monster tomatoes - the pictures

posting this made me very hungry for tomatoes…....ha

-- bee with what is...:) soob

Your photos are making me hungry, too. Especially the one with red, ripe tomatoes with a slice of bread…. Great tomato plants you grew, next summer may they grow just as well.

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

thanks robin!

-- bee with what is...:) soob

ooooooooooooh real tomatoes…..... hmmmmmm

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan

You’re right, Soobee. Nothing in the world tastes as good as a vine-ripened, sun-warmed tomato. I love them! And I also like tomatoes that I either can or freeze for the winter. As long as they are from my own garden. Nothing tastes better. Oh, I think I already said that!

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

A very nice crop of tomatoes and a very attractive sandwitch of bread. You can make tomato sauce or ketchup if they are in excess of what you can consume.
Sharad

-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein

fresh ripe garden tomatoes, sliced, put on homemade toasted bread with fresh ripe garden thinly sliced sweet onion, alphalpha sproats and mayo…..............OHHHHh how I long for summer…....sigh

-- Central northish Ontario

Oooooh how I want a fresh tomato sandwich right now.(LOL)

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

I would love to try canning or turning the tomato crop into other things to eat besides sandwhiches…when we get into the season I’ll certainly be asking you all for ideas or tips! We did have alot of cherry tomatoes, visions of trying to blanche and peel those little winkies…...hoot. I think we’ll grow more big ones this summer – more plants! As you can see the garden box is pretty dinky so we’ll plant some in the beds close by I think. We’ll see what the huzzy has to say about it. We do co-garden after all.

Have you guys seen the ‘it’s complicated’ (new movie out) garden? I haven’t seen the movie but it’s garden is getting alot of blog-attention. Here is a link:

http://www.remodelista.com/posts/steal-this-look-santa-barbara-kitchen-garden%0A

which is from here: (see Dec 17 post) http://heavypetal.ca/

I think the tomato stake she has would be ideal for tomatoes….can you buy such a thing? I’ve seen wire tomato cages – we had these on our monster plants and they sort of helped – broomsticks and other re-purposed things came into play later on :). thanks for dreaming tomatoes along with me….hee

-- bee with what is...:) soob

Neat link. I haven’t seen the movie either. It is difficult to see what the tomatoes are growing on in the photo because the tomato plants are doing so well! Do you think it is like a tepee or two trellises propped together at the top? Either way, it looks sturdy and lets you use vertical space above the ground, increasing your gardening area.

Do try canning next summer, soobee! When I am making pasta and pizza sauce, I don’t blanch and peel the tomatoes. I wash and cut the tomates up into sections and toss them in a blender, including the skins and seeds. Lycopene is found mostly in and around the seeds. If you remove them, you are reducing the nutritional value. I find that a minute or two on the top speed pretty much makes the seeds and skin disappear. Then I cook them down to the desired thickness. You can add the spices you like and you don’t have to worry that there is something you don’t want in the sauce.

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

great tip, Robin :)

I hope we get a good crop of RIPE tomatoes this year!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan

I can tomatoes too, mostly chopped up but it sure is nice in soups, pasta sauce etc.

Despite the nutritioninal value of the seeds (which I leave in) I have removed them before through a strainer and the sauce lost its “bitter” tones.

Wish I had a dehydrator so I could have sundreid tomatoes….....I find them packed with flavour.

-- Central northish Ontario

This year I am going to try the lazy way of doing tomatoes.I read somewhere that you can just cut them up and stew them with whatever herbs you like take the skins out and then freeze it in heavy freezer bags till you need it.I like mine chunky for spagetti and pasta and rice mixes.Has anyone ever tried doing them this way.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

FOr those who don’t remove the seeds, but grind them up, just pray that you don’t have company coming that has a touch of diverticulosis. They will be in AGONY.

I often freeze the whole tomatoe on a cookie sheet, and then pack it frozen like a billiard ball into a sealed bag. Then I can take out one, two or as many as I want for sauce. Works well for me and my quest for less work.

-- jroot

Bon, before I started canning my pasta sauce, I froze it. It tasted great and stored well but I have limited freezer space and I found it less convenient than jars I could just open. I had to plan ahead to let it thaw before I used it and it was always more than I needed for one meal, so it wasn’t as available for spontaneous meals. If I froze it again, I would use smaller freezer containers, perhaps a pint size rather than a quart.

Jroot, thanks for the information about seeds and diverticulitis.

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

Bon, when my children were young, I canned everything, vegetables and fruit, bushelfuls! But now there is just me, I only need to do what I can use, whether is canning or freezing. When I do tomatoes now, I wash the tomatoes, cut them up chunky with the skins still on, cook them, with the addition of whatever I want(celery, onions, spices) I put them into freezer zip lock bags, push out all the extra air, and lay them flat in the freezer so they freeze like books laid on top of each other. They take up less room that way and they thaw quite quickly to use. The skins seem to almost disappear, at least what I see doesn’t bother me, just more fibre. :-)

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

I do the same as Jroot—when I want easy, I can’t get any easier than tossing them in a bag and popping them into the freezer

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan

Jroot I don’t know anyone with that problem that will be eating here thank goodness.
Robin I have lots of freezer space but I will think carefully about the size of the bag before I purchase them.Thanks.
Iris thanks for the info that is exactly the way I want to freeze them.
Debbie and Jroot I have frozen your way in the past but found it takes so much more time to thaw them and cut them up and then have to add the onions and celery and spices.Takes longer to get supper going.I really like the idea of already cooked just thaw and add to your meal.
Thanks everyone.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more