Have the tomatoes from your garden taken over? My tomatoes seem to take over the garden, the fridge, the counters, the sink, and my table. Try this fresh tomato sauce for the freezer! It is a simple way to get the tomatoes processed and out of the way.
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A Fresh Tomato Here and 100 Over There
My mom always had a garden. I remember our cat, Stanley, riding around on her back as she weeded around the vegetable plants. The house smelled like herbs all summer because there was always something drying on the dehydrator. Want to learn more about dehydrating herbs? Then tomato season came and it looked like a murder scene in her kitchen. Blanching, cutting, freezing, canning. Tomatoes took over every basket, bowl, and counter in the kitchen. Little did I know that my kitchen would one day look the same.
I love to garden. Something about planting seeds, caring for the seedlings, and harvesting the produce brings me joy. But I’ve got a confession to make before we go on. Although I love growing tomatoes, I hate eating them. I always have. Nothing ruins a dish like tomatoes, especially fresh ones. Despite my distaste for tomatoes, I do enjoy small amounts of fresh tomato sauce. It is delicious on a pizza or on spaghetti. A little goes a long way, but I do enjoy those small amounts.
Why is it that when it’s time to harvest tomatoes they seem to multiply? Seriously, how can 4 tomato plants fill my kitchen sink plus some counter space with tomatoes? In order to save my sanity and the tomatoes, I need a quick way to process them and get them moving on. Blanch, mill, boil, then freeze seems to be the easiest way for me to get them out of my way. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a full day or weekend worth of work. But It gets them from the garden to the freezer in a timely manner. Plus you don’t really have to do much more than an occasional stir once they are boiling. Then you have fresh tomato sauce for the freezer until harvest time next year!
When you think about it, a year’s worth of sauce in one weekend isn’t all that bad of a deal. Two days of work for 363 days of sauce.
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Fresh Tomato Sauce for the Freezer
I like to turn my tomato harvest into a simple tomato sauce, so that I can use it for various things throughout the year. Our favorite by far is the easy homemade pizza sauce. On pizza night, I will thaw out a couple of sauces, toss in the spices, and tada. I have fresh tomato sauce right out of my freezer. Because I leave the sauce unseasoned until I am ready to use it, I can turn it into pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, or tomato soup. It creates such a diverse ingredient that I don’t mind it taking up space in my freezer.
Fresh Tomato Sauce for the Freezer Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
(Seriously that’s all)
- Blanch and core the tomatoes. Check out this post if you need help with this step.
- Put the tomatoes in a large stock pot.
- Allow the tomatoes to simmer on a low heat for several hours. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching.When everything seems to liquify or becomes very mushy you are ready for the next step.
- Using a ladle and food mill, push all the tomatoes through. This gives you the pulp and juice without any clumps.
- Rinse the stock pot out to remove any stray seeds before returning the tomatoes to the pot to continue simmering. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching.
- When the sauce has cooked down to the consistency that you want, remove it from the heat and grab a muffin tin.
- Ladle the fresh tomato sauce into the muffin cups or plastic bag you wish to freeze it in.
Freezing Fresh Tomato Sauce
I highly recommend freezing the tomato sauce. I like to freeze mine in muffin tins. Once the sauce is frozen I take the little pucks and put them in a gallon ziploc, which I keep in the freezer. When I need tomato sauce, I will pull out two pucks to thaw or toss them in the microwave. Keeping them in little pucks makes thawing out what you need super convenient.
If you prefer to freeze the fresh tomato sauce in a plastic bag, consider laying it out flat to freeze. Then it will be easier to store in the freezer.
Don’t forget to label your plastic bags with the date and what’s inside. You think you’ll remember, but you won’t. You will pull it out and throw it away because you can’t remember what’s in the bag or how long it has been in there.
Using the Frozen Tomato Sauce
When you are ready to use some fresh tomato sauce, grab a puck or two out of the freezer. They thaw quickly sitting on the counter or in the fridge the night before. In the cases when I forget to thaw the sauce, I pop them in the microwave for a little bit.
Now you can season them up to fit whatever scrumptious dish you are preparing. We love to make pizza sauce at our house.
If you need a tomato paste, toss the pucks in a sauce pan and let them simmer until the sauce becomes a paste.
Fresh Tomato Sauce for the Freezer
Have the tomatoes from your garden taken over? My tomatoes seem to take over the garden, the fridge, the counters, the sink, and my table. Try this fresh tomato sauce for the freezer! It is a simple way to get the tomatoes processed and out of the way.
Ingredients
- Blanched tomatoes
Instructions
- Blanch and core the tomatoes. Check out this post if you need help with this step.
- Put the tomatoes in a large stock pot.
- Allow the tomatoes to simmer on a low heat for several hours. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching.When everything seems to liquify or becomes very mushy you are ready for the next step.
- Using a ladle and food mill, push all the tomatoes through. This gives you the pulp and juice without any clumps.
- Rinse the stock pot out to remove any stray seeds before returning the tomatoes to the pot to continue simmering. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching.
- When the sauce has cooked down to the consistency that you want, remove it from the heat and grab a muffin tin.
- Ladle the fresh tomato sauce into the muffin cups or plastic bag you wish to freeze it in.
The site may contain links to affiliate websites, and we receive an affiliate commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. As a Revive EO Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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