Experienced housewives use various methods of preserving vegetables, including freezing. But different vegetables behave differently after defrosting. I tried to preserve sliced tomatoes this way, but after thawing they look like rags and have no taste. That's why I've been doing things differently for the last few years.
Purchase
I buy tomatoes at the market at the last stage of ripeness (I call them “wrecked”).
Sellers sell this beauty for pennies, trying to get rid of it quickly, because in a day this product will no longer be a commodity. Their appearance, of course, is unattractive, but I am interested not so much in their beauty or even their price, but in their taste. It is at this moment that the tomato is at its most delicious.
Preparation
I wash the vegetables, cut off the badly spoiled parts (mostly the black parts), and cut them in half.
I rub it on a coarse grater to separate the pulp from the peel.
Here, each housewife can do things differently. My grandmother, for example, boiled tomatoes and then rubbed them through a sieve or colander. Using a sieve, you can get rid of not only the peel, but also the seeds.But this procedure takes a lot of time. The seeds don’t bother me at all, so I prefer my own method.
Preparation
Pour the resulting liquid into a stainless steel pan, bring to a boil and cook for an hour and a half to evaporate excess moisture (about two-thirds).
I didn’t do this before, but immediately packaged the tomatoes in plastic containers and put them in the freezer. But I didn’t like the result after defrosting: a large amount of water and very little dry matter. There isn't much space in the chamber, so you don't really want to just store water.
Experts say that frozen vegetables retain more vitamins than thermally processed ones. Therefore, each woman will make her own decision: to cook or not.
It is also important not to overdo it when cooking the tomato: it should remain liquid. Since I mostly cook dishes without adding extra fat, the tomato base allows me to at least partially replace them. Vegetables are stewed in it perfectly and do not burn.
Packing and freezing
I pour the cooled tomato mass into liter food grade plastic containers. They should not be filled to the very brim (everyone studied physics).
The product packaged in this way is sent to be frozen.
Lastly
And finally, you can dream up a little. If you have big problems with purchasing vegetables in winter, then you can add carrots, onions, and raw bell peppers to our preparation (per liter of prepared tomato - one carrot, one onion and one pepper (all medium size)). But I don’t do this, because onions and carrots are always available fresh in winter (and again, fresh ones have more vitamins), and I freeze peppers separately. By the way, for freezing it is better to take red, juicy, sweet, but unripe peppers.
The only addition I would not refuse is greens. In summer it is much cheaper than in winter. Add chopped dill, parsley, basil (whatever you like) to the tomato when turn off the heat and stir everything. As it cools, the base will absorb the aroma. This method of preserving greens, in my opinion, is the most effective, since when dried, salted or frozen, the grass loses its aromatic properties.
That's all. Enjoy your time in your kitchen!
