Tomatoes thrive in warm weather, so their peak season is during the summer. If you have access to a farmers market or home garden, that’s your best bet for finding the best tomatoes—juicier, sweeter, and more nutrient-rich than store-bought. Tomatoes grown in healthy soil tend to have more vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, and locally sourced tomatoes are typically vine ripened, picked at peak ripeness for flavor and texture.
In contrast, grocery store tomatoes are often harvested underripe to prolong shelf life and withstand transport. These fruits are then exposed to ethylene gas to ripen tomatoes, which can leave them tasting mealy or mushy. In fact, studies have scientifically confirmed that tomato contents are altered when fruits are ripened off-the-vine, impacting their palatable properties, meaning they won’t taste as good! If farm fresh is not an option, you can find tomatoes year-round at any grocery store. Store-bought tomatoes are also a healthy choice, though nothing compares to the flavor of a fresh, ripe tomato! When fresh tomatoes are not available, canned (crushed, diced, or whole) and tomato products such as sauce and paste are great options to provide that tomato taste.
When choosing tomatoes, look for fruits that feel heavy for their size (a sign of a juicier tomato), are firm but slightly yielding, and have even, vibrant coloring. Avoid overripe, bruised, or blemished fruit, and always check for a fragrant smell near the stem. A good tomato will also have a smooth skin with no cracks or dark spots. Tomatoes that are purchased “on-the-vine” likely ripened naturally on the vine and will taste better. Also, check where the tomatoes were grown – the farther away from your home, the less fresh (and tasty) the fruit will taste. Choose locally grown whenever possible. Whether you’re buying cherry tomatoes, roma, beefsteak tomatoes, or heirloom tomatoes, the same rules apply. You want to pick the best tomatoes for all of your fave recipes – be it caprese or tomato salad, salsa, or pasta sauce.
When you bring your tomatoes home, avoid refrigeration unless they are fully ripe. The best storage method is to store tomatoes at room temperature on the countertop, out of direct sunlight. Place them stem-side down (or upside down) to keep them from rotting too quickly. To ripen tomatoes faster, store them in a paper bag at room temperature and add an apple to speed things up. Apples give off ethylene gas, a natural hormone that promotes ripening. Yes, this really does work! Use tomatoes immediately when ripe as fruit stored in the cold (refrigerated tomatoes) may lose flavor and texture, though ripe tomatoes will keep longer if stored in the refrigerator.
If you find yourself with a surplus of tomatoes, you can preserve them in any one of a number of ways. Tomatoes can be canned (whole, halved, chopped, crushed or stewed). For the most part, tomatoes are acidic enough to process in a water bath rather than a pressure cooker as required by most vegetables. Alternatively, you can preserve freshly prepared tomato paste, sauce, juice, tomato jam or salsa. You can also prepare “sun-dried” tomatoes in a dehydrator or oven. Overall, the easiest option is probably to freeze tomatoes. To do this simply wash tomatoes, then blanch for 30 to 60 seconds in boiling water, dip quickly in cold water and slip off skins if desired (but remember – they do contain fiber and phytonutrients), and core. At this point you can freeze whole tomatoes or cut tomato into pieces before packaging in freezer-safe containers. If leaving the skin on, you can freeze tomatoes without the blanching step. The skins should slip off easily when thawing. Other tomato products like paste and sauce can be packaged into freezer safe containers and frozen as is once prepared. Alternatively, you can try fermenting tomatoes in whole form or prepare other fermented products such as ketchup. Fermentation combines all the nutrition in this veggie with the amazing health benefits associated with fermentation—bonus!
With all these options, you can enjoy the flavor of every type of tomato year-round—whether fresh from your home garden or straight from the farmers market.
Shop Like a Pro
If you’re looking for tips on how to shop, select and store other foods check out these posts!
