How DO you solve the problem of too many tomatoes? By mixing them with stuff and putting it in jars, of course!

#gardening #harvest #tomatoes #sauce #canning #food

I got a food mill!

I found it underwhelming for use with tomatoes, possibly because I own a food processor 😅

@RavynWitch
Are your tomatoes raw? I think those only work with cooked tomatoes 😅. At least with the ones I know they have to be pretty mushy because it doesn't cut anything. It just pushes them through the holes, leaving the seeds and skins behind. And raw tomato is way too hard for that to work properly.

@totalynotanoob huh! That makes a lot of sense! I will further investigate that with future projects.

I’ve literally never used, nor seen someone use, a food mill before, so I’m making this up as I go. Appreciate the help!

@RavynWitch agree. The claim that it will remove the skins, unlike a food processor, is true, but I never found that particular benefit worthwhile. Honestly, if I cared about the skin I'd rather boil the tomatoes for 30 seconds and peel the skins that way than mess around with a food mill.
@quadrivial Yeah, I usually cut an X, boil, then drop in ice water. I think I’m going to stick to that. I also expected it to strain out the seeds? Nope.
@RavynWitch Yeah, that's what I do too on the exceptionally rare occasions I need to peel tomatoes. Not sure I have ever used a food mill on any other food item (maybe potatoes once, maybe). A food mill is a piece of tech that serves a purpose better filled by a modern machine IMO.
@RavynWitch that’s the kind I’m using this year! This is my first year growing and saving tomatoes, and I decided to do tomato sauce in jars in the freezer. I put chopped tomatoes and a half inch of water in a pot and boil that until things are mushy, then I scoop the mush out and run it through the food mill. The tomato juice goes back into a different pot, where I salt it and simmer it down by half. It’s really good, smooth textured but not too smooth.