Preserving San Marzano Tomatoes
At the local farmer’s market I bought San Marzano Tomatoes. I had not seen them before and took the opportunity to try them and preserving some. They are similar to a Roma tomato, long shaped and meaty, with small core and few seeds.
I washed them, poured boiling water over for 3-4 minutes, then put into ice water bath. The skin peeled off easily. They were cut in half and laid out on a pan lined with parchment paper.
San Marzano tomatoes ready for oven drying.
Fresh thyme was put on the paper, then topped with the tomato halves. I sprinkled olive oil and Kosher salt on tomatoes and baked at 450°F for 15 minutes. The oven was turned off and the pan of tomatoes were left in the oven for 2 hours to dry.
Oven Dried San Marzano Tomatoes
Preserving San Marzano Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of San Marzano tomatoes
Instructions
- Wash and remove tomato skins by pouring boiling water on them for 3-4 minutes.
- Drain, put into an ice water bath.
- Peel tomatoes, skins come off easily.
- Cut tomatoes in half, remove core and seeds.
- Drain on toweling or a towel.
- Put parchment paper on cookie sheet, spread thyme sprigs on paper.
- Place the tomatoes on top of thyme.
- Drizzle olive oil over tomatoes and season with Kosher salt.
- Bake at 450 F for 15 minutes.
- Turn off the heat, let tomatoes dry out for 2-3 hours.
- Put into jelly jars and cover with olive oil.
- Refrigerate. Olive will become solid, but will melt when setting out to use.
Notes
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I put the tomatoes into jelly jars and partially covered with olive oil and stored in the refrigerator. They were soon used in salad, soup and sauce and soon were gone. They were softer than the commercial dried tomatoes and much better flavor. I could be partial.
I prepared the next 2 lbs of San Marzano Tomatoes as for drying, except I put them in freezer bag in one layer and froze them. I haven’t cooked with those yet.
Frozen San Marzano Tomatoes
There were about 1 1/2 pounds of the tomatoes left, so decided to make a puree. The preparation was removing skins, cutting in half, removing core and the seeds. I put them into blender, pureed until smooth. I had 1 1/4 cup of puree which was cooked in small kettle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon sugar. I cooked to reduce it to one-half.
Preparing San Marzano Tomatoes to make puree.
I poured it into a 1/2 pint jar which was hot from boiling and covered with lid and ring. I sat it into a pot of hot water which covered the jar letting it come to rolling boil and let boil for 20 minutes. Then removed the can from the hot water to cool for 24 hours and also to seal the lid.
Preserving seasoned San Marzano Puree.
I hope this will give you incentive to try San Marzano Tomatoes and to give drying, freezing and canning a try. When doing it in small amounts, it is more manageable in time and space to work and for storage.
Have you done canning, freezing or drying? Please let me know what you have preserved.
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