My friends, I need advice regarding my cherry tomatoes.

[Paper Roses]

For Christmas last year, my kids gave me an above ground garden(love it). I planted Big boy tomatoes, green beans and Romaine,
The tomatoes did not do well.
Beans and lettuce great.
This year, I decided to plant cherry tomatoes. Wow, I must have 1000 tomatoes, I have already given away a big bunch of them but I'd like to freeze them as this progresses.

I know how to blanch and peel them. Do I remove the seeds? I used to do the seed removal on the bigger ones l but don't really know how to handle these tiny tomatoes. Do I just blanch and freeze or squeeze the seeds out before freezing.
I make all kinds of soups, stews etc w/tomatoes but am not sure about the seeds in the cherry tomatoes. Will there be anything else left if I remove the seeds?

Next year, I think I'll try another big tomato. What the heck am I going to do with about 1000 cherry tomatoes except eat a few and prepare the rest to freeze. The seeds are the real question.

Any advice will be appreciated. My kitchen counter in now covered with about 100 of them. I have to do something with these today before the next batch..probably in 2 days. The plants look great and I know I'll have hundreds more. Help!
Thanks, PR

[northoftheborder]

1. I have frozen and oven roasted excess cherry tomatoes.

To me, only the skins need to come off, as they are tough; I haven't worried about the seeds, they don't seem to be noticed after processing.

[The Wizard]

2. Make roasted tomato soup

and freeze it. We do it every year with excess tomatoes.

[luvs2sing]

3. I love to dry cherry tomatoes.

Cut them in half, sprinkle with a little olive oil and salt and roast them till they look dehydrated. They are a delicious snack!

[RazzleCat]

4. your going to grow basil also

Then you will do a few different things with them. first off you can make a great meal very quickly.
you need cherry tomatoes, basil, and garlic

slice tomato's, toss in pan with olive oil and fry gently for a while, then toss in some chopped garlic, continue to fry till fragrant, last toss in basil, toss in your cooked al dent pasta and if you wish some fat to make a creamy base (sour cream, ricotta etc) or not. Quick yummy dinner.

slice/dice tomato's, add in basil or oregano, then either feta or fresh mozzarella, and as always garlic. Serve on toast aka you have a couple of different forms of bruschetta. (Greek or Italian)

if you like red meat. slice you cherry tomato's, and marinate them in some Worcestershire and a dash of oil. Serve over your meat.

back to pasta, use some mushrooms, those cherry tomato's garlic, red pepper flakes and pesto, tastier pesto pasta.

honestly you can use them anyplace excluding BLT's you would use a regular tomato on they are many times easier to prep, quicker to cook and sweeter.

[NJCher]

12. great suggestions

and regarding this:

honestly you can use them anyplace excluding BLT's you would use a regular tomato on they are many times easier to prep, quicker to cook and sweeter.

I will sometimes make a bacon lettuce sandwich and have the cherry tomatoes on the side. Have a cherry tomato with each bite of the sandwich. It actually works pretty good because the tomato doesn't make the sandwich bread soggy, nor does it drip when eaten.

[Freddie]

5. Marguerita pizza

Had this simple thing in a restaurant once and want to try at home. Buy a flatbread, add mozzarella, a little diced garlic, a little olive oil, fresh basil and cherry tomatoes. Bake at a high temp until the tomatoes pop. Was absolutely divine.

[Backseat Driver]

6. Last year, I threw my excess cherry tomatos in with the Romas for sauce

in Dutch oven pot, add a small amt of water and washed whole tomatoes without green stems, skin and all; fill to about 3/4 of the pot. Mush up with old fashioned potato masher as they heat up in the pot and bring fully mashed tomatoes just to boiling then turn down to simmer slowly while partially covered to reduce liquids released by the tomatoes by at least 1/3 to 1/2; put ladles of cooked tomatoes into a high-speed blender and puree until smooth; not too many ladles of the hot stuff though to allow for the increased volume due to incorporated air. Carefully put into freezer bags; fill about 1/2 to 2/3 of any size bag, zip or squeeze sealing and remove any larger air bubbles and excess air by reopening a corner or inserting a straw - You want to empty as much air as possible. Place the bags into plastic containers just to shape them as they freeze. (I use the nice sturdy ones I get from take-home Chinese dinners) and flatten the bag contents by slowly rolling the bag to fit into the container so the sauce bag lays flat within the container. Use a Sharpie to label with contents and date; place in freezer until solid. Then one can stack frozen bags of sauce; I use both gallon and quart size bags depending on its proposed use. I never found the seeds to add bitterness; the cherry tomatoes seemed to add sweetness; I spice the sauce and/or use salt and pepper when I use the thawed sauce as sauces for example topping off meatloaf or stuffed peppers/cabbages or using the larger bags in one's favorite soup/Italian pasta dish/chili.

A bit different than what I do, but I'm impatient and also prefer to season at time of use, LOL! Here's a recipe I have not tested that one can use just w/cherry tomatos

https://leitesculinaria.com/76629/recipes-freezer-tomato-sauce.html?utm_campaign=yummly&utm_medium=yummly&utm_source=yummly

Got enough tomatoes last year for about six uses in chili and several quart bags for smaller uses from 6 Roma plants and 2 Cherry tomato plants - My garden is the North 40 inches--very small; two 4' x 8' areas in front of the A/C units between my and neighbors' townhouses. Won't get that much sauce this year; tomatoes don't fruit when subjected to temps over 90 degrees. They are just beginning to ripen. However, it sure is satisfying to eat what one grows in the depths of winter.

I've also made freezer pickles from an actual on-line recipe - came out delicious!
https://www.food.com/recipe/crisp-cucumber-freezer-pickles-9458

[Paper Roses]

7. Hi everyone, thanks for your hints. BTW, I grow Basil BUT:

Something that I cannot see is chewing the leaves. I have never seen a bug or slug. Don't know how to treat this.
On one FB page, it suggested I pull them, roots and all and place in a jar on the window sill and they will grow without any problems. Do you have a basil-chewer? What do you do?

[Backseat Driver]

9. No good deed goes unpunished...I send recipes and, sure enough, see above

for what happened to my basil today. A two-legged goggled masked leaf shredder, may he drink Sevin, weedwhacked all my favorite aromatic herbs down to the ground - all of them!

[NJCher]

13. all-purpose solution

Put flour in a shaker-type jar with good-sized holes in it. First shake your leaves to disturb the pests. Then shake with the flour over the leaves. Let it sit for a couple days and then brush or wash off the flour.

[OregonBlue]

8. I freeze them whole on a cookie sheet and then pack in zip lock bags. When ready to use

I take out a bag and drip them in a pot of boiling water in a strainer for a few seconds. Because they are so cold, the skins burst immediately and fall right off. I can them just pluck them out of the strainer and add to my pasta sauce or whatever. If you do this quickly and the tomateos are still frozen, they fall apart in the pot and you don't even have to mash them or anything. Easy Peasy.

[Vinca]

10. I could have written your post. I'm swamped with little Sungold tomatoes.

They're my favorite cherry tomato, but I'm drowning in them. Usually I become the tomato fairy and take big bowls of them to the antique shop where I sell and leave them on the counter for the customers to munch. They love them. This year, because of Covid, I obviously can't do that. Guess I'll have to round them all up today, throw some basil and olive oil on them and roast them for soup.

[wiggs]

11. spectacular tomato year. For cherries I've made this Vermouth/Tomato sauce

three times. Really good stuff with variety of uses. More tomatoes, more vermouth, less sugar, a little bit of balsamic is how I tweak it.

https://food52.com/recipes/13902-baked-ricotta-and-goat-cheese-with-candied-tomatoes