Skinned Tomatos
Tomatoes are grown in gardens every year. One thing many people do not understand how to do is skin a tomato. This is very simple. You can learn to do this yourself. A regular vegetable peeler will not work with a tomato. You will end up losing a large portion of the tomato. Instead, follow these steps to peel your tomato the right way.
First you want to start a large pot of water boiling. You will also want to fill a large bowl with cold water and ice. Sit this bowl over to the side to use in a later step.
Next you want to make a small X on the tomato. It is easiest if you do this near the stem.
Boil your tomatoes for 30-60 seconds to make sure they are done. You do not want to leave it longer than this or you will cook your tomato. Remove them from the water with a slotted spoon so you do not burn yourself. As soon as you remove them from the boiling water, place them into the ice cold water you have set aside in a bowl. Let them sit here for just a little bit so that they can get cool. This should take about five minutes. This helps make the tomatoes easier to peel. It also keeps you from burning your fingers.
Take the tomato and hold it firmly in your hand. Use a small paring knife to start peeling back the skin of the tomato where you cut the X earlier. Remove the stem that is in this area. Make sure that you get all of the green around the stem as well. Peel it slowly to make sure you do not cut into the tomato itself. You can peel it back once you have the cut started. It should come off easily.
Next cut the tomatoes in half. You will need an empty bowl. Hold the tomato over this empty bowl and start to squeeze the seeds out of it. If they do not all come out easily, you can use a spoon to scoop out the remaining seeds. You will also get some tomato juice when doing this step. If you would prefer, you can use a strainer and then use the juice to cook with for another recipe.
Repeat these steps with each tomato until they are all peeled.
Peeled tomatoes work best for recipes. This will keep you from accidentally getting seeds or peeling into your food. These also are great for canning. You can use the juice that you squeezed out of the tomatoes to put in the canning jar with them.
This method of peeling tomatoes is the easiest one that I have found to use. Your tomatoes will come out perfect and you will not waste any of the tomato. You can do several tomatoes at once and it will still work just as well. Next time you need to peel a tomato just follow the easy steps above.
