Homestead Secret: Store tomatoes in a cast iron or metal pot and they
will stay fresh and firm much longer.
Easy Salsa Recipe
Best Recipe for Salsa
No Cooking Required
Salsa is made with
tomatoes, hot peppers, onions, parsley, cilantro, with salt and sugar to
taste. Cut everything up fine, a food
processor works well here. To freeze
this recipe, make sure to put it first in a sieve to remove the moisture and
enhance the final texture. Super easy and delicious!
Easy Tomato Sauce
Recipe
Best Recipe for Spaghetti Sauce
Tomato sauce is an excellent dish for using dried herbs
as spices. Put ¼ cup of olive oil in
bottom of large pot and cook at medium high heat. Add tomatoes and/or onions, celery, zucchini,
peppers, and a tablespoon of sugar, a sprinkle of salt, and if lucky a few bay
leaves. Stir vigorously. When vegetables are warm, put lid on pot and
turn down to one quarter heat. Simmer
until all vegetables are soft then remove lid.
Continue to cook until desired texture is achieved, the longer the
thicker the sauce. When the sauce is
ready add oregano and/or parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme and basil then salt to
taste. Some years there weren’t enough
tomatoes to make enough sauce for the winter.
No one noticed a different when some tomatoes were with plums, apples and
pears.
Tomato sauce freezes well, Let cool to room temperature, spoon into
freezer bags and freeze. Score the bags for so smaller portions can be used for omelets and soups. Lay
bags flat in freezer to save space.
Cooking Tip: As
the sauce reduces the saltiness becomes more intense, so don't adjust the salt
until the end. Do not put the hot sauce
in the fridge to cool, the flavor sours (in a bad way) when you do. (This is true for soups and leftovers too.)
Growing Tomatoes is Easy
A family will easily use the tomatoes plants from
three or four plants per person.
Buy your first plants. When
planting bury three quarters of the plant underground. Put egg shells, banana peels, coffee grinds, and fish fertilizer in with the plant
The spot should not get any shade during the day. Plant just before the full moon in June. If planted in pots, one tomato plant per pot.
Tomatoes need an even amount of water on a
regular basis, more rigidly than any other food plant. Production can be ruined if this plant is
repeatedly allowed to dry out before watering.
Tomato plants, the
stems and leaves, are poisonous!
Green tomatoes are
excellent eating however. Slice them,
dip them in flour, fry them over medium heat in olive oil until brown. Then sprinkle with salt, pepper and sugar and
serve, awesome!
It takes 3 months growing for tomatoes to grow ripe enough to eat. In the fall before the frost pick
all the tomatoes, ripe or not, and bring them in the house. Over the next six weeks as the tomatoes will
ripen you will be able to utilize them.
Seed can be
collected from the ripest tomatoes. Put the pulp of your best tomato in water for
three days, stir daily, drain, and dry to save.
It never hurts to slightly bury one of your best tomatoes in the garden
to see if it will sprout in spring.
Want to know about another vegetable?
Use the search engine to the right.
Peace
