Preserving Tomatoes

Preserving tomatoes is a very easy thing to do.  You can preserve cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes and even tomatoes on the vine.  You only need 5 ingredients to preserve tomatoes those beautiful summer tomatoes you grew!

How often do you hear “tomato” and “pickle” in the same sentence?

Not often!

Not ever!

That makes me sad!  So, I decided to change all of that and hope that everyone will start pickling them.

Every summer, when you grow tomatoes, what do you end up doing with them?

Give it to friends?  Can them? Let them spoil?

Instead, pickling them is a much better idea and they will be good in so many different recipes.

Before preserving tomatoes, I pickled vegetables like cauliflower, carrots, bell pepper and pearl onions.  This is a great way to save veggies that don’t get used.

Its such a bummer when you paid so much for cauliflower only to put it in a compost bin, right?

Pickling them makes me not feel guilty.  I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil that I used in my Pumpkin Olive Oil Bread.  You can also use Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil to pickle tomatoes.

If oil is not your thing, try it with vinegar or spiced infused water

What kind of tomatoes can be pickled?

1. Heirloom Tomatoes
2. Cherry Tomatoes
3. Roma Tomatoes
4. San Marzano Tomatoes
5. Green Tomatoes
6. Beef Steak Tomatoes
7. Campari Tomatoes
8. Jubilee Tomatoes
9. Grape Tomatoes
10. Tomatoes on the vine

Check out my 5 colorful tomatoes. Which one is your favorite?

Benefits of preserving tomatoes

1. You get to enjoy them anytime

A good tomato should never be missed.  In the cold, harsh winter months, your preserved tomatoes are going to remind you of a fun afternoon spent on the beach in the summer.

2. It tastes great when preserved

All the spices and herbs added during the preserving process enhances the flavor of tomatoes.  It adds spice, sweetness and tang to the tomatoes.

Are you drooling yet?

3. Its a very therapeutic process.

Seriously! Take a few tomatoes and preserve them right now.  You will know exactly what I mean.  Its like when you see people working on the Nature Japanese Garden with the tiny rakes and sand.  Until you try it yourself, you don’t understand why they get so much peace out of it.

The same thing happens when you preserve tomatoes.  Adding the ginger, carom seeds, onions and parsley to the tomatoes will light up your eyes because of the colorful medley.  The best part is lazily adding the oil to the bowl and mixing it.

Its a very Zen experience!

Have you checked out the history of tomatoes?

How to use these tomatoes?

1. In a simple tomato sandwich
2. Soup recipes like Orzo Soup
3. Curries like Cabbage Curry
4. Vegan Calzone recipe with meatballs
5. Cold pasta salads are perfect for this preserved tomato
6. Greek Couscous Salad recipe – Use instead of sun-dried tomatoes
7. Best DAMN Tomato sandwich – you can use pickled tomatoes instead of plain tomatoes

8 Ways of Preserving Tomatoes

1) Make ketchup out of it

Making ketchup at home is so easy and healthier.  You get to control the salt and other ingredients.  Plus, you get to use fresh tomatoes

2) Make Cuban sofrito with the tomatoes

Cuban sofrito is so versatile because you can use it in so many different recipes.  You can put them in so many different meals like burritos and enchiladas.

Plus, a sofrito recipe can last a really long time.  You can even freeze them in ice cubes and keep it for months.

3)  Make tomato relish

My friend Deb at Bowl Me Over is seriously talented.  She posted this Tomato Relish recipe on my blog a while back and it has received so many, many compliments.

Its such an easy recipe and you get to use nothing but fresh tomatoes in it.

4) Oven roasted cherry tomatoes

Oven roasted cherry tomatoes are so good! You can eat them like candy! When roasted, the cherry tomatoes releases their juices and turns it into a sweet, yummy snack or topping.

If you have a tomato lover in your life, here are 10 gag gifts that you can give tomato lovers.

Preserving tomatoes recipe (printable)