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I have some tomatoes that might go bad soon. Do they freeze well? (E.g. taste, texture)

neverendingqs
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    If you are going to freeze them they'll only be good for cooking afterwards, I suggest you cook them into a sauce first and then freeze that instead. – GdD Apr 08 '15 at 08:42
  • I found recipes for freezing tomatoes that also recommend blanching them and then peeling them before freezing. – Adriano Varoli Piazza Apr 08 '15 at 14:32

2 Answers2

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Tomatoes freeze well in terms of taste, but not in terms of texture. After thawing them, you should use them in soup, stews, etc. rather than eating them raw.

It could be useful to remove their skins and dicing them up prior to freezing.

Mien
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If you have to choose between throwing them out or freezing, go for freezing:

The texture will be way different as the tomatoes will get mushy. So when you ponder uses for them, think of what you would use canned / chopped tomatoes for. This also means preparing them a bit now is advisable: removing the peels (but could still "fish" them out later), perhaps coarsely chopping them.

The taste should remain largely unchanged, if frozen propperly, i.e. packed tightly and sealed well. Aim for a shorter storage time than the 8-12 months given for most fruit and vegetables. (Off the cuff I'd say 3-4 months, especially if they were close to spoiling when frozen.)

Another option would be incorporating them into a dish that freezes well, e.g. pasta sauce or tomato soup and freeze this - following the "cook once eat twice" principle.

Stephie
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  • Tomato skins come off extremely easily *after* freezing -- just rinse briefly with warm water and they'll basically fall off. – Matthew Read Apr 08 '15 at 14:46
  • Thanks, good to know, @MatthewRead! In fact, I'm usually too lazy(?) to peel tomatoes and will pick out the skins along with herb twigs, bay leaf etc. out of my pasta sauce before serving... – Stephie Apr 08 '15 at 14:48