Preserving: Tiny Tomato Assembly Line

I had volunteer tomato plants this year. They popped up in my flower pots so I'm not sure where they came from. When they got bigger, I transplanted them to my float garden. Two are grape tomatoes, the fancy ones you buy in expensive little plastic boxes.

I love them, but like all tomatoes they ripen in big batches.

I was going to make spaghetti so I thought, why not use up some of my tiny tomatoes. I set up an assembly line in the kitchen.


First, I trimmed the stem end and slit one side of each tomato. It didn't take very long. Once they were all processed, I was ready to start.

I put a handful of tomatoes in a pan of hot water for about 5 seconds. I scooped them out with a spoon and into a strainer.

I then put them in a bowl to cool slightly. Then came the fun part.


I squeezed each tomato and out popped the flesh. The skin remained intact, easy to discard. Processing in small batches went pretty fast.

I cut the tomatoes in half and simmered them for about an hour to make my sauce. The seeds were so small they "disappeared" once I added my sauteed veggies to the mix.

If you have too many tiny tomatoes, here's a good way to use them.

After my next picking, I plan to make and freeze some sauce for future use. Waste not, want not. -- Margy