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Tomatoes can be frozen, but they lose their flavor in the process. You can read here what you should pay attention to and when it makes sense to freeze tomatoes.

Freezing tomatoes: Only good quality, please

Tomatoes are wonderfully aromatic and a real treat in summer. If you have too many tomatoes, you can freeze them so they don’t break. Here, however, it is important that the tomatoes are not soft and have no rotten spots or bruises. You should also remove the green stalk.

Of course, it only makes sense to freeze tomatoes if you really can’t process them fresh. Because when they freeze, they lose their aroma – after defrosting, you can no longer eat them raw, for example in a salad, but should cook them. It is ideal if you process them into a tomato sauce, for example.

Three ways to freeze tomatoes

You now have several options for freezing tomatoes:

fresh and freeze whole
Freeze cut into small pieces
pureed (and seasoned) and freeze as a sauce
tomatoes in one piece

If you freeze the tomatoes whole, you should remove the skin first. During the freezing process, the water in the fruit expands and the tomato can burst. You can easily remove the skin by blanching the tomatoes briefly and then carefully peeling off the skin. (More info: Peeling and skinning tomatoes: easily with a simple trick)
Place the round tomatoes, which are still whole, on a small baking sheet or similar surface (e.g. cutting board) and place in the freezer.
As soon as they are frozen, take out the pads and put the tomatoes in a cotton bag, for example, and put them back in the freezer.
Sliced ​​Tomatoes

For the diced version, you don’t need to skin the tomatoes because slicing them gives them room to expand.
Dice the tomatoes, remove the core and place in a mason jar.
After the small pieces of tomato have thawed, they are particularly good for pizza toppings or sauces that you don’t want to have a completely smooth puree.
Pureed tomatoes

The easiest way to freeze tomatoes is to freeze them already pureed and ideally seasoned.
For example, you can use the plastic-free method with ice cube trays.
In addition, if it has to be quick, you have a ready-made tomato sauce immediately.
So prepare the tomatoes according to your favorite recipe, let them cool and then freeze them. Alternatively, you can cook them without spices and freeze them.

It’s not just a myth that the green tomato stalk is poisonous. In this article you will find out why you should cut it off and not eat it.

Whether in a salad, in a casserole or simply on its own, the tomato is an indispensable ingredient. In this article you will find out why you should not eat the green tomato stalk.

Solanine in the tomato stalk

The tomato consists of 95 percent water and is therefore very low in calories. It is rich in vitamins A, B1, C and E and contains important minerals such as potassium, magnesium and calcium.

The green tomato stalk contains the toxic substance solanine in the base of the stalk. It is also contained in unripe, still green tomatoes. The riper the tomatoes are, the lower their solanine content, according to the German Green Cross. The toxin tastes bitter and, as the German Green Cross explains, is neither destroyed by heat nor broken down by human digestive enzymes.

Symptoms of poisoning appear from an intake of about 220 milligrams of solanine. Digestive disorders such as gastrointestinal discomfort and breathing problems are symptoms of mild solanine poisoning. Higher doses can cause nausea, vomiting, and hallucinations.

How toxic is the tomato stalk?

However, the tomato stem contains a very small amount of solanine. Even mild poisoning from eating a normal amount of tomatoes is unlikely. Nevertheless, experts recommend cutting off the stem and not eating it.

Not only tomatoes contain the toxin solanine, but also other foods such as raw potatoes or raw eggplant.

However, it is a myth that the tomato stalk is carcinogenic. There is no scientific evidence for this.