this bucket was full of cherry tomatoes by the time i made sauce.
some of the tomatoes did not ripen on top. i dont know what was going on here.
the bottoms were fully ripe, even overripe in some cases.
but the tops were not ripe at all. i had to cut the tops off.
the rest of the tomatoes were fine
my brother and his wife gave me cherry tomato seeds for xmas (along with some others they saved). turned out there were 4 different varieties in there! pear shaped, oblong, tiny round, and larger round.
compared in size to a regular tomato
my norpro strainer. best thing ever! i just run the tomatoes thru and it separates out the skins and seeds. no blanching, no peeling, no scraping. just turn the hand crank.
out comes tomato goodness
cake pan filled the first time
cake pan filled the second time
the seeds and skins ejected from the strainer, and the bucket of tomato tops i had to chop off. all going into the compost bin.
stockpot full of tomato juice
plus another pan for the juice that didnt fit in the stockpot. i cooked both pans down by half.
i have an 'over the range' microwave that has a vent on its bottom side. i do not like it. its down too close to the stove top. the underside tends to bead up with water that then drips back down on the pan if i dont watch out for it. but i have no money to redo my kitchen. so i'm stuck with what i have.
the strainer part that doesnt let the seeds or skins thru. after washing and scrubbing clean it has to be lightly sprayed with cooking oil to keep from rusting.
after cooking down by half, i ended up with two ziplock baggies of juice. i cooled them in the fridge, then placed them on a cookie sheet and froze them in the freezer, to await further cooking.
