How to get Free Tomato Concentrate.

The rule for tomatoes were we live is that you wait and wait and wait and when the rest of the summer crops are all but over suddenly you get more tomatoes than you could ever dream off. We’ve eaten some in salads as they’ve ripened along with the cucumbers, but it’s now, right when the first frosts are hitting, that we suddenly have a huge glut of tomatoes and are frantically trying to do something with them before they rot on the vines.

In the past, we’ve tried a few ways to preserve tomatoes but when my Mum reported this idea that she’d seen one some show on pay TV it sounded great, and easy…. easy is always good.

So here is how to get free tomato puree!

First grow some tomatoes. Most of our plants this year came from volunteer seedlings that popped up all over the garden – free tomato plants!

Harvest your tomatoes, wash them, and take off the stems. Cut them in half (or quarters if they are largeish) and place them on an oven try. Sprinkle with herbs of your choice (basil from our garden!) then drizzle with olive oil. Cook them in a moderate oven until they are ‘roasted’ and smelling amazing.

Then pour your roasted tomatoes into a sieve over a large bowl and smoosh them until all the yummy tomatoey goodness is in the bowl below and all you are left with is the skin and seeds. Then pop into freezer bags or containers and freeze until you need it!

Wallal! Free tomato concentrate.

Well ok, technically this wasn’t totally free. It cost my some electricity and some time… oh and some freezer bags, and tiny bit of olive oil, but apart from that it was free and, more importantly, it was easy!!! Even I couldn’t screw this up!