Last week, I monumentally lucked out. Heather and Steven from Little Acre Farmstead swapped me ten pounds of little tomatoes for an assortment of jam. I think it may well have been the best trade of my life. Admittedly, my bartering career is in its infancy. But still, I was tickled. Thing is, ten pounds of tiny tomatoes is a whole lot. So I had to get creative with my preservation techniques. Here’s what I did.
I froze enough to fill two small cookie sheets. This is the easiest method I know. There’s no prep, you just fill the sheet, pop them into the freezer and leave until solid. Once they turn into tomato marbles, funnel them into jars or zip-top bags and return them to the freezer.
They can be used in soups, stews, roasts and veggie scrambles. Someone also mentioned recently that preserving tomatoes like this makes them great for tomato cobbler (who was that? Remind me and I’ll link to you. It was Melissa from Bridgman Pottery! So pretty).
Next up is dehydrated tomatoes. You do need some additional equipment here, but I plunked down the cash for a dehydrator couple of years ago and have yet to regret it (though it is something of a space hog).
In addition to tomatoes, I use mine for peaches, lemons, limes and the occasional batch of jerky. This is the one 
I have. I slice them in half, place them cut-side up and dehydrate at 135 degrees for 18-24 hours.
I make these almost entirely so that I can make this zucchini noodle salad that Tea turned me on to a couple of years ago. They are also good for general snacking (like tomato candy!) and adding to things that have a bit of moisture (they do need to rehydrate a little once in food). You could also puree them into a tomato powder, should you ever need such a thing.
Roasted tomatoes. We’ve already talked about this one recently. Still, they’re worth the reminder. Add a handful of unpeeled garlic cloves and some fresh thyme. Or a few slivers of onions and some rosemary. Oregano is also good. However you make them, you won’t be sad that you did.
Here’s another option that I’ve mentioned in the past. Tomato jam. I loved how these little grape tomatoes worked in this recipe. The seeds are a bit smaller, which makes for a really nice texture. And they’re already so sweet that if I use them again in this application, I might just reduce the sugar a bit to compensate. Also, it’s worth noting that this time around, my yield was just three pints as opposed to the four and a half I got last year.
After I froze, dehydrated, roasted and jammed, I had about a pint of tomatoes left. Those became a small batch of refrigerator pickles. I actually took the time to slit, blanch (about 90 second dip in boiling water should do it) and peel all those teeny tomatoes so that they’d better absorb the brine. Luckily, when you’re working with just a single pint, it’s not too tedious.
The brine was 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup filtered water, 2 teaspoons pickling salt, and 2 teaspoons sugar. I added tiny pinches (no more than an 1/8 of a teaspoon each) of mustard seeds, coriander seeds and red chili flakes to the jar, along with two juniper berries. Pour the brine over the tomatoes. Tap to remove bubbles and add a bit more brine. Keep in the fridge for at least 48 hours before eating.
Unfortunately, these are too fragile for boiling water bath storage. They will dissolve into nothing in the heat of the canning pot.
Now, how do you like to preserve tiny tomatoes?
I go the dehydration route – pretty much the same way you have said here. But after they are all laid out on their trays I take a mix of kosher salt and black pepper and “make it rain” down on them.
Just enough so that the wee buggers get a little salt and pepper on each one. And if I am feeling extra motivated I will place a single leaf of oregano on top of each half. The juice makes it stick and then it is dried on.
Ooo, I love the idea of seasoning them before dehydration. I’ll have to try that next time.
This post is amazing. I love tomatoes, but I had no idea you could do so much to preserve them for later. Wow! I am going to have to try the jam and pickles tomatoes. Thanks so much!
LOL You said
“you just fill the sheet, pop them into the oven and freeze until solid.”
You talk like me. I think the freezer does a better job than the oven??????
HA HA HA
Whoops! Thanks for catching that. It’s mighty hard to get an oven to do the work of the freezer!
Thanks for this post. So timely for me. I have a pile of tomatoes on my counter, another pile on scheduled for tomorrow’s CSA, and ANOTHER pile ripening on my plants. I was starting to get a bit stressed out!!! Now I have a plan! Thanks again!
So glad to help!
Great timing! My sungold tomatoes are producing like crazy while my romas aren’t doing to well. I am looking forward to giving some of these methods a try this weekend.
I did have one question about freezing mason jars: how to thaw them? Mine seem to crack once I take them out of the freezer. Once was a pint and the other a quart and both had liquid. I have a few more inside that I would like to thaw and use — but I am concerned that they will break as well? Any techniques or thoughts?
Sarah, the secret to freezing something liquidy in mason jars is to step the temperature up. You have to plan ahead, but about 24 hours before you need what’s in the jar, move it from the freezer to the fridge. Let it defrost there for 6-8 hours and then move it to the countertop. Never try to speed the defrosting by putting the jar in some water, that’s a one-way ticket to breakage. Leave 1 inch of headspace in pints and 2 inches in quarts.
You don’t have to be quite as cautious when use jars for solid things that are already frozen, like these tomatoes. They’ve already done their expanding, so headspace isn’t an issue. When I use these tomatoes, I just tumble a few straight out of the freezer into a dish and then put the jar back into the freezer.
If you use jars to freeze often you might consider getting jars that are freezer safe. I haven’t had any problems thawing my jars in the micro or water and I regularly freeze and thaw homemade chicken stock in jars.
I’d seen also making them into tomato sauce by using an immersion blender skins and all. These are some great ideas though. Thanks 🙂
Mmm, that sounds terrific!
It was me! I started with this cobbler recipe and moved on to use goat cheese instead of gruyere. It’s a thanksgiving/christmas standard. Some of my family’s gone gluten-free, so I make it crustless more often than not.
http://www.marthastewart.com/316237/mixed-tomato-cobbler-with-gruyere-crust
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bridgmanpottery/4784309379/
Thanks Melissa! That looks SO good!
I am a recent follower of your blog. Joined a CSA this summer and am loving all of your wonderful tips and posts. Beautiful pictures, too.
Thanks Julie!
A timely post! I have cherry tomatoes coming out of my eyeballs! I can’t believe how many we have. My favorite/only way has been to dehydrate them. This year I’ve also been freezing them in quart freezer bags.
The roasted tomatoes sound yummy, and so does the tomato jam.
I’ll be sharing your post on Facebook.
I love the idea of tomato cobbler! And I love those little tomato pickles. I am SO doing that this year! We have three prolific grape tomato plants, so I think I’ll be keeping this post handy…
All these options look great. Will be giving the tomato jam a try, I have lots of little tomatoes to pick.
Not to disagree with you, Marisa, but I actually pickled whole Black Cherry tomatoes this year, water bath included, and they held up very well. I think what I did different was I did not peel them. I only punctured the ends of them with a sterilized needle and soaked them in a salt water brine overnight before hot-packing them with some dill heads and a garlic clove and putting them through a 10 minute water bath. I couldn’t find a real recipe so just kinda made it up as I went. They are delicious. 🙂
Rebecca, you are allowed to disagree with me! I just didn’t think the tomatoes that I made would hold up to the boiling water bath. However, I’m happy to hear that you found a way to make it work for you! That’s excellent!
I don’t think mine would have either had I peeled them. The peel held the whole tomato together very well, and are very edible in the finished product. Have you had the Black Cherry variety? They are soooo yummy I couldn’t stand the thought of not using every single one in some way. I’ve also roasted some and frozen some whole, as you suggested.
Black Cherry are the BEST! Our CSA has them in the pick-your-own field and I try to fill up as much of my share as I can with that variety.
Toss them in the food processor, skins and all, with a couple cloves of garlic and puree. Cook it down to desired consistancy, and freeze.
Or pour over hot pasta….
Mmm…
Thanks for sharing! We love tiny tomatoes. Tweeting and pinning this post.
I love tomato jam. It was the first thing I learned how to can, and now my family’s favorite breakfast is fresh bread, a variety of cheeses, and a variety of jams. We compare notes on how well the tomato jam goes with various cheeses.
Awesome post. Now I just need to get my hands on pounds of tiny tomatoes! My plant is unfortunately producing them one at a time… just enough to tease me.
Roasting them is my favorite! Our tomatoes are late this year, but as soon as I get more than 5 at a time, into the oven they will go.
I l.o.v.e. this post. Like Julia, I have three very prolific sungold grape tomato plants, plus I work for a farm… so yeah, we gots alot of these buggers. I NEVER thought of freezing or pickling them. I’m gonna try both. I myself, LOVE me some tomato jam so that’s def. on my list this season. Love this post. It needs to be printed, posted on my wall in the kitchen as inspiration. Thanks Marisa!
Aww, thanks Christina. I’m delighted to hear you like it!
I usually do not get the chance to preserve my small tomatoes. The girlfriend has been taking a quart of them a day to work without any returning!
I love tomatoes! You’ve inspired me to roast tomatoes this weekend. Does it freeze well?
Roasted tomatoes freeze exceptionally well. Pack them into 1 cup containers and use them all year round!
We’re so glad you enjoyed the tomatoes. Can’t wait to try some of your ideas with our next round. And your jam was superb! I can’t wait to crack open the next jar. I look forward to future barters 🙂
~Heather
Heather, I’m SO glad you liked the jam. I look forward to future trades as well!
I had to run out to the garden and pick yellow and orange cherry tomatoes right after reading this, thanks!
I still have around 6 pounds left from the batch I was given on Saturday and have been trying to think of how to use them next. Thank you for reminding to pull the dehydrator out even though it is a space hog.
I have done your tomato jam recipe, Jennie’s tomato jam, a chili-tomato jam, tomato-basil jam and used them in two different salsas. And I still have tomatoes left. Plus I was told to come and pick all I want. So I see dried tomatoes and oven roasted ones in the future.
I’m drowning in tomatoes right now I found your blog while searching for a tomato jam recipe for something different. Now I’m in Like on FB and will be making that jam this weekend. It looks fabulous and I can’t wait!
Anyhoo, I got a fantastic recipe for a cherry tomato sauce (butter?) that I did the other night. The original calls for simmering on the stove, but I don’t have time for that kind of thing…so what I did was fill my crockpot with clean, rinsed cherry tomatoes (I happened to grow sungolds this year), added 6 ribs of celery, about 6 carrots and 1 large onion that I shredded in the food processor and then about 3 sticks of butter and roughly a tablespoon of salt (I didn’t measure, just guessed). Let it cook down all night – when you get up and take a peek don’t freak out. It looks like kind of an oily mess with whole tomatoes floating around. Anyway, drop in an immersion blender and puree. What you end up with is a rich, creamy tomato sauce that tastes heavenly and would be awesome over pasta, on bread, as pizza sauce, etc. It reminds me of a good Indian butter chicken sauce without the spices. I think next time I might add some wine while it’s cooking to give it a little depth?
Those are all fantastic ways to preserve. Yum
What an inspiring post.
I luvvvv little tomatoes and I think they have the BEST flavor. You really showcased some wonderful ways to preserve them.
Your photos are fab — making my mouth water — not a good thing since I already ate breakfast and I shouldn’t be this hungry right now.
When (and IF) my tomatoes ever get ripe, you can guarantee I’ll be referring to this post for ideas.
Thank you for another beautiful blog post.
great ways to preserve those tiny ones!
Perfect post! Concise, yet packed with useful information, accompanied with great photos. Many thanks! Now if my plants would start producing! Still foggy along the coast of California. Where is our summer?
Ive dehydrated TONS of little tomatoes over the years- and low and slow roasted in the oven, packed in jars, covered with olive oil and popped in the freezer- they are excellent for a quick toss with pasta. And dried, I like to throw em in pasta sauce, roasts, stews, soups, the uses are endless.
They don’t last long enough to make it to the preserving stage when I get a bunch of those tiny sweet tomatoes! i clearly need more though and love your frozen bullets concept.
My favorite way to eat them is roasted with onions and eggplant and served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. There must be a way to jar that combo…
I normally preserve all of my own tomato “products” but having relocated to a region where it’s difficult to grow full-sized tomatoes due to fruit flies, I’m focusing on cherry/grape tomatoes. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks for the great ideas!
Oh my goodness, please pardon my drool!! I have to run to the farmer’s market right now so I can make some of these wonderful recipes!! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Audrey
Love the refrigerator pickle idea! Will have to give that a try. Thanks for the grea ideas, Marisa.
I never thought about freezing t’matrs. I am about to have all of mine turn red on the same day just about so this will come in handy.
I made pickled watermelon rind the other day. Mmmmm!
http://preppypinkcrocodile.blogspot.com/2011/08/pickled-watermelon-rinds-story-and.html
KK
Pickled tomatoes! That sounds so amazing. I’ve also recently tried tomato jam, and it’s quite tasty. I bet it’d be even better with the sweetness from small tomatoes. We’ve had a food dehydrator for a couple years now, and I have yet to use it. It’s one of my goals this summer though. Now, if only our tomatoes would ripen…
I saw these at Whole Foods today and wanted to buy them but was not sure if I could preserve them. I did not buy them but wish I had now after reading this post!! Next time I will know better……
Ahhh this post has made me craaave tomatoes! I have a dehydrator too and I love busting it out, but I definitely want to check out that tomato jam and the roasting method too. Okay, now I need to load up on a flat of tomatoes
What great tips! I’ve definitely never heard of the freezing method, so I’m excited to try that one this year =)
wow, an excellent summary of what to do with these summery fruits! We have tons coming in on the farm now and I love eating them all winter. thanks for such great information.
Has anyone tried freezing roasted cherry tomatoes packed in oil? I roasted some with quite a bit of olive oil and packed them into two half-pint jars. I topped them off with more olive oil. If possible I would really love to stick them in the freezer – if not, any thoughts on how long they are likely to keep?
BTW, I just discovered that I had a box of the wide-mouth half-pint jars – best ever! I LOVE them! I’m definitely getting more of them. I recommend them to everyone 🙂
Also, I have been making the Refrigerator Garlic Dill Pickles – I buy cucumbers every week at the market to do a batch of them and put them to the back of my fridge – I love pickles and those are exactly what I like. So I recommend those too!
Marisa – I see you are having a rough week. You should think about all the people you inspire and who started canning because of you. (Like me!) Life is a rollercoaster… it will go back up 🙂
Thanks for all the simple yet delicious ideas, Marisa! When you make refrigerator pickles, do you pour the hot brine over the food, or do you let it cool first?
These are great ideas! I haven’t bought a dehydrator yet; maybe next year. But as soon as my small tomatoes start ripening, they’ll be all over the place. thank you for the multitude of ideas!
Made the jam today – fabulous!
How long will the dehydrated tomatoes last un-refrigerated? I have a tiny fridge and would like to keep some of my tomato harvest for the cold months.
I slow-cooked my tomatoes when I had such an abundance last year (and pregnant me just couldn’t keep up with using them all) and I’m so looking forward to making this again this year; it’s like a tomato jam, I guess, but it’s savory–no sugar. So, so good. I made one batch that was all cherry tomatoes, though I thought the best involved a combination of different kinds. http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/tips-techniques/try-this-super-slowcooked-tomatoes-128294
I need help…I am wanting to preserve a salsa that I make but I don’t know how. I do not use fresh tomatoes but Hunts canned tomatoes, fresh jalapenos, cilantro, onion and garlic. Would I make salsa like I normally would, put in in jars and do bath for about 25 minutes? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Tks
Absolutely, you can do it that way. But remember those tomatoes are heavily salted so skip any additional salt. Check the time though pints usually take 45 minutes to process. If you like your salsa a little thicker add some tomato paste.
I realize this is an old post, but just wanted to say that it is generally not a good idea to can your own salsa recipes. I didn’t notice any vinegar listed in this recipe and were it canned in a water bath it could become a breeding ground for botulism toxin.
Salsa recipes specifically for canning should be used if you want to preserve your salsa. They are tested to be sure that they are acidic enough to be safely preserved in a boiling water bath.
Thanks for pointing that out! So many canning errors on the internet & it’s not worth hurting your loved ones. One botulism case can mean months in the hospital. 🙁
The beauty of old canning books handed down, you can properly waterbath ANY FRUIT OR VEGGIE! Great gramma, gramma, & mom never had pressure cookers & neither do I. Never has any family member dealt with botulism.
They were just very fortunate.
I agree there are many recipes out there that are poor for canning. But really people. Do some research. How many people die annually from home canned foods? According to the CDCs website:
In the United States, an average of 145 cases are reported each year.Of these, approximately 15% are foodborne, 65% are infant botulism, and 20% are wound. Adult intestinal colonization and iatrogenic botulism also occur, but rarely. Outbreaks of foodborne botulism involving two or more persons occur most years and are usually caused by home-canned foods. Most wound botulism cases are associated with black-tar heroin injection, especially in California.
If you do the math and assume all of the food cases are due to home canning that is about 22 people a year (probably less based on the above). That being said, the main reason I follow safe canning practices is because I don’t want all of my hard work to go to waste based on spoilage.
So please stop the hysterics with botulism. Botulism has to be present in your garden soil for it to be a threat.
The botulism hysterics is scaring people away from canning. You are more likely to die from cancer from BPA or other toxins found that is found in commercial canned products than you are from botulism.
tomato varieties have changed in the years since our grandma’s were canning. Because of that our tomatoes may be beefier and have much less acid natural to them. This is why you MUST pressure can tomatoes. I have heard only one case in which a person has died because of home canned food. I wonder if that one case would be welcome in my family or loved ones? How does the person who canned that jar feel knowing their Mother passed because she ate what they canned? Hard things to think of!
You can process tomatoes in a boiling water bath canner, provided that you add sufficient acid.
Be careful with old canning recepies! The rules have changed in the past 10 years or so, what was considered safe in the old days doesn’t necessarily apply anymore.
Canning has change. You can adapt and old recipe to a modern one. If you’re just canning tomatoes either with added water or no water added you put in a quart jar 2 TBSPs of store bought “Real Lemon Juice”, pint jars 1 TBSP of “Real Lemon Juice”. Do not use fresh lemons because the acidity is not enough.
Also your processing time is different for what altitude you are at. You can contact your State Extension Office, or local office for that information.
Doing Salsa you can substitute the vinegar with equal amount of “Real Lemon Juice” if you like.
There actually IS vinegar in this recipe….
If it has lemon juice and vinegar (as my recipe does, it is fine. You need enough acid and a sealed jar so botulism can’t grow. BTW spores are always there. Only when they grow does it become a problem.
You don’t need vinegar to can tomatoes, they have enough acidity on their own. I have canned them in boiling water bath for 30 years, no problems. If the veg you are canning doesn’t have enough acidity, you should use vinegar or pressure canner. m
Unfortunately, this is not true. Tomatoes are a bit too low in acid to be safely canned and so do require some additional acid in the form of bottled lemon juice or citric acid.
Both my mother and grandmother used a pressure canner and that was at least 50 years ago…the “old ” canning books certainly recommended it.
There is no need to pressure can tomatoes. Even the ball blue book recipes for tomatoes are water bath. Pressure can if you have added a lot of low acid veggies
Just add citric acid to your jars and you will be fine! 1/4 tsp per pint, 1/2 tsp per quart.
You are on the right track. I make home made salsa using fresh tomatoes, but I am sure that it what you suggested would work. I just checked my Ball Canning book, and it says combine all ingredients in large saucepot. Bring mixture to a boil and the reduce the heat to a simmer, for 10 minutes.. Ladle the hot salsa into hot pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust the 2 piece canning lids, and process 15 minutes.
Janie, I just finished canning 5 pts of salsa from a canning recipe I got off the internet. I also checked my Ball Canning Book as I’m a newbie at canning. Even tho it was not Ball’s recipe, I did mix it all together, boiled and simmered it about 20-30 minutes to get it thickened and followed Ball’s directions for processing-except I went 30 minutes, not 15. This recipe has 1 1/2 cups of vinegar in it. Did I ruin it?
have you tried cooking as usual & putting it in containers and freezing i do this in meal sizes
hope this helps
Pickled tomatoes, just exactly what I was looking for! I asked a Russian friend, because they pickle almost everything, but she couldn’t help me out. I think treating sweet small tomatoes like mustard fruits would be also a nice idea for preserving them.
I like put a thin slice of garlic below the tomatoes while dehydrating, it adds a nice flavor. And I love thyme, so I usually lay out a bed of it and put the tomatoes on the thyme.
For the tomato jam, try adding some raspberry puree (sieved to remove seeds), it emphasizes the fruity flavor of the tomato pretty well.
Fantastic post. I have 5 cherry and 3 yellow pear tomato plants that are filling every container in my fridge with little balls of happiness. We’ve already dried a bunch, but tomato jam is next on the list!
Last year I had too many pear tomatoes so I made tomato juice out of them. During the long winter I had bright yellow tomato juice to start my day with. Yellow pear tomatoes make a sweet tasting juice.
I just found your site via preserving the harvest on facebook. I have been looking for ideas on what to do with my cherry tomatoes for the past week and then I read your post!! THANK YOU. Can’t wait to keep reading and see what other tips i can find 🙂
Each year I do all of the above…plus…I have a steamer juicer that makes quick work of juicing these babies…then the pulp, skin and all, goes into my green tomato relish to add flavor. The juice is incredibly sweet and strong tomato flavor. I drink it hot, cold, and put it in soups all winter.
I have a garden center…and always have hundreds of a variety of cherry tomato plants left over…and plant them up in gallon containers so they end their lives with dignity…love and peace…lynnann
These are great ideas, definitely to be shared with my readers. Tomato jam is underused and underrated! Thanks for the tips!
Thanks for the great tomato tips. The garden is exploding with cherry tomatoes right now. Can’t wait to roast some. Think I’ll make a foccacia bread to go with. Yum!
I have an overflow of yellow cherry tomatoes in the greenhouse, this year i am trying pickled tomatoes, using an old recipe for pickled eggs from my father in laws’ mother. (I also made a few ajustments, like adding homemade candied jalapenos for just a touch of sweet and spicy!)
I have two sheets of yellow, purple, orange, and red tiny tomatoes in the oven right now! Toss with equal parts sugar and salt (about 2 tablespoons each per pound), olive oil, and dried oregano. Roast at 250 degrees for two hours, and serve warm over goat cheese and bread. Um…Yum. Freezes perfectly! Before serving, fill a one cup container and hide in the freezer. There is no such thing as “leftovers.”
Thanks for giving me some more ideas! I’m pulling five-ten pounds a week out of my garden. 🙂
Mmm, sounds delicious!
We have an explosion of cherry tomatoes that I didn’t want to blanch and peel to can and preserve. Your idea of roasting tomatoes and freezing them is just what I was looking for, sounds really delish. Thanks!
Any ideas for the hundreds of green cherry tomatoes that didn’t ripen in the extra short Portland, Oregon summer?
Pickle them!!! Yummy little things to just pop in your mouth as a snack or on an antipasto tray. If they are a little larger, one can’t beat fried green tomatoes!
Karen,
I know this comment is 3 years old, but I thought I would comment in case anyone else runs into it like I did 🙂
I also live in Oregon and have tons of tomatoes (cherry) that had to be picked while still green. I found that if I put them in a container in a window they ripen with no change in flavor from the ones that ripened on the vine. 🙂
Good luck,
Cindy
I am so glad I’m not the only one coming to this thread late. Cindy, thanks for the info, I might end up with quite a few green cherry tomatoes soon.
JamieInWyoming
I made a pint of pickled cherry tomatoes with my overload of very end of season fruit, and just ate a few on a cheese sandwich. They are heavenly! Thank you for posting the recipe; it is wonderful.
I wish I’d found this site last week. After a hard frost earlier this week I spent an hour cleaning up the garden yesterday… must have picked up and tossed a full five-gallon pail of waste grape tomatoes…. from a single plant! I think that if I had gotten to them earlier I could have at least frozen them… I’d never thought of that before (although my mother’s recipe for tomato jam is a favorite, I haven’t made any for a couple of years).
Won’t green cherry tomatoes ripen indoors? Large tomatoes do.
Just wanted to add that lightly salting and dehydrating tomatoes that are subpar in taste really does the job to fix them up. I got a batch of on sale grocery store maters and even those tasted good done up as tomato chips.
My meager crop of tomatoes doesn’t leave me many to preserve, although I do love the idea of tomato pickles! Maybe I’ll try that when my kids grow up and I have time to peel a pint of tomatoes. 🙂 I do buy 40 lbs. of roma tomatoes to roast and freeze every fall, though, and I am so happy to have them all winter.
We received a food dehydrator as a gift a few years ago and run it from June through September almost continuously making mostly zucchini chips (super tasty) and dried cherry tomatoes. The dried tomatoes are a flavor boost for almost any soup, stew, chili, or casserole and are well appreciated year round.
I’ve used a couple of these recipes with some sun gold tomatoes from the garden (and we have tons more ripening!). The dried sun golds are like savory raisins! I’ve been snacking on them all day. I’m roasting some more of them in the oven with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic cloves and a bit of oregano. They will be frozen and eaten this winter when Portland’s rain and clouds make us pine for colorful food.
This post is how I found Food in Jars a year ago, and now I have a massive bowl of cherries, yellow pears, sungolds and juliettes to do something with. I found a recipe for pickled cherry tomatoes with rosemary, and then I’m going to dehydrate some and roast the rest.
I have water bathed pickled grape tomatoes. they held there form and came out great. I opened a jar and drained the juice off, put some olive oil on the tomatoes and the put a little of the juice back opn them and served them over vegi pasta and they were great. the trick to the tomatoes holding form is to poke a few holes in each tomato ( I used a hem pulled and the holes were not to deep and not to big) you can use a sewing needle if you want. I made pints of these and let me tell you I will not be doing it again real soon the hole poking is really time consuming. But it worked!!! the dI did them in the water bath for minutes. If anyone is interested I will post the recipe, please let me know. I am also on Face book quite often under ( teetee spurling). thank you all for all the good info!
Would you be so kind as to send me the recipe for pickled grape tomatoes and directions for water bath canning. I have so many tomatoes, I’m running out of space to keep them on my kitchen counter. Thanks, Louise
I have a cheery tomatoe plant that every year grows to monsterous size and finally started to dehydrate them. What is the best way to can the dehydrated tomatoes? Should I still pack them in oil then seal them in the water bath or just toss them in the jar? I am new to canning so please excuse me if this is a silly question.
I love the idea to roast/jam the tomatoes, but the links for the recipes are broken.
Oops, so sorry about that, Megan! Looks like we missed something in the transition to the new site. They should be fixed now!
Is it possible to can roasted tomatoes? Or must they be store long term through freezing?
You can roast your tomatoes for canning, but only if you do it without oil or additional ingredients like garlic or onions.
When I was growing them I would put in 2 plants to get enough to can during the growing season. I would can between 12 & 24 1/2 pint jars of them for pizza toppings. I just loved them that way. I would also can about 50 to 60 jars of Romas and a couple jars of tomato juice with 1/2 the salt required. These went straight into the fridge after canning anyway.
The tiny tomatoes that gave up their juice I used in my cooking along with the juice from canning Bell Peppers to add flavor to my spaghetti sauce. It is amazing the flavor of the juice that comes out of those tiny tomatoes and the skins and pulp make great toppings for my pizzas. So Tasty. Yum.
LadyDawn
I made the cherry tomato pickles. They were delicious!! But I was wondering how long do they last?
They’ll last several months in the fridge.
I’m going to make the tomato jam. Do I use fresh lime juice or from a bottle?
…oops, please disregard this question. I read the answer in your canning FAQs. Bottled lime juice it is! 🙂
I froze 1 bag of cherry tomatoes from my garden this year, after reading this article. I’ve just popped them into a crock-pot chili. I am so looking forward to having my garden tomatoes in December – thanks for sharing this tip!
If you mix equal amounts water and tomato powder you get tomato paste. It can be a little chunky if the powder isn’t totally pulverized but is very tasty! And it’s the perfect thing when you only need a tablespoon or two of paste. I hate opening a whole can for that.
Its been a lot of years since Amy posted. BUT Im going to give it a try. The recipe she found with the cherry toms sound really good. she called it cherry tom sauce/butter. I think I NEED that recipe is your still on here Amy could you please send it or post it for me? Thank you!
Years ago I had a pretty book of recipes and household hints and it had a recipe for roasting cherry tomatoes in a pint or quart jar. Each jar had a clove of garlic and some basil and I think a little oil drizzled but I’m not sure. You left the lid off and roasted them in the oven at ? temp…not real high as I remember. The tomatoes made their own juice naturally. You took the jars out of the oven and cooled them a bit, put lids on and cool. They were not canned. They were way to save cherry tomatoes before they went bad. I did it just as the tomatoes were looking iffy. It really worked very well for that purpose and they were quite tasty. I can’t find the recipe in my collection any more, and I kind of left it behind. Now that I have been reminded of it, I will use it again. I think the book might have been called The Country Store or something close to that. I’m just sharing here. Would you have any experience with this technique? SallyC
I have no experience with this technique, but roasted cherry tomatoes are always delicious.
How to make roasted tomatoes with oil and spices How do I dehydrate them without the actual dehydrator???????
You either need a very low oven (one that can maintain 175-190F) or you need a dehydrator.
I have just picked a huge pan of tiny tomatoes from my garden this morning in the UK.
Going to freeze these.
I still have more growing as the weather has been so good it’s encouraging more to appear. I am going to roast these when ready to eat and some to freeze for later meals.
I’ve been picking raspberries daily since the start of August from a few canes in my garden and have filled 2 large Zippo bags.
Love your helpful ideas
I have several pounds of spoon tomatoes, which are about the size of peas. I am at a complete loss of how to preserve them and really wish I had researched this earlier as I’m starting to drown in them. I had to pick them while many of them are still green and now They are turning red. Problem is they go from perfectly right to wrinkly and overripe very quickly and I need to deal with them before that happens.
Skillet tomato jam is always a good option. There are a couple recipes in the archives.