CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
1
My local grocer has one of my favorite tomato types for making roasted tomato soup (Campari(*)) at BOGO, ending today. I’ve signed up to make a couple of dinners for a family going through some tough times and plan one dinner to be roasted tomato soup and cheesy garlic bread.
But my dates are mid-late next week and the tomatoes bought today would surely not be in great shape by then.
If I freeze them, I understand they’ll get mushy but that should be fine for soup. But will freezing affect/degrade the nice, vibrant flavor these normally have?
Not really on the title topic, but if you have suggestions for a better side than the cheesy garlic bread, I’d be happy to hear them. The only real parameter is that the food should be ready to go other than heating.
Thanks much.
(*) I also mix in other tomatoes to reduce the sweet a bit, but Campari are the only ones with a price point that makes me avoid them unless a good sale.
You must have a BIG freezer😂. Soup is a massive space hog in mine. I was thinking about space constraints. The roasted tomatoes would probably take up less room than fresh ones.
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CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
5
Good ideas all. Maybe I will roast first, just to reduce the volume some. Do you (@Meekah) think that might help preserve flavor some?
It’s a family of 6 (and the kids are all big, 16-22) so I’m planning to make about a gallon, that way they’ll have leftovers for a lunch during the week. Right now my freezers are too full to handle that. I need to stop binge-buying stuff.
I’ve frozen roasted vegetables before, and the flavor held up fine. I think the roasting, by removing some water content, naturally concentrates the flavor. Someone can correct me in this if I’m wrong.
Every summer I freeze tomatoes for making tomato beef chow mein in the fall and winter. I don’t know if the flavor suffers, but I do know that even after freezing my home grown tomatoes, they taste better than store-bought tomatoes purchased in December, at least in TBCM. Spawn 2 says that TBCM is a taste of summer, even in the depths of winter.
The straightforward answer to your question is yes, freezing will kill the flavor of tomatoes. This story from a few years ago goes into that even putting them in the fridge will kill the flavor.
However, the tomatoes were already likely to have been transported and held in cold storage so practically speaking I think you will be fine especially since they’re for soup and not salad. If these were end of summer vine ripened tomatoes, the only proper thing to do is eat them raw.
FWIW, I typically roast fresh tomatoes before freezing, because they keep well and I like the flavor of roasted tomatoes. I do find the process sweetens them quite a bit, however. Even canned tomatoes do not seem as bright to me after being cooked for several hours. When I am looking to make a particularly bright sauce or soup, I do not use roasted tomatoes.
Freezing tomatoes can certainly affect their texture, as they tend to become mushy once thawed. However, when it comes to making roasted tomato soup, this change in texture shouldn’t be a major concern since the tomatoes will be cooked down anyway. The flavor of the tomatoes might be slightly altered after freezing, but it shouldn’t have a significant impact on the overall taste of your soup. So, freezing the tomatoes should still allow you to make a delicious roasted tomato soup for the family you’re cooking for.
As for a side dish suggestion, if you’re looking for something ready to go other than heating, you might consider a simple mixed green salad with a light vinaigrette dressing. It complements the flavors of tomato soup well and provides a refreshing contrast. Alternatively, you could also go for a crusty French baguette or some freshly baked dinner rolls as an alternative to the cheesy garlic bread.
Remember, the most important thing is to provide a comforting and nourishing meal for the family in need, and your thoughtful efforts will surely be appreciated.
" . . . a bright sauce . . . "
when tomatoes are locally in season and at their peak, I quarter them and cook them down…seeds peels included…to stewed tomato “consistency” - some with onion & sweet green pepper - some without.
if cooked too long you get that “ketchuppy” taste.
as the season progresses, I buy “canners” from local farm stands - canners are the uglies of fresh local tomato - bruised, holes, mis-shapen, etc. - but $4 per bushel - which is a lot of tomatoes…
I freeze the stewed ‘product’ in quart bags - which is just the right qty for a pizza or a ‘side for two.’
I consume only home made pizza - and the ‘fresh sauce’ is the star of the pie…
my ‘secret’ to a incredibly fresh tomato sauce for pizza and other pasta is to ‘mechanically’ de-water the (thawed) stewed product, use a stick blender to get the “mashed” consistency you want, add back/use (some) of the reserved ‘juice’ from de-watering to adjust the pour consistency.
{{{ mechanically de-water = geekspeak for draining in a sieve / strainer }}}
the results are ‘wow - that’s not tomato sauce, nor tomato paste - it’s mashed tomatoes!’
I oven-dry cherry tomatoes in the summer before freezing them, which both reduces their volume and concentrates their flavor. Roasting tomatoes with a bit of olive oil ought to do the same.
