After my neighbor brought me literally buckets full of garden tomatoes, I decided it was time to learn how to can. Most recipes I looked at called for peeled tomatoes. But how do you peel a tomato? I had no idea! After looking up a few tutorials, I realized that it actually isn’t that hard. With a few simple steps, you can have peeled tomatoes ready for whatever recipe you are working on! This is how I did it and it worked great.

Ingredients:

1. Fresh, clean tomatoes (preferably larger tomatoes)

Supplies:

1. Sharp knife
2. Pot of boiling water
3. Slotted spoon
4. Bowl of ice cold water

Step 1:

Wash tomatoes and then with a sharp knife lightly cut an x shape in either the bottom or side of the tomato. You are only wanting to get through the skin. So not a deep cut.

Step 2:

Fill a bowl with ice water and set it to the side. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Using a long slotted spoon or pasta server, carefully lower a tomato into the boiling water. You can add several at a time. Allow to boil for at least 30 seconds or until the skin starts to pull away from the tomato.

Step 3:

With the slotted spoon, carefully remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and immediately place in the ice water bowl. Allow to rest until the skin starts to shrivel and peel off. This also allows the tomatoes to cool so you can safely handle them.

Step 4:

Once the tomatoes have cooled, remove them from the ice water and peel off the skins. The tomatoes should still be firm and the skins should pull off easily. If the skin is being stubborn, use a small knife to pull off the difficult pieces, being careful to not squeeze the tomato.

And that’s it! You’re peeled tomatoes are now ready to be chopped up for salsa or as an ingredient in jambalaya or whatever!

This was also a great project for the kids to help me with! They were a great help with the peeling part of it, even if they did think it was gross :).

I hope you found this helpful! Good luck with your own tomato peeling!

~ Rachel