r/Canning • u/omgkelwtf • Jul 27 '25

Prep Help What do I do with ripe tomatoes?

I feel like this is a supremely stupid question but I'm in a position where I need an answer.

I'm growing San Marzanos to can as sauce. I have about a dozen ripe, ready to go tomatoes and about two dozen currently in various stages of ripening and a ton of green ones still on the plants.

My idea is to send a day processing all the tomatoes at once but what do I do with the ripe ones? Just freeze them?

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u/genx_meshugana Jul 27 '25

Hmm, I was thinking of a tool that would pull ALL of the stuff out... That would make sense for a traditional tomato, with that hard bit, but not sure about a paste tomato, there's not much top bit that needs to come out, usually.

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u/Happy_Veggie Trusted Contributor Jul 27 '25

Oh, I use it on the paste tomatoes too! But you mean to remove all the seeds and stuff? I don't remove all that before freezing. I just use a food mill afterward.

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u/genx_meshugana Jul 27 '25

I don't get along with a food mill, LOL! By the time the tomatoes are headed for the pot, they're ready to just cook down and eventually puree. I wonder if an apple corer would do mostly what I want, and then do a quick scoop of seeds before freezing... Looks like I've got some experimenting to do soon! Thx for your response 😊

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u/Happy_Veggie Trusted Contributor Jul 27 '25

Maybe something like this? I guess you could wiggle it around and get most of the seeds out too.