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.

Yes that will work...was a time in my life we would go to a farm yearly, pick Roma tomatoes...about 5 bushels...go home and make bottles and bottles of sauce for year...I had a hand crank tomato strainer....DH attached his electric drill to it and I could strain the pulp from seeds/skin in no time........now....go to store and buy......our few garden tomatoes....I put in boiled water for few minutes....skins fall off...cut in half, squeeze out seeds, bag and freeze......phew! All those yrs of all that work!

Do you scald your tomatoes before peeling them?

Drop a whole tomato into boiling water for 15 to 20 seconds (you will need to experiment with the timing) - take the tomato out of the water and put it in cold water.

The skins peel off very easily this way.

If the skins don't come off easily, leave them in the water for a few seconds longer. If the top layer is mushy, leave them in the water for a few seconds less.

You can peel the tomatoes and then squeeze a lot of the seeds out - if you want, you can squeeze the juice and seeds in a jar and strain the liquid out. Sometimes they say to remove the seeds to get some of the extra liquid out and the sauce will be thicker.

I remove seeds from fresh tomatoes because I do not like the slime like substance around the seeds. If cooking I use canned products that do not include the seeds. If I end up with lots of seeds (whole canned tomatoes) then they go in the blender first.

I'm a grandma too and I used the Foley Food Mill (drs. orders) to grind up our son's food instead of buy Gerber's baby food in a jar. He said this was healthier and cheaper. So now, he is grown and I changed from baby food to doing tomatoes (I boil them, cut them in half, run them through the Mill and pour the juice into Miracle Whip jars and freeze it for sauce or soup (cream of). Also I make THE best apple sauce exactly the same way I do tomatoes except I cut and core the apples first - moosh 'em all up in the Foley and put them in plastic bowls (whatever) and freeze them. That is really good too. NO SUGAR!!!!!!!! I do it all the easy way. Have fun! Edie

I also use an immersion blender. It makes the BEST sauce and juice. When cooking the tomatoes, I don't add water - I add a can of tomato juice (Red Gold is best). Less water separation at the top and for sauce, it cooks down faster.

I've been making my own sauce for years and never take the skin off nor discard the seeds. I cook the sauce to the degree I want it then put it through my blender and voila', seeds and skins are chopped right into the sauce. I think this is a more healthy alternative to taking the skin off plus, I'm lazy. Time doing that is time taken way from my quilting :-)

Its also called a food mill. I have one and it works great. My set looks just like this one:

https://www.lehmans.com/p-3101-alumi...food-mill.aspx

I love my food mill. Once I go through the tomatoes with the immersion blender, making it into almost a sauce, I run it through the food mill and all that's left are the seeds and maybe a few stubborn skins.

Tomato seeds can be an irritant, very painful, for those who have intestinal difficulties.....along with cucumber seeds, nuts, etc.........

The seeds are bad for people who have Diverticulitis also. My mom had that before she passed last July.

I'm not crazy about the seeds, either, though I don't make a lot of sauce myself. We like our sauce chunky so I don't blend or strain. Either the hot or freeze method sound good to get rid of the skins which aren't always pleasant to the tongue.

I would quarter, put them in the oven to cook down to desired consistency and then freeze. Run through a colander. EASY (lazy) way to do them and no sticking/scorching. Stir once or twice near the end.

this is what I use too. for apples etc also for making applesauce! love it

I'm with you craftygater.

Lots of good things here, ladies. Thanks!! The sauce was very good, we all liked it. I froze one small container of it to try later and make sure we like it after having been frozen.

ok I know of only one reason to remove the seeds that might make a difference for some people and that is if they have ever had dy-per-ti-cu-li-tous. I know this isn't spelled right but you pronounce it like it looks.

This is where the seeds get caught in the intestinal tract and form pul-ups. again I can't spell! These pulups would get infected to the point that they had to be surgically removed. My MIL had to have several operations done on her to remove these and they always told us that they were from the seeds in the tomatoes that didn't pass through her system. So if you have intestinal problems then I think the removal of the seeds are necessary.

Seeds are very wet with that slimy stuff and it will make the sauce thinner and change the flavor a bit. I just squeeze the seeds out.

If you blanch the tomatoes the skin will peel right off with little work.

Have fun cooking up some sauce!
peace

Also some people with colitis can not eat seeds of any kind.

Yes! they certainly can be an irritant. With diverticular problems I avoid painful inflammation by tomatoes by peeling and removing seeds from Roma tomatoes (also eat only Romaine lettuce).

Some upscale restaurants save all the seeds and "slimy" stuff and call it tomato caviar. Serve a dollop on top of an individual salad.

An olde trick of my DGM, Use a large double pan with the drain holes in the second pan, fill pan two thirds with water, and bring to boil. Put tomatoes into boiling water for three minutes and then immediately run cold water over the tomatoes and they will peel like skin off of butter.

Also works with peaches, nectarines., and similarly skinned veggies and fruits. Sometimes, I just run my knife over the tomato, then it will peel just fine. Love bacon and tomato sandwiches.

We bought a sqeeze-o off of the internet and DH will run my cooked pan of tomatoes through it, and it makes for quick canning. No need to core, peel, or take the seeds out, (just any bad spot) and it saves all the jucie of the tomato.

The seeds will leave hard bumps in your sauce, and the skins are kind of cellophane texture if left on. If you will cut a small X on the bottom of your tomato, drop them in boiling water for about 30 seconds, then into an ice bath, the skins will slide right off.. You could also use what is known as a China Cap to sieve the tomatoes and get the seeds out. Hope this helps

An easy way to peel tomatoes (and peaches too) is to drop them whole in a pot of boiling water and leave them there for about a minute. As soon as you see the peel split on a tomato take them out and put in a bowl of cold water. The peels just slide right off. I have never messed with removing seeds for any recipe.

I've had mine for 40+ years.... it still works great.