How To Peel Fresh Tomatoes - Photo Tutorial


The below photos are courtesy of Cynthia Detterick-Pineda of Andrews, TX. Check out Cynthia's Southwest Cooking Recipes.

Tomato season is a great time for making big batches of tomato sauce for freezing or putting up jars of fresh tomatoes. Most recipes, however, ask for peeled fruit. The following technique makes this job easy and quick.

Things You’ll Need:

  • Fresh tomatoes
  • A large saucepan
  • Water to fill the saucepan just above the level of the tomatoes
  • Large bowl filled with ice and water
  • Sharp knife
  • A ladle or slotted spoon

In a 5-quart pan over high heat, bring 3 ½ quarts water to a boil. Prepare a large bowl of ice water that contains enough ice water to cover the tomatoes you want to peel.

 

cutting the tomato

Use a paring knife to cut out the stem at the top of each tomato. Then carve a shallow X in the bottom (blossom end) of each.

Working in batches of three, plunge (drop) the tomatoes into the boiling water, a few at a time, i 10 to 15 seconds. NOTE: Do not leave tomato in the boiling water for more than 15 seconds as your tomato will become mushy (especially if you are using the tomatoes uncooked in a salad or salsa, you don’t want them in a boiling pot any longer than they have to be, because they’ll start to cook.)

Remove with a slotted spoon

 

soaking tomato in ice water

With a slotted spoon gently place in a bowl or sink filled with ice water to cool them down. Once the tomatoes are cool, immediately take them out of the water to drain. Leaving the tomatoes in water may cause them to become waterlogged.

peeled fresh tomato

When tomatoes have cooled, remove from the ice bath and gently pull away the skins, beginning at the points created by the X. The skin will easily slip off each tomato.

You may use a small paring knife or your fingers.