Wonderful Ways to Use Tomatoes

You did it! You planted, watered and fertilized those tomato plants just perfect. Good for you. Now just what are you going to doing with all those tomatoes?

The love apple of the garden and once thought poisonous, tomatoes are one of the easiest garden plants to grow. Once you've tasted a fresh ripe tomato from your garden, you'll never want to go back to store bought. But you can eat just so many fresh tomatoes and it's probably one less than a hardy harvest.  So here are some ideas to use your tomato bounty.

• CANNING.  A tradition for centuries and probably responsible for making spaghetti sauce a household staple. You'll never again lack the meal making ingredient for a quick dinner.  Canning tomatoes isn't hard and generations of non-so-great sanitization canned tomato eaters survived but don't take a chance on botulism. Learn how to do it right here.

• FREEZING. A a quicker alternative to canning, frozen tomatoes can also be used for winter dishes. Just make sure you have high quality freezer bags that are well sealed. Wash your tomatoes, blanch them in a single layer in boiling water about 30 seconds, transfer to cold water, cool completely, cut,  peel and package.

Remember to package in the size bags you will be sure to use in one meal.  Never refreeze.

• DRYING. Roma tomatoes are a favorite for this process as they have fewer seeds but any tomato will do. You can easily dry tomatoes in your oven but it can take up to 12 hours  so if you find you enjoy this method, invest in a dehydrator, which has endless uses.

To test drive the drying method:  heat your oven to 200 degrees F., wash, trim and half or quarter tomatoes in uniform sizes.  Arrange cut side up on baking sheet (tomatoes should not touch to prevent incomplete drying), lightly salt and bake until the tomatoes are shriveled and dry to the touch but not brittle. Check after 6 hours and continue until you have shriveled but flexible little tomatoes. Remove those that dry more quickly as necessary. Let cool completely and place in air tight containers or plastic bags.

Dried tomatoes are wonderful on pizza, in dips and salads. But remember dehydrators take most of the work out of drying.

• GRILLING. Put that natural sugar to work on a high heat grill (charcoal works better than gas grills). Chose ripe but firm tomatoes that are large enough to sit on the grill slates.  Cut horizontally, coat with oil and place open side down. Watch carefully because tomatoes cook quickly and will do a disappearing act if overcooked. Within minutes (3-4) you'll notice a wilting of the skin. Brush a little oil over the tomato halves and turn them on their sides; a minute or two on each side.

You can also use grilling racks, baskets, aluminum foil, woks or other grilling pans for a more steamed effect.

Grilled tomatoes make an excellent side dish with a little herbs or garlic. Or let them cool and make an absolute fabulous salsa, marina sauce or tomato olive dip.

• FRYING. I know frying isn't the healthiest cooking method but you must indulge on that last batch of harvested tomatoes or you will never know the joy of a real comfort food. Greens are great and reds are perfect. You can't go wrong with a fried tomato.

Cut unpeeled tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices, add a little salt and let the slices drain on a paper towel for 10-15 minutes. In three shallow dipping dishes: 1. combine half cornmeal and half flour (1/3 cup per tomato) 2. milk (1/4 cup per tomato) 3. beaten eggs (1 per tomato). Dip each tomato slice in milk then eggs, then cornmeal. Fry on medium heat in oiled skillet 4-6 minutes per side until brown.

Oh my, aren't you glad you grew tomatoes!