Why take skins off and seeds out of tomatoes?
 

I am trying a new tomato sauce. Why do we need to take the seeds out of tomatoes for some recipes? Why do we need to take the skins off?

I'm making a freezer sauce. It takes SO long to take the skins off and seeds out. :rolleyes: I hope it's good and was worth all the time!

The skins are tough and don't break down into the sauce. The seeds can be unsightly and annoying to people with dentures. When I make my sauce for the freezer or even to eat right away, I put the tomatoes whole into the freezer until they are solid. Then you run them under warm water, rub with your fingers and the skins just slip away. I just ignore the seeds. 'Course, my sister is about to get full dentures, so she may care.

I'm with Tesspug. Peel, but don't seed. I'm too lazy to seed and we all have original equipment teeth.

Thanks, ladies. If it's just that seeds are annoying and don't look great I'm going to keep them in. It will save time AND I hated throwing that much of the tomato away. (I worked with a small bowl to catch all the seeds and it ended up being quite a lot of waste.) I don't mind taking the time to get the skins off.

You don't have to go to all that trouble. Just quarter tomatoes and drop in a blender. Blend until smooth. Then put in pot and cook down to sauce. Be sure to monitor the pot and cook on low to medium and stir every now and then to keep from sticking. It does take a while to get to the thickness you want. If making ketchup or spagetti sauce or what ever add your spices and keep cooking until the thickness you need. Put in freezer containers and freeze or canning jars, can in pressure canner or hot water bath then store. There is alot of good nutrition in the peel that you loose when removing. If you are concerned about any seeds that may not have broken up in blending, pour thru a sieve or strainer before placing in pot. No waste - you use all the tomato. I have been doing this for years. Be sure to mark and date your containters.

A Victoria strainer works magic if you can find one. I love mine

Though I have not tried making tomato sauce--I'm still trying to get enough tomatoes to try drying them; had some a friend made and they were delicious, a healthy, low-cal snack--but I've read that the reason for removing the seeds is that they can be bitter.

I make mine using an immersion blender. Cut up the tomatoes and put in the pot to cook. Then use the immersion blender to pulverize them. I, too, used the blender but didn't like all the foam/froth it created; the immersion blender doesn't cause all that foam. The peels are just flakes and the seeds don't matter to me.

My grandma didn't peel or seed her sauce, when cooked she put it thru a foley food mill and that took out the seeds and skins. This went back into the pot and the peppers, onions, and spices were added and cooked before canning.

You should be able to find a colunder at a canning supply store, sorry about spelling, they are a cone shaped item with a wooden stick . They have holes in the cone and sit in a stand, you partially cook the tomatoes and place in cone using stick to go around and it pushes out seeded tomatoes and the skin is retained in the cone.