Making the Most of a Tomato Glut
Few harvests illustrate the difference between scarcity and abundance as dramatically as tomatoes. For weeks, the first ripe fruits may be carefully shared between meals. Then warm weather can bring baskets of ripe tomatoes almost every day.
A glut need not become a burden. Tomatoes can be eaten fresh, roasted, cooked into sauces and soups, frozen, dried or combined with other seasonal produce. The key is to sort them promptly and choose a method suited to their ripeness, condition and intended use.
Sort Tomatoes Before You Begin
Start by separating the harvest into groups. This makes it easier to decide what needs immediate attention and what can wait.
Firm, Ripe Tomatoes
Keep the best firm tomatoes for salads, sandwiches and dishes in which their shape and fresh flavour matter.
Store them carefully to prevent bruising. Tomatoes that are fully ripe and will not be used soon can be refrigerated to slow further deterioration, then allowed to return towards room temperature before serving for a fuller flavour.
Very Ripe or Soft Tomatoes
Soft tomatoes are ideal for sauces, soups, stews and roasting. They may no longer slice neatly, but their developed flavour can make them particularly useful for cooking.
Use them promptly and discard any fruit showing mould, extensive decay, an unpleasant smell or leaking caused by spoilage.
Split or Slightly Damaged Tomatoes
Rain, irregular watering and heat can cause tomatoes to split. Insects and handling may also leave small areas of damage.
If the tomato is otherwise sound, cut away the affected area generously and cook the remainder immediately. Do not use damaged, mouldy or decaying tomatoes for canning or bottling.
Under-ripe Tomatoes
Tomatoes that have begun to change colour can usually continue ripening after picking. Place them in a single layer or shallow tray and inspect them regularly.
Keep damaged fruits separate because decay can spread quickly through a crowded container.
Green Tomatoes
Mature green tomatoes can ripen indoors or be used in cooked dishes, chutneys and pickles. Only use sound fruits, and follow a tested recipe if the finished product will be stored at room temperature.
Use the Best Tomatoes Fresh
A glut can create pressure to preserve everything, but ripe tomatoes are often at their best when used simply.
Different varieties suit different purposes:
Cherry tomatoes work well in salads, quick sauces, packed lunches and tray bakes.
Plum and paste tomatoes contain less water and are particularly useful for sauces.
Large slicing tomatoes suit sandwiches, salads and open-topped breads.
Fleshy beefsteak types can be grilled, stuffed or layered into baked dishes.
Very juicy varieties are useful in soups, drinks and fresh sauces.
Combine tomatoes with onions, garlic, peppers, cucumbers, beans, courgettes, aubergines or herbs as these crops become available.
A simple tomato salad needs little more than sliced tomatoes, a small amount of salt and a suitable dressing. Add basil, parsley, chives or another fresh herb shortly before serving.
Salt draws moisture from tomatoes. This is useful when making a dressing from their juices, but a salad that must stand for some time is usually better salted shortly before it is eaten.
Roast Tomatoes to Concentrate Their Flavour
Roasting is one of the easiest ways to use a mixed harvest. It works well with tomatoes that are ripe, soft, unevenly sized or too watery for a quick sauce.
Cut large tomatoes into halves or pieces and leave small tomatoes whole or halve them. Arrange them in a shallow roasting dish with enough space for moisture to escape.
Add onion, garlic or herbs if wanted, followed by a small amount of oil. Roast until the tomatoes have softened, released some of their moisture and begun to caramelise around the edges.
Roasted tomatoes can be:
Served immediately as a side dish.
Spooned over bread or grains.
Added to pasta.
Blended into soup.
Sieved or blended into sauce.
Cooled and frozen in meal-sized portions.
Roasting produces a richer, sweeter flavour than boiling because some of the water evaporates and the edges begin to brown.
If the tomatoes are extremely juicy, use a broad, shallow tray rather than a deep dish. Overcrowding traps steam and slows concentration.
Make a Basic Tomato Sauce
A basic sauce is one of the most adaptable ways to preserve a large harvest. Keeping the seasoning simple allows the finished sauce to be used in many different meals.
Basic Freezer Tomato Sauce
Use:
Ripe tomatoes
Onion
Garlic
A small amount of cooking oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh or dried herbs, if wanted
Remove damaged areas and chop the tomatoes roughly.
Soften the onion gently in a little oil. Add the garlic and cook briefly without allowing it to burn. Add the tomatoes and bring them to a gentle simmer.
Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have broken down and the sauce has reached the required consistency. This may take considerably longer with large, juicy tomatoes than with fleshy paste varieties.
Leave the sauce rustic, blend it until smooth or pass it through a sieve or food mill to remove skins and seeds.
Cool it promptly, divide it into practical portions, label it and freeze it.
This sauce can later become:
A pasta or pizza sauce.
The base of a soup.
A cooking sauce for beans or lentils.
Part of a stew or casserole.
A base for shakshuka or baked eggs.
The beginning of a curry or spiced vegetable dish.
Avoid adding large quantities of one particular herb unless the sauce is intended for a specific meal. A neutral sauce is generally more useful through the year.
Reduce Tomatoes into a Concentrated Base
When freezer space is limited, reducing a sauce further makes each container more useful.
Begin with a basic tomato sauce, then continue cooking it slowly in a broad pan until much of the water has evaporated. Stir more frequently as it thickens to prevent catching on the bottom.
A concentrated tomato base can be frozen in small containers, freezer bags or suitable portion trays. Once frozen, small portions can be transferred to a labelled freezer container.
Use the concentrate to deepen the flavour of soups, stews, sauces and braised dishes.
This homemade concentrate may not be as dense as commercially manufactured tomato paste, but it can still provide a convenient source of rich tomato flavour.
Turn Tomatoes into Soup
Tomato soup can use fresh tomatoes alone or combine them with other vegetables from the garden.
Onion, garlic, carrot, celery, pepper and courgette can all contribute flavour and body. Soft herbs can be added near the end of cooking, while woody herbs can simmer in the soup and be removed before blending.
Cook the vegetables until tender, blend to the preferred consistency and adjust the seasoning after blending. The acidity and sweetness of tomatoes vary, so final adjustments are best made when the soup is nearly finished.
For a smoother result, pass the soup through a sieve. For a more substantial meal, add beans, lentils, grains or small pasta when reheating.
Dairy products and delicate herbs are usually best added after thawing rather than before freezing.
Make Fresh Tomato Toppings and Sauces
Fresh tomato preparations are useful when the harvest is abundant but time is limited.
Chopped tomatoes can be combined with onion, garlic, herbs and a little acid to make a fresh topping for bread, grilled vegetables or cooked grains. Prepare only the amount needed and keep it refrigerated until serving.
Fresh salsa can also use tomatoes, onions, peppers, chillies and herbs. However, a fresh salsa recipe should not automatically be treated as safe for canning. Adding an arbitrary splash of vinegar or lemon juice does not turn an untested mixture into a shelf-stable preserve.
Enjoy fresh mixtures promptly or freeze cooked versions. Use a scientifically tested recipe for any salsa intended for storage in sealed jars at room temperature.
Combine Tomatoes with Other Seasonal Crops
A tomato glut often arrives alongside courgettes, peppers, aubergines, onions, beans and herbs. Combining them can use several harvests at once.
Useful dishes include:
Roasted mixed vegetables.
Ratatouille-style vegetable stews.
Tomato and courgette soup.
Stuffed peppers or courgettes in tomato sauce.
Bean and tomato stew.
Aubergine and tomato bake.
Tomato-based curries.
Vegetable pasta sauces.
Savoury tarts and tray bakes.
These dishes need not follow one fixed recipe. Begin with the crops available, build flavour with onions, garlic and herbs, and adjust the amount of liquid according to the vegetables being used.
Watery vegetables may need to cook uncovered so that the dish does not become thin.
Freeze Tomatoes Whole
Whole tomatoes can be frozen when there is no time to make sauce immediately.
Wash and dry sound ripe tomatoes, remove the stalks and freeze them in suitable containers or bags. They can also be frozen first on trays before being packed together.
After thawing, the texture will be soft, so they are best used in cooked dishes rather than salads. Their skins often loosen as they thaw and can be removed easily if required.
Freezing whole tomatoes postpones the work rather than completing it. Label the bags clearly and plan to turn them into sauces, soups or stews when there is more time.
Freeze Chopped Tomatoes
Chopped tomatoes take up less freezer space and can be added directly to many cooked dishes.
Remove the stalk end and any damaged areas, then chop the fruit. Pack it into meal-sized containers, leaving appropriate space for expansion, or freeze measured portions in suitable bags.
For the most convenient flat packs, remove excess air and lay freezer bags flat until frozen. They can then be stored upright.
The frozen pieces will lose their firm texture but retain their value as a cooking ingredient.
Freeze Cooked Tomato Dishes
Finished sauces, soups and stews can save time later, but it is worth considering how they will be used before freezing.
Freeze in portions suitable for one meal or one recipe. Large containers take longer to cool, freeze and thaw and may lead to waste if only a small quantity is needed.
Allow steam to escape, cool cooked food promptly and transfer it to the freezer without leaving it at room temperature for an extended period.
Label every container with:
The contents.
The date.
The approximate quantity or number of portions.
Any strong seasoning or chillies included.
Use a consistent naming system. A label such as “tomato sauce” is more useful than an unidentified red container several months later.
Dry Tomatoes
Drying concentrates tomato flavour and can be particularly effective with small, fleshy or plum tomatoes.
Cut the tomatoes into even pieces and dry them using a food dehydrator or another controlled method suitable for food drying. Drying time varies with the variety, thickness, humidity and equipment.
The finished tomatoes must be dried sufficiently for safe storage and protected from moisture. Follow the instructions supplied with the dehydrator or guidance from a recognised food-preservation authority.
Check stored dried tomatoes for condensation, mould or unusual smells. If moisture appears inside a container, do not ignore it.
Home-dried tomatoes can be added to breads, sauces, soups and stews or soaked before use.
Storing home-dried tomatoes in oil requires additional food-safety precautions. Do not assume that covering dried tomatoes, garlic or herbs with oil makes them safe at room temperature. Use a tested method and refrigerate or freeze as directed.
Make Chutneys and Relishes
Tomatoes can provide the base for chutneys and relishes, particularly when combined with onions, peppers, courgettes, apples or green tomatoes.
These preserves are useful because they can accommodate a mixed seasonal harvest, but their ingredient proportions matter. Vinegar acidity, the balance of vegetables and acid, cooking time, jar preparation and processing method all affect safety and keeping quality.
Use a current tested recipe for any chutney or relish intended to be shelf-stable. Do not reduce the vinegar, increase the quantity of low-acid vegetables or shorten the specified processing time.
Further guidance is included in Seasonal Chutneys, Relishes and Pickles.
Preserve Tomatoes Safely in Jars
Tomato acidity varies. Some tomatoes are not acidic enough to be safely processed without added acid, even though they may taste sharp.
When canning or bottling tomatoes for room-temperature storage:
Use a current, scientifically tested recipe.
Use the stated quantity of bottled lemon juice, citric acid or other specified acid.
Do not substitute ingredients unless the recipe explicitly allows it.
Use the stated jar size and headspace.
Follow the correct processing method and time.
Make any required adjustment for altitude.
Do not use tomatoes from dead, frost-damaged or diseased vines unless trusted preservation guidance specifically confirms that the method is suitable.
Do not use mouldy, decaying or badly damaged fruit.
Canning instructions cannot safely be created by taking an ordinary sauce recipe and processing the filled jars until the lids seal. A vacuum seal only shows that the jar has sealed; it does not prove that the food was processed safely.
If there is any uncertainty, freeze the sauce instead.
Use Green Tomatoes Carefully
At the end of the season, healthy green tomatoes can be brought indoors to ripen or used in cooked recipes.
Choose mature, undamaged fruits. Tomatoes that have reached full size and begun to lighten in colour are more likely to ripen successfully than very small, immature fruits.
Arrange them in a shallow layer and keep them somewhere protected from frost and excessive heat. Inspect them frequently and remove any fruit that begins to decay.
Green tomatoes can also be used in:
Chutneys.
Tested pickle recipes.
Relishes.
Fried or baked dishes.
Cooked savoury fillings.
Do not eat tomato leaves or stems, and do not add them to stocks or sauces.
Reduce Waste Before It Begins
The easiest tomato glut to manage is one that has already been anticipated.
Keep track of how many plants are growing, which varieties crop heavily and when the main harvest normally begins. Harvest records in Your Growing Companion can help show which varieties produced useful quantities and how the harvest was used.
During the busiest weeks:
Check plants frequently.
Pick ripe fruit before it becomes overripe.
Keep a clear space for newly harvested tomatoes.
Process the softest fruit first.
Freeze simple ingredients when there is no time for a finished recipe.
Share sound surplus produce before its quality declines.
At the end of the season, review what was actually used. If the household needed more sauce but wasted salad tomatoes, the balance of varieties can be adjusted the following year.
A Glut Worth Welcoming
A large tomato harvest represents months of sowing, planting, watering and care. With a simple routine, it can provide far more than a short burst of summer salads.
Eat the best fruit fresh. Roast mixed or uneven tomatoes. Turn soft ripe fruits into sauce or soup. Freeze simple portions for busy days. Dry suitable varieties and use tested recipes for anything intended to be stored in sealed jars.
There is no need to preserve every tomato in the same way. A mixture of fresh meals, versatile freezer ingredients and a few reliable preserves will usually make the harvest easier to manage and far more enjoyable to use.
