# What to do with tomatos. Lots of tomatoes, both ripe and green. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 29, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545 "2011-08-29T21:38:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/1 "2011-08-29T21:38:09Z")
Neighbors down the road from me have a big vegetable garden, including a ton of tomatoes. They’re not able to keep up with the tomato harvest and not much inclination towards using them and I have carte blanche to harvest whatever I want. I’ve done fried green tomatoes a few times, fresh tomatoes with basil and such as salad, tomatoes on pizza, etc. They just stopped by and told me there are hundreds of tomatos ready to go, right now. What I’ve done in the past is peel and stew them with some garlic and then freeze in ziplock baggies for winter use. I hate to see them go to waste! Apart from stewing and freezing, any other ideas for a ton of tomatoes? I’ll share whatever I make back with my neighbors, and may take an armload down to my “volunteer job” at the YWCA safe house. Any other ideas for what to do with a buttload of fresh tomatoes? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/2 "2011-08-29T21:43:43Z")
Freeze them until you have the time, then make gallons of salsa and pasta sauce. ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/3 "2011-08-29T21:46:31Z")
Tomato sauce, you can freeze it and can it, if you are into the canning. Plus Salsa - a good salsa recipe is fine for hot water bath canning, you only need the pressure canner if your recipe doesn’t count as “high acid”. If you are going to do canning, just find a good recipe and follow it, home canning doesn’t really lend itself to experimentation. Tomato paste is another option, but that requires cooking a lot of liquid off, so I have not had the patience to go quite this far. I’ve seen recipes for green tomato pickles, but have never eaten them, so can’t really say if its worth trying or not. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/4 "2011-08-29T21:49:00Z")
Yeah…I canned once, but it was really a lot of work. Cooking and freezing is a lot easier! Can fresh tomatoes successfully be frozen? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/5 "2011-08-29T21:56:41Z")
Thin-slice and sun-dry a bunch, then bag and freeze. Great topping for pizza in mid-winter. Once you freeze tomatoes, the texture changes. That’s why you’ll want to process them when they thaw. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/6 "2011-08-29T22:17:50Z")
Yep. Toss 'em in a bag in the freezer. When you’ve got time, take them out, skin 'em, and make sauce or salsa or whatever. We do this every year. Except this year, when gardens just got all burnt up. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/7 "2011-08-29T22:27:31Z")
If you have a lot of cherry tomatoes then grill them with fresh teriyaki sauce. ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/8 "2011-08-29T23:04:17Z")
I think Wednesday is La Tomatina festival in Spain. Maybe you can have your own mini Tomatina. ---
**Author:** ![Meme\_Chose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Meme\_Chose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meme_Chose)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/9 "2011-08-29T23:57:35Z")
If you really want to use a LOT of tomatoes, make ketchup. ---
**Author:** ![Snake\_Plissken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@Snake\_Plissken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake_Plissken)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/10 "2011-08-30T00:57:17Z")
If they are roma tomatoes, I would slowly oven dry a bunch and pack in olive oil. If they are something else, I would roast a bunch of them over a hot fire, (lump charcol), and pack with my foodsaver. I wish I had the dilemma of too many tomatoes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/11 "2011-08-30T02:46:13Z")
Another use for the green ones is green tomato relish, one of my personal favorites (though still not as good as fresh ripe tomatoes). ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/12 "2011-08-30T03:04:24Z")
For Fried Green Tomatoes year-round: Slice, not too thin. Press each side in cornmeal with salt & pepper, then flash freeze on a cookie sheet. That way you can bag a whole bunch without them sticking together and can fry them up all winter. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/13 "2011-08-30T11:14:11Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > For Fried Green Tomatoes year-round: > > Slice, not too thin. Press each side in cornmeal with salt & pepper, then flash freeze on a cookie sheet. That way you can bag a whole bunch without them sticking together and can fry them up all winter. Ooh! Like. Definitely will do this, I love me some fried green tomatoes. I’ve also seen some recipes for green tomato relish, though I’m not sure how one uses it. Will also try sun- or oven-drying them…sun-dried tomatoes (the spendy kind you buy) are fabulous in pasta dishes. No clue what type of tomatoes they are…no Romas or cherry tomatoes. Standard-issue medium-sized round ones. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/14 "2011-08-30T12:05:38Z")
Smitten Kitchen’s Tomato Pie. ---
**Author:** ![undertheinfluence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a6a055/32.png) [@undertheinfluence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/undertheinfluence)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/15 "2011-08-30T12:10:34Z")
sel em muthas ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/16 "2011-08-30T12:44:26Z")
[Chow Chow](http://www.texasbob.com/krecipe12.html) ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/17 "2011-08-30T13:08:28Z")
gazpacho? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/18 "2011-08-30T14:52:58Z")
> [@emcee2k](#): > > I think Wednesday is La Tomatina festival in Spain. Maybe you can have your own mini Tomatina. That would be the over-ripe ones only, though. Personally, I’d puree those and freeze the pure, to use later in making tomato sauce, salsa, or as a “dash of flavor/color” in other sauces and soups. For example, adding a dash of tomato pure to a plate of green beans makes it more “lively” and takes a few seconds. For the less-ripe ones that are perfect to eat right now, [tomato salad](http://mumpersrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/04/navas-famous-tomato-salad.html). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-tomatos-lots-of-tomatoes-both-ripe-and-green/594545/19 "2011-08-30T17:19:43Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve also seen some recipes for green tomato relish, though I’m not sure how one uses it. Just like pickle relish.