What is the best way to peel tomatoes?
If you’ve ever tried using a peeler to peel a tomato, you quickly learned that that was an impossible task! There is only one best way to peel a tomato, and it requires quickly blanching them so their skin lifts off, making it easy for you to peel it off the tomatoes. Now, you must be thinking: “What about roasting? Or freezing? Or even charring the tomatoes over a flame?” Well, all these methods will peel tomatoes, but they are not the most convenient. Roasting is great, but changes the flavor of tomatoes, making them smoky and more robust! If that’s what you’re looking for, then by all means, roast ’em! Charring a tomato over a flame is great if you only need to peel one tomato. When you have 4 pounds of tomatoes that you need to peel for a sauce, you will have to stand by your stove for a long time, charring them one by one! Finally, freezing takes time, especially cause you’ll have to also wait for the tomatoes to thaw! Not very convenient when you are really craving Nonna’s tomato sauce, amirite? However, if you have space in your freezer, you could freeze a lot of summer tomatoes and have them all year round. When ready to use, thaw them and easily remove their skin by pulling them off! You will have to use the tomatoes in soups, sauces and stews, as their texture will soften considerably once frozen.
Ok, teach me how to peel tomatoes!
Now that we agreed that blanching is the way to go, let’s learn how to do it. It might seem like a lot of steps, but it’s actually quite easy!
What you’ll need:
Rinsed tomatoes. A paring knife and a cutting board.A large pot of boiling water.A large bowl with iced water.
Bring a pot of water to boil on the stove. Place a bowl of ice water close by so it’s easily accessible.Using a paring knife, slice a shallow X-shaped insertion on the bottom of each tomato.
Using a slotted spoon, carefully lower the tomatoes into the boiling water. Depending on how many tomatoes you have, you might have to work in batches!Blanch the tomatoes for 30 to 60 seconds, or until the skin begins to loosen and peel off at the X slit.Immediately remove the tomatoes into the ice water bowl so they stop cooking. Let them cool until you can handle them.
Once the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, you should be able to just lift their skin and it will glide right off!You can then core them, if desired, by cutting a circular cut with a paring knife. Or you can do like I do and just slice a 1/4-inch off the bottom! I’m lazy like that! 😉Optional: you can halve them and scoop their seeds out with a small spoon. My grandma does that, but I skip that step, as I don’t mind the seeds!
Et voila, peeled tomatoes! You can use them in soups and sauces, or can them to use later, when it’s the middle of the winter and you are missing those fresh summer tomatoes. Now go, don’t walk, run to the grocery store to get the last of those late summer tomatoes while you can! You have some peeling to do.
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