defrosting whole tomatoes

I re-read Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle over the summer and decided to buy several pounds of tomatoes from my farmer's market in August. I made sauce and froze it (success! I love local tomato flavor in the winter) and also froze several whole tomatoes to use in various dishes until tomato season commences. How do I defrost for use? I tried one and ended up with a leaky, slumped, impossible-to-cut tomato. Thanks for suggestions!

BetteratHome
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3 Comments

jilhil
jilhil January 6, 2013
If you want the skins off before you add them to your soup, stew, sauce, chili, etc. put the frozen tomatoes in a colander and pour boiling water over them to loosen the skins.
 
lowden
lowden January 6, 2013
Because of high water content in tomatoes, the freezing destroyed the structure of the tomato. It is now only good for sauces or soups.
 

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aargersi
aargersi January 6, 2013
I have done the same thing I and had the same issue - but I am not sure there is a good solution - once the tomatoes are frozen the cell walls are broken down by ice crystals and so it loses it's structure. I use my frozen ones in soups and sauces and the like, where a slumpy tomato is a good thing.
 
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