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  • What to Do With Tomatoes From a Harvest: How to Preserve and Ripen

    What to Do With Tomatoes From a Harvest: How to Preserve and Ripen

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    You have worked hard cultivating your garden and have been rewarded with a tomato harvest—now what? This post will show you exactly how to enjoy the fruits of your labour (pun intended!). Here’s what to do with tomatoes, whether they are ripe or still green.

    As summer comes to an end, it leaves us with an abundant bounty of fresh, delicious food. It is wonderful to bite into a ripe, sun-warmed tomato at this time of year, but it also feels a little sad because you know that the cold season is coming and soon you’ll have to wait almost a whole year for the fresh taste of summer.

    Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be this way! Take a little time now to learn about preserving tomatoes. These simple methods will help you find comfort in the sunny taste of summer, even in the dead of winter.

    This post will cover…

    What to Do With Tomatoes

    With a little planning and simple preparation, you can harvest that bounty of tomatoes in your garden and preserve them for the winter months. Whether you want the easiest possible method (freezing) or something a bit more complex (canning), the techniques outlined in this post are straightforward and practical.

    Growing tomatoes is great for everyone, beginners and pros alike because they are super easy to grow. Plus, the flavour of the homegrown version is unparalleled in the grocery store.

    There are so many varieties of tomato that you can surely find some that suit your garden. Small-space gardeners can choose dwarf or container plants, short-season growers can choose fast-maturing varieties. Even those who live in rainy climates (like me!) can grow tomatoes that produce well on cloudy days.

    How to Plant an Upside Down Tomato cherry tomatoesHow to Plant an Upside Down Tomato cherry tomatoes
    I live in a pretty rainy climate and can still grow a bounty of tomatoes every year.

    With all of these options, it’s hard to not have a bumper crop of tomatoes ready at the end of the season. Having more harvest than you know what to do with is overwhelming, not only because you find yourself scrambling to add them to every meal possible but because you know how much you’ll miss them in the winter.

    When you’re overwhelmed with a crop, it’s impossible not to start taking it for granted and get a little tired of eating it. But, come January, you’ll be wishing for that fresh summer taste that you can no longer get your hands on.

    Luckily, there are multiple ways to take when preserving that allow you to enjoy them in the colder months. If the weather is beginning to cool or your tomato plants have succumbed to the dreaded Late Blight, then it’s time to harvest the lot of them and put them away for the winter.

    Here are some ideas to help you figure out what to do with tomatoes.

    A handful of tiny tomatoesA handful of tiny tomatoes
    Don’t let the tomatoes go to waste on the vine. You can quickly save them for a wintery day.

    Freeze Tomatoes

    This is a great way to use a large crop, and it couldn’t be easier. Here are the three steps to follow:

    1. Simply wash ripe tomatoes and remove the stems. I recommend following the steps in this post about how to wash fruit and vegetables properly.
    2. Gently pat them dry.
    3. Pop them into a freezer bag and freeze them until ready to use.

    What to Do with Frozen Tomatoes

    First of all, it’s important to note that once frozen, the texture will change. Thawed tomatoes are not firm like the fresh ones are, but if you are planning to use them in cooking, they are quick and easy to remove from the bag and toss in the recipe.

    I find myself reaching for these tomatoes whenever I want to make sauce, soups, or casseroles. The flavour is excellent for these saucy kind of foods.

    Garden tomatoes ready to freeze in a plastic bagGarden tomatoes ready to freeze in a plastic bag
    You can’t eat frozen tomatoes thawed. They should be cooked into something.

    Dehydrate Tomatoes

    Grab a dehydrator and make some dried tomatoes! These taste just like the sun-dried version that was in just about everything 20 years ago. Drying grape tomatoes at home makes for a delicious way to preserve them for the winter months. Here’s how you can easily dehydrate tomatoes:

    1. Cut cherry or grape tomatoes in half.
    2. Add them to the layers of a food dehydrator. You can also use the oven and place them on a baking sheet in the oven on low for 8-12 hours
    3. Store in an airtight container.

    What to Do With Dehydrated Tomatoes

    This is one of my favourite methods I use when figuring out what to do with tomatoes from my garden. I love the taste and find myself adding them to everything. A few ideas include:

    • Add them to your pizza or quiche
    • Marinate them in herbs and oil to serve with antipasto
    • Layer them in a salad
    • Sprinkle them onto your favourite dinner

    Honestly, you can’t go wrong with these! A little goes a long way so be conservative.

    A pan of dehydrated tomatoes in the ovenA pan of dehydrated tomatoes in the oven
    Dehydrating works best with the little tomatoes, cherry or grape.

    Can Tomato Sauces, Soups, and More

    Of course, one of the most popular options when wondering what to do with tomatoes is canning. You can cook tomatoes and make a variety of different recipes, such as pasta sauce, soup, salsa, and pizza sauce. I like to roast the tomatoes with garlic first and then use them in the recipe.

    As with all canning recipes, be sure to follow the ingredients and process them accordingly, as canning can be dangerous if not done properly.

    jars of homemade tomato saucejars of homemade tomato sauce
    Add a custom label, and this pizza sauce will also be a great gift.

    What to Do With Green Tomatoes

    At the end of the season, you will usually end up with a bunch of tomatoes in various stages of ripening, meaning you’ll have quite a bit of green tomatoes.

    While green tomatoes are lovely fried and in salsa, there is an easy way to ripen the rest of the crop indoors where it’s still toasty warm. Choose to ripen only the tomatoes that are clean and disease-free.

    How to Ripen Green Tomatoes

    Ripening green tomatoes is simple! All you will need to do is:

    1. Keep them on the vine as you are picking them.
    2. Set them in a box or bowl away from direct sunlight.
    3. Check them every day and remove those that have ripened.

    Easy and delicious!

    Green tomatoes ripening indoorsGreen tomatoes ripening indoors
    Those green tomatoes that aren’t on the vine won’t ripen.

    Save Your Tomato Seeds for Next Year

    Perhaps the most important part of what to do with tomatoes for gardeners is saving the seeds. This will allow you to have another great harvest next year! Learn all about how to save tomato seeds through fermentation here.

    Saving tomato seeds is a little different than other veggie seeds, as you must ferment them.

    FAQ About Harvesting Tomatoes

    How do I know my tomatoes are ready to be picked?

    Tomatoes begin to ripen from the bottom, turning from green to various shades of red, yellow, and orange. To know when to pick the tomato, look at the bottom. When it starts to soften ever so lightly, it’s time to harvest.

    If you want to eat it right away, pick it when the colour has reached the top. If you want to eat it in a day or two, leave a little bit of green at the top. It will fully ripen on your counter in a day, protected from rain and insects.

    Where do you cut the tomatoes when harvesting?

    Leave a little bit of vine on your tomato until you’re ready to eat. If all the tomatoes on one vine are ready at the same time, I will clip the whole vine and leave the tomatoes attached. But if they’re all ready at different stages, I take one at a time, leaving the top bit of vine that connected it to the plant.

    Should I pick my tomatoes before they turn red?

    It’s completely up to you. You can pick them just before they’re ready, as mentioned above, or when they’re fully ripe. Keep in mind that when they’re fully ripe, they’re more likely to be eaten by birds or insects like tomato hornworms. They can also split if they receive a sudden intake of water, such as a from a rainstorm. That being said, you can get slightly better flavour if you allow it to ripen fully on the vine.

    Garden Tomatoes in a RowGarden Tomatoes in a Row

    More Ways to Preserve Garden Produce

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    Stephanie Rose

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  • The Simple Trick to Dry Hydrangea Flowers and Retain Their Color

    The Simple Trick to Dry Hydrangea Flowers and Retain Their Color

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    Hydrangeas are a beautiful shrub with an old-fashioned appeal, yet they fit into the modern garden seamlessly. Possibly the best thing about hydrangeas is you can enjoy your lovely blooms indefinitely. Here’s how to dry hydrangeas so they keep their colour.

    With so many varieties, colors, and even bloom shapes, you’d easily be able to find a hydrangea that suits your garden (as long as you are lucky enough to have the right climate, of course!). You can enjoy them both on and off the plant too!

    The problem many people have with hydrangeas is that they become limp before they can dry out. Hydrangeas have a tendency to lean towards the drama, but they’re actually quite easy to both hydrate AND dry once you know how to do it.

    Hint: You’re not going to hang them upside down.

    This is the simple method that I use to dry hydrangea flowers and keep their hue.

    Hydrangea and HollyHydrangea and Holly
    Parts of this hydrangea have already gone brown, so it’s a little late for cutting and drying.

    Dried Hydrangea Colours

    Of course, you won’t retain the same vivid colour that you have on the plant while it’s growing in the garden. The colour that you can achieve on a dried hydrangea is more of a muted set of greens, grays, blues, pinks, and purples that look beautiful when displayed together.

    The other thing to note is that the climate and temperature at which the hydrangea shrub grows will affect how much colour is retained in the dried flower. It’s not a perfect system, but ideally, you are looking for a healthy plant grown in appropriate conditions. You can read more about that in my essential guide to hydrangeas.

    Did you know you can easily change your hydrangea’s blooms from pink to blue (or vice versa)? Here’s how you can make your hydrangea change colour.

    Harvesting Hydrangeas for WreathsHarvesting Hydrangeas for Wreaths
    Hydrangea flowers come in many different hues, all creating antique, muted versions of themselves once dry.

    When to Cut Hydrangeas for Drying

    Mother nature and plant care aside, timing when you cut the blooms is the most important factor that you can control. If you leave the hydrangea heads to dry on the shrub, they can lose all of their color. If you cut the blooms too early, they can wilt (as opposed to dry with the petals retaining their shape).

    In order to retain the most colour, you will need to let flowers partially dry on the shrub first. Depending on when your plant blooms, you should start checking on the flowers mid-way through the bloom time.

    The colour will be fading, but they will still hold most of their shape, and they will start to take on a papery feel. Try cutting hydrangea blooms when there is still some colour remaining to get a dried flower with a colour that lasts.

    blue hydrangeablue hydrangea
    These blooms have begun to dry and fade in colour and this would be the ideal time to cut them for drying.

    How to Dry Hydrangea Flowers

    Remove all of the leaves from the stem (or at least the part of the stem that will be submerged) and put the flowers in a vase with an inch or two of water.

    Place the vase in a cool area, away from direct sunlight. The water in the vase will help to slow the drying process; the bloom will be preserved better with a slower transition. Once the water is gone, it will be completely dried and will last indefinitely.

    You can touch the preserved hydrangea heads to see how dry they are. They should feel papery.

    The easy way to dry hydrangea flowers to keep color: place stems in a jar of waterThe easy way to dry hydrangea flowers to keep color: place stems in a jar of water
    This way of drying hydrangeas takes about two weeks.
    A dried hydrangea flower with its color preservedA dried hydrangea flower with its color preserved
    The same hydrangea dried!

    What to Do With Dried Hydrangeas

    Dry hydrangea flowers are very delicate, so it is often better to create your craft or dried flower arrangement before they dry. That’s precisely what I did with this hydrangea wreath. I made the wreath with partially dried blooms and allowed the drying process to finish on the front door! See how to make the wreath here.

    You can also add in other dried flowers if you want more variety.

    I love using dried hydrangea flowers in all kinds of crafts, including this dried flower arrangement. If you don’t have a large stem, you can add some by using a bamboo skewer and florist’s tape to extend the stem of your dried hydrangea flowers.

    FAQ About How to Dry Hydrangeas

    How do you hydrate hydrangeas?

    Before you can dry your hydrangea flowers, they should be as hydrated as possible. After cutting them from the shrub, immediately put them in water.

    Once inside, cut the stem again and, this time, place it in boiling water. Make sure the steam can escape. In this case, boiling water is extremely helpful in forcing the stems to drink water.

    Hydrangeas can also drink through their petals, so people soak their flowers in a bowl of water. While this method works great for fresh hydrangeas, it doesn’t work for flowers that are already partially dry, which is what we’re going for after cutting the hydrangeas.

    Should I spray dried hydrangeas with hairspray?

    Once dried completely, you can spray any dried flowers with hairspray. Ensure it’s cheap and clear…don’t waste the good stuff. This will help to create a protective layer over the petals so they’re not quite as delicate.

    How do you keep dried hydrangeas from crumbling?

    When the hydrangeas are dried, they’re extremely delicate. I recommend making any arrangements slightly before the whole flower is dried, as it will be stronger. As above, spray with hairspray and keep away from heat and sunlight to prolong the life of your dried hydrangea flowers.

    hydrangea colorshydrangea colors

    More Posts About Hydrangeas

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    Stephanie Rose

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  • Pickled Strawberries – Simply Scratch

    Pickled Strawberries – Simply Scratch

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    Sweet and tangy, Pickled Strawberries are a great addition to salads, sandwiches, appetizers, desserts or cocktails! Fresh ripe strawberries are quickly pickled in white balsamic vinegar, sugar and sea salt! This recipe yields a large 32 ounces jar and should last about a month.

    Pickled Strawberries l SimplyScratch.com #homemade #pickled #strawberries #easy #fromscratch #preserving

    If you haven’t had the pleasure of tasting pickled strawberries, prepare your mind to be blown.

    Pickled strawberries are sweet and tart and delicious. But besides delicious to snack on straight out of the jar, they’re also a great addition to salads, thinly sliced on sandwiches or spooned on top of a goat cheese slathered crostini’s.

    The first time I ever tasted these jeweled beauties was on a salad and it was love after first bite. It was back in January, and  I couldn’t believe my tastebuds! The strawberries were sweet and salty, yet acidic and still juicy and very much strawberry. I knew right away I would be recreating them in my own to not only top allthethings but also to preserve a little bit of summer for the fall and winter months.

    Pickled Strawberries ingredientsPickled Strawberries ingredients

    To Make These Pickled Strawberries You Will Need:

    • strawberries
    • granulated sugar
    • sea salt
    • white balsamic vinegar
    • water.

    sugar and salt in a saucepan.sugar and salt in a saucepan.

    First, in a heavy bottom saucepan, add 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 tablespoon sea salt.

    add vinegaradd vinegar

    Next, pour in the white balsamic vinegar with the water.

    Pickled Strawberries l SimplyScratch.com #homemade #pickled #strawberries #easy #fromscratch #preservingPickled Strawberries l SimplyScratch.com #homemade #pickled #strawberries #easy #fromscratch #preserving

    Heat on low-heat, stirring occasionally until both the sugar and salt have dissolved.

    stir until dissolvedstir until dissolved

    No need to bring to a boil. This should take about 8 to 10 minutes.

    StrawberriesStrawberries

    Meanwhile prepare the strawberries by rinsing them under cool water. Then, using a paring knife, remove the leafy top and cutting the large ones in half.

    add halved strawberries to a jar.add halved strawberries to a jar.

    Fill a 32 ounce jar with all the strawberries. You’ll want to fit all of them, but if you can’t right away that’s okay. I’ll explain how you can add them later on – more on that in a little.

    pour the warm pickling liquids over the strawberriespour the warm pickling liquids over the strawberries

    Once the sugar and salt have dissolved, pour the warm pickling liquids over the strawberries. Next, allow the strawberries to cool completely before securing the lid and storing. As they cool, you’ll notice the strawberries will shrink, thus giving you more room to add the few strawberries that might not have fit in the jar the first time.

    Pickled Strawberries l SimplyScratch.com #homemade #pickled #strawberries #easy #fromscratch #preservingPickled Strawberries l SimplyScratch.com #homemade #pickled #strawberries #easy #fromscratch #preserving

    Lastly, give the strawberries 24 hours to pickle before using. You can enjoy these delicious pickled strawberries for up to 1 month.

    For more pickling recipes Click Here!

    Pickled Strawberries l SimplyScratch.com #homemade #pickled #strawberries #easy #fromscratch #preservingPickled Strawberries l SimplyScratch.com #homemade #pickled #strawberries #easy #fromscratch #preserving

    Enjoy! And if you give this Pickled Strawberries recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!

    Blackened Salmon Salad with Strawberry Peppercorn Vinaigrette l SimplyScratch.com #blackened #salmon #saladBlackened Salmon Salad with Strawberry Peppercorn Vinaigrette l SimplyScratch.com #blackened #salmon #salad

    Yield: 32 servings

    Pickled Strawberries

    Sweet and tangy, Pickled Strawberries are a great addition to salads, sandwiches or cocktails! Fresh ripe strawberries are quickly pickled in white balsamic, sugar and sea salt! This recipe yields one (32 ounce) jar.

    Prep Time: 10 minutes

    Total Time: 10 minutes

    • 2 pounds strawberries, washed and patted dry
    • 1 tablespoon sugar
    • 1 tablespoons sea salt
    • 1½ cups white balsamic vinegar
    • 1/2 cup water

    • In a heavy bottom skillet, add the sugar, salt, vinegar and water. Heat on low to medium-low, stirring until the sugar and salt dissolve.

    • Meanwhile, remove and discard the leafy green parts of each strawberry. Quarter large strawberries, halve medium and leave small strawberries whole.

    • Fill a 32 ounce jar with the strawberries.

    • Pour the pickling liquid over top and allow to cool down to room temperature before sealing and refrigerating.

    • Allow the strawberries to pickle for 24 hours before enjoying.

    As they cool, you’ll notice the strawberries will shrink, thus giving you more room to add the few strawberries that might not have fit in the jar the first time. These pickled strawberries can last up to 1 month. If looking for canning instructions or directions, follow the USDA guidelines.

    Serving: 2eablespoons, Calories: 21kcal, Carbohydrates: 5g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 1g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 221mg, Potassium: 57mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 3IU, Vitamin C: 17mg, Calcium: 8mg, Iron: 1mg

    Author: Laurie McNamara

    Course: Homemade Ingredients & Condiments

    Cuisine: American

    This post may contain affiliate links.

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    Laurie McNamara

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