatoes:
Do you have a metal collander that fits nicely into one of your pots? I use this rigged system for nearly all food processing, whether blanching carrots for the freezer or berries for the dehydrator. You will need to blanch your tomatoes. That’s a fancy word to mean “quick-boil” them. A true blanch should only take 60-90 seconds but for whatever reason I think tomatoes take longer. Maybe it has to do with the breed of tomato (I used Roma this past sesson), or maybe it is the ripeness/firmness. In either case, get the water to a rolling boil and put tomatoes in your collander. Dunk the collander into your pot and let it sit there for about 2 minutes, or until the skins start to split on your tomatoes. Then pull them out, letting them drain the excess water back into your boiling pot, and roll them out onto your counter to cool. Start the next batch.
I peel with my fingers. If the skin really fights you, chuck it back into the pot and do not waste your time, it just might not be ready. And do not feel like you must be a perfectionist on this–you are going to make something tasty out of those skins anyway.
My Big Tip: Make sure that you hold the tomato over a large bowl when you peel them, a lot of juice would be lost otherwise! Put the peels in one large bowl and the tomatoes to be stewed into a large stock pot.
Squeezing Blood Out of a Turnip Tomato
Yes it is worth it. WIth 2 co-op boxes of Roma tomatoes, I got 4 quarts of tomato peel–that’s 16 cups of peel! Those 4 quarts of peel made 2 quarts of tomato broth? I cut the waste in half.
Delicious Homemade Tomato Soup From The Peels:
Play with this and leave a comment about how you did it! This is just my method.
This is dinner for the day after you canned your tomatoes!
4 quarts tomato peels (and juice they’re sitting in)
1 whole onion + 1/2 onion
4-6 garlic cloves + 3 more cloves
2-4 TBS butter or olive oil
1/4 cup fresh flour
1 cup ricotta
fresh basil, oregano, parsley–whatever you like–to taste
1. Saute 1 whole chopped onion and 4-6 minced garlic cloves in 2 TBS butter (or olive oil).
2. Stir the sauted garlic & onion in with the tomato peels and pour into a crockpot.
3. Cook these on low for at least 12-20 hours (you can lower it to “warm” if you like–the longer they simmer, the more the peels break down).
4. Strain using chinois (to really grind the peels to pull out all of the extra juice) or some other similiar method. Do this to the peels twice.
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5. About 15 minutes before dinner, saute 1/2 onion and more garlic in butter or olive oil.
6. Slowly stir in flour and just enough tomato juice to create a thick roux.
7. Add the strained juice from the crockpot. Stir and simmer for only 5 minutes.
8. Remove from heat and stir in ricotta cheese. Use a hand mixer or blender if necessary.
9. Garnish with herbs to taste!