I always fear, when writing a post like this, that I’m the last one on the bus and declaring a secret that everyone knows. I’m ok with that – especially if this helps a single person because this is one of those “If I knew what I know now” type of tips that just excites me.
We’ve all read tips on peeling tomatoes. “Just dip them in boiling water for a few seconds and voila!” But it never worked that well for me. Not until I used this:
What’s the trick? Use the biggest pot you can find. In this case it’s a pressure canner (I release the top before it comes to pressure). Sure, it takes time to come up to a boil – but once it does, it stays there. For a long time I used smaller pots and the water would cool after peeling the first 10 (or 20 or 30) tomatoes. Using a giant pot means there’s more residual heat as a percentage of the pot and the tomatoes you add to it don’t cool it nearly as much as they do in a small pot.
Do you have any tricks?
My trick? I borrowed a friend’s food mill for my most recent batch of sauce. I’d not used a food mill for anything before, and I am so in love with it. No burned fingers, no stinging fingers from tomato juice, and extremely easy, even with the extra gadget to wash (which is also easy, and quick).
Heather,
I just borrowed one last night and despite our amazing motorized squeezer I gotta say I LOVE the food mill too! We still peel for canning whole tomatoes but I’m madly in love with the food mill too (doing another half cushel of sauce with it tonight!).
Great call on the food mill!
I always “x” the bottoms of the tomatoes before putting them in the water, but I’ve never tried to see if it works just as well without. I haven’t done tomatoes in any quantity close to your canning, so I’ve never run into the problem of boiling water that cools.
Rachelle,
Based on your comment I tried it with, without and then modified it to a single long cut (i.e. scoring the skin almost in half). The scoring in half methpod was awesome – skins came off in two pieces instead of 4 and was quick and easy!
Thanks for the inspiration!
Never be shy about sharing!! Because this is so true, no matter how people pose.
Molly,
You rock – thanks so much; and it made me laugh.
J
James from West End Food Coop shared his tricks at one of the preserving workshops:
- blanch tomatoes in batches
- different varieties require different times. So when a recipe calls for more than one sort (like in salsa), blanch the same variety at a time
- bigger pot is better
- it is very important that the water reaches boiling point between batches
- have an ice-cold water ready to place just blanched tomatoes in it
Yulia,
Those are really awesome tips. I used ice based on this last night (I used to use really cold water) and it made a massive difference – thanks for sharing!
Joel
I always work in small batches, and I use a big canning pot- I only do about 10 tomatoes in boiling water, then get them into ice water to peel. If you score the ends, the skin slips right off (usually in one piece). I find that it is best to do this as a team- my husband dips them into the boiling water & I peel them.
Awesome Kelly!
Using your tip and one below, I scored them almost in half and used ice for my first time and they were fantastically easy! Thanks so much!
Joel
My secret is enlisting the help of my 12 year old daughter. It’s the one preserving task she enjoys and I treasure the time together. We did 50 lbs of tomatoes this weekend and the time flew!
Jen, that’s amazing! When I was 12 I was running away on tomato weekend! Fantastic that she gets invovled; it took me until my 30s to appreciate the time together and now I can’t get enough of it.
Joel
thanks; big pot of boiling water and working in small batches is the trick I agree. I’ve also found the tomato’s ripeness makes a difference to peel-ability. More ripe are easier to peel – but fully or slightly over ripe tomatoes also fall apart more easily if the blanching goes on for too long. Which is why small batches are good – can keep an eye on them. Then I plunge blanched peeled tomatoes into ice water bath so they don’t keep cooking after blanching and so I can handle them without burning fingers. If fully ripe, don’t need to score tip with knife. This helps though if working with slightly less ripe fruit.
Betsy,
Grat tups – thank you so much! I used ice last night and it was a grat help. We also scored them – a long score that was almost the entire length of the tomato and it made it super easy! I also used a large rice strainer to be able to pull a bunch of tomatoes out of the bath at the same time.
Makes sense. Yay science! I haven’t processed tomatoes in enough quantity to have to deal with this issue yet, but someday I will get there. I’ve noticed with peaches it takes at least 2-3 minutes of boiling before the skins loosen; up until then it caused much frustration.
I agree Sara – last year we canned our peaches with skins on because they were just so frustrating and I think I may actually prefer the texture despite reading that it can become tough. I found it added some texture and was awesome…
Like you say, timing is everything though – I’ve also learned to peel 1 or 2 before jumping at the whole batch to see how much time is needed.
Thanks for commenting!
Joel
last year’s peaches turned out a bust for canning, at least the ones I got at Evergreen’s farmers’ market. Couldn’t skin them, and even a prolonged blanch got no where except to cook the peach, which then fell apart. I gave up. At first I thought it was because they were under-ripe, but later attempts on riper fruit were also a mess. So I concluded it must have been the variety of peach (Baby Golds) and/or the growing conditions. This years Baby Golds have been much tastier and juicier.
And here I thought it was just me! I had the same experience Betsy – I canned peach chunks.
Good to know about this years; I’ve been doing savories as we still have some fruit left that’s keeping well… Need more time and more shelves! 
joel
I put tomatoes in a big clean sink with stopper plugged. I pour hot water over the tomatoes and let them soak for less than a minute. Then unplug the sink with tongs or a spoon. Replug then fill sink with cold water. Saves time of transferring tomatoes in and out of pots!