How to freeze tomatoes for the winter in the freezer: slices, whole, with minced meat inside and even in “pills”

Is it possible to freeze tomatoes? Not only possible, but even necessary if you want to have access to a wholesome and tasty product all year round. Of course, frozen tomatoes have fewer vitamins than fresh ones. But they are much healthier than canned vegetables. If red aromatic fruits are present year-round in your diet, the following positive changes will occur in the body:

• intestinal motility is normalized;
• blood composition will improve;
• normal work of the heart and blood vessels;
• the risk of cancer is reduced;
• overall health will improve;
• working capacity will increase;
• hair, nails and teeth will become stronger;
• immunity will be strengthened;
• metabolism will accelerate.

Which is better: freeze or buy fresh in the offseason

With the development of trade, housewives began to pay less attention to homework. Indeed, why freeze tomatoes if fresh fruits are sold all year round in a supermarket. But are they so tasty and healthy, as it seems at first glance? The table shows the comparative characteristics of home frozen vegetables and fresh imported fruits from the supermarket.

Table - Comparative characteristics of frozen and fresh vegetables

8 rules of tasty and healthy preparation

Until a certain moment, there was confidence that freezing did not affect the chemical composition of the products. But, thanks to basic research, it became clear that such an effect leads to structural changes. Only the shock freezing used at industrial enterprises allows preserving the maximum of nutrients and the texture of the product, close to the original.

Unfortunately, most home refrigerators, with the exception of the most modern models, cannot provide high-quality freezing. Cooling is very slow, which leads to the formation of large ice crystals between the fibers. This leads to the fact that when thawing vegetables lose their shape, and most of the nutrients go away with the water. Nevertheless, this option of home-made preparations does not lose popularity. To preserve the taste and minimize vitamin losses, take into account eight recommendations on how to freeze tomatoes for the winter.

1. Harvest fresh produce. Ideally, no more than six hours should pass from the moment of picking the tomatoes in the garden to the bookmark in the freezer.
2. Choose quality tomatoes. Fruits without stains, mold, rot and mechanical damage are suitable for workpieces.
3. Wash vegetables thoroughly. Tomatoes need to be rinsed three times under running water so that no particles of earth remain. Be sure to remove the stalks.
4. Decide on the volume. There should be exactly as many tomatoes in one container or package as you can use at a time. In addition, a small batch will freeze faster.
5. Restrict air access. If you freeze the fruit in the container, it must be closed on the lid. Air must be removed from the bags as much as possible and tightness must be ensured.
6. Do not fill the container. Freezing, tomatoes slightly increase in volume. They can lift the lid and allow access to air.
7. Label the container. Frozen foods are covered with white ice, and it is not always possible to determine by eye what exactly is in the container. Therefore, for each container you need to stick stickers with the name of the workpiece and the date of manufacture.
8. Do not re-freeze. If the product has thawed, it must be consumed immediately. Repeated freezing makes vegetables useless and absolutely not tasty.

How to freeze tomatoes for the winter: 5 ways

Given that tomatoes are used in a variety of dishes, it is not surprising that the housewives came up with many options for how to freeze tomatoes for the winter in the freezer. Analyze your usual menu and choose the most suitable options for yourself.

Whole

Features Whole tomato freezing is a universal option. The product can be cut into slices, slices, finely chopped, stuffed or processed into juice. For harvesting, it is better to choose small fruits with a minimum number of seeds. The best varieties are Cherry and Cream.

How to do

1. Wash the tomatoes and remove the stalks.
2. Dry the tomatoes so that they do not stick together during freezing.
3. Put the fruit in a bag or container.
4. Send the blank to the freezer.

Skinless

Features When frozen, the fiber structure of vegetables changes. The pulp becomes more loose, and the peel remains as stiff. Such a dissonance few people like. To rid yourself of unnecessary trouble in the future, remove the peel from the fruit before freezing. Better to use miniature cherry tomatoes.

How to do

1. Wash the fruit and remove the stalks.
2. Make a small cross-shaped incision on the peel.
3. For half a minute, dip the fruits in boiling water, then immediately pour them with cold water.
4. Remove the peel.
5. Put a plastic bag on a cutting board or wrap it with cling film.
6. Lay the prepared fruits on the surface, cover them with a film or bag and send them to the freezer for a day.
7. Put the tomatoes in containers or bags and put them back in the freezer.

Circles

Features Sliced ​​tomatoes are ideal for pizza. At the right time, remove the workpiece from the freezer and lay on the dough. It is important that tomatoes do not need to be defrosted, and this significantly saves time.

How to do

1. Wash the tomatoes and cut them into circles 1-1.5 cm thick. Judging by the reviews, if the plates are thin, they will become sour when thawing.
2. Wrap the cutting board with foil, put the workpiece in one layer, cover with cellophane and send it to the freezer for five to six hours.
3. Put the tomatoes in a container or bag and send them back to the freezer.

In pieces

Features For lovers of vegetable stews it is convenient to freeze tomatoes in small pieces. Just remove the workpiece from the freezer and send it to the cooking dish. It is important to use juicy and meaty tomatoes.

How to do

1. Cut each tomato into four pieces and remove the seeds.
2. Chop the pulp into cubes.
3. On a board covered with a film, lay the blank in one layer. Cover the product with a bag on top and send to the freezer for three to four hours.
4. Transfer the vegetables to a bag or container and send them to the freeze again.
5. If it is not essential that the cubes are crumbly, put the tomatoes in a bag immediately after slicing and freeze.

Tomato Pills

Features If you like the tomato flavor in dishes, the correct solution would be to freeze the rolled tomatoes. The format of vegetable ice is very convenient for soup, for borsch and for sauces. Just take a couple of “pills” from the freezer and add to the cooking dish. And it’s also a good way of disposing of overripe and crushed tomatoes.

How to do

1. Wash the tomatoes, remove the sepals, cut out the spoiled fragments.
2. Pass the vegetables through a meat grinder. If you like a smooth juice without peels and seeds, wipe the puree through a sieve.
3. Divide the workpiece into small portions. Juice can be poured into molds for ice or cupcakes, into the cut bottoms of plastic bottles, and even into curly kids' little ones.
4. Send the blank to the freezer for a day.
5. Remove the tomato "pills" from the molds. If the ice lags behind the walls, dip the mold in boiling water for a couple of seconds.
6. Fill the blanks in a container or bag and return to the freezer again.

Stuffed fruits

Active and busy people always do not have enough time to cook. Semi-finished products come to the rescue. But why buy products of dubious quality in the store if you can make tasty blanks yourself? Allocate a few hours to prepare frozen tomatoes for the winter with delicious minced meat.

How to do

For stuffed convenience foods, choose medium-sized, thick, meaty tomatoes. The peel should be tight so that the fruit does not lose shape after thawing. The process of preparing semi-finished products consists of three stages.

1. Training. Wash the tomatoes, remove the stalk, cut off the “hat” and remove part of the pulp with seeds.
2. Filling and freezing. Fill the workpieces with minced meat, put them in one layer on a cutting board wrapped in foil. Cover the product with a bag and send it to the freezer for a day.
3. Packaging and storage. Transfer the workpiece into bags or containers and return to the freezer for no more than four months.

Stuffing Options

In stuffed tomatoes, the most important thing is a delicious and satisfying filling. The table contains the most successful options. The number of components is calculated on ten medium tomatoes.

Table - Best fillings for tomatoes

What to look for when buying in a store

Housewives, who have not yet acquired a refrigerator with the function of shock freezing, prefer to buy frozen vegetables in a supermarket. There are five basic rules for a successful purchase.

1. Packing date. It should fall at the end of summer - the beginning of autumn, when the largest tomato crop is observed. If the vegetables are packed in winter or spring, it means that they lay in a warehouse for a long time before freezing. And not the fact that storage rules were respected.
2. Shelf life. Do not buy a product whose shelf life exceeds six months. Most likely, it contains preservatives.
3. Friability. Feel well and shake the tomato bag. Content should be friable. If the pieces stick together in several or one large lump, then the product is frozen. Snow inside the package is also a sign of re-cooling.
4. Storage conditions. Supermarket refrigerators typically have thermometers. They should show a temperature not exceeding -18 ° C.
5. Packaging. A bag of tomatoes should not have mechanical damage, should not be wrinkled and fogged. A sign of packaging integrity is slight swelling.

In Russia, tomatoes appeared in 1780 with the filing of Empress Catherine. However, the bright red fruits brought from Europe did not impress the nobles. They considered the vegetables to be “tasteless.” But after a few years, the agronomist Andrei Bolotov convinced people that tomatoes are not only harmless, but also useful, and their taste is easy to get used to. Since then, fragrant red fruits have firmly entered Russian culinary traditions. Recipes of frozen tomatoes for the winter will help you enjoy vegetables with an interesting history and rich aroma all year round.

Other homemade recipes