How to peel tomatoes. How to peel tomatoes How to peel tomatoes using boiling water

Some recipes call for using only tomato pulp. It happens that people only eat tomatoes without the peel. If it is necessary to remove seeds and skins from tomatoes, even an experienced housewife can become confused. Let's take a closer look at the popular methods of cleaning tomatoes to determine which one is suitable for the situation.

Criteria for choosing a tomato cleaning method

quantity of vegetables - over one kilogram of tomatoes is more convenient to peel in batches using heat treatment;

degree of ripeness - the peel of unripe tomatoes is worse, and it is more difficult to separate it with a knife;

The purpose of peeling tomatoes is the need to preserve the shape of vegetables, for example in a salad, requires careful peeling. Whereas tomatoes, peeled in any way, are suitable for making ketchup.

Peeling using boiling water

This method is suitable if you quickly need to peel several tomatoes. Algorithm of actions:

Wash the vegetables and cut their peel crosswise in the part opposite the stalk. Try not to touch the flesh too much.

Place the tomatoes in a bowl and place it in the sink.

Bring the water in the kettle to a boil. The kettle is convenient to use due to its spout and the ability to pour water with one hand.

Direct a stream of boiling water onto the tomatoes in the sink, holding each vegetable for at least ten seconds.

Separate the skin from the tomato; if this is difficult to do, pour boiling water over it again.

The peduncle is the part of the plant that connects the fruit to the stem.

The peel of tomatoes scalded by this method comes off well, but unevenly. You can do it in another way:

Make 1-2 cross-shaped cuts on the washed tomatoes, without catching the pulp.

Fill a bowl with boiling water and place a few vegetables in it so that they float freely in the container.

After 25-30 seconds, remove the tomatoes with the skin curled up at the edges of the cuts. If the skin does not peel well due to insufficient ripeness of the vegetable, you can leave it for another half a minute. It is not recommended to cook longer, as the tomatoes will start to cook.

Place the tomatoes removed from boiling water into ice water for 10–15 seconds. Vegetables left in the cold longer than this time will become tasteless. Then you need to drain the liquid and start peeling the tomatoes with the blunt side of a knife.

The temperature contrast will make it easier to separate the skins from the tomatoes.

Peeling Tomatoes in the Microwave

To peel tomatoes using the microwave, you need the following:

Wash the tomatoes and let them dry.

Score the skin along the sides, starting and ending an inch from the stem, and place the vegetables on a flat-bottomed plate.

Place the tomatoes in the microwave for 30 seconds at 600–700 power.

Tear off the remaining flaps of skin.

It is important to follow the recommended exposure time to high temperatures. Otherwise, the tomatoes may burn or release juice earlier than necessary. You cannot place vegetables in the oven for additional time. If half a minute in the microwave is not enough to easily separate the tomato skin, it is better to help peel it with the blunt side of a knife.

You need to put tomatoes in the microwave on a dish without sides, then the liquid from the peel will evaporate faster and it will be easier to peel the tomato

Vegetables grown in open ground, are peeled better than greenhouse varieties. But if you wish, you can remove the skin from those ripened in the greenhouse, but you will have to spend more effort.

Separating tomato peels using a gas torch

In the absence of burners in the house, you can use a gas burner or a fire (outdoors). The main thing is that the fire is open, and not contact, as in electric furnaces. This method of peeling is inconvenient because you have to process each tomato separately. We will need:

serving fork - a kitchen utensil with two long teeth and a handle - or a regular one, but with a heat-resistant handle;

safe source of fire;

tomatoes;

Despite the name, these forks are not used for eating, but for setting the table or used in cooking.

Procedure:

Wash the tomatoes.

Place one tomato on a fork.

Hold the vegetable over the heat for 20-30 seconds, rotating to ensure even heating.

As soon as the skin wrinkles, remove the tomato from the heat and begin to separate the peel with a knife - its dull part.

In this method, it is important not to get burned, and the skin will be removed without problems.

Another option is to peel off the peel using steam:

Boil water in a special double boiler or pan with a metal insert with holes for steam to escape.

Place the washed and cut tomatoes in the steamer compartment or on the perforated insert.

If you only want to remove the skins but still want the vegetables to be raw, remove the tomatoes after 35 to 40 seconds.

Remove loose skin with the dull side of a knife.

Instead of a bulky steamer, some housewives use compact perforated attachments for pans

Peeling tomatoes with a knife without heat treatment

If you don’t have anything at hand other than a regular knife and a cutting board, you can use them to separate the peel:

Divide the tomato into quarters and carefully cut off the base of the stem from all the pieces.

Place the tomato quarters, flesh side up, and carefully begin scraping them from the skins on the board.

The method is labor-intensive and suitable for those who have a lot of free time and plans to further chop tomatoes. It is more convenient to use a knife with a curved blade and serrations.

Peeling with a tomato knife:

Wash the vegetable and let it dry.

Take a tomato in one hand and a knife in the other.

Pry the edge of the skin from the stalk and cut it off in a spiral without lifting the knife from the vegetable.

The limiter on the tomato peeling knife will prevent you from cutting off the skin thicker than necessary.

Video: a special tomato knife in action

How effective is a regular vegetable peeler?

Along with well-designed vegetable peelers, stores sell universal devices for peeling vegetables and fruits. This is what most housewives use. Vegetable peelers do their job, but the tomatoes then look unpresentable. In addition, blades that are not very sharp can touch the pulp and release juice.

It is better to peel seasonal vegetables using other methods, and vegetable peelers are more suitable for greenhouse tomatoes. To grow them, fertilizers are often used that accumulate under the skin. Tomatoes from your own garden can be eaten with their skins on, but store-bought tomatoes are best peeled. After all, you are unlikely to get a guarantee that they grew in soil without nitrates. A vegetable peeler will remove a layer with possible harmful substances.

A universal device peels any vegetables, if they are not overripe

Is it necessary to peel tomatoes before baking and cooking over an open fire?

Grilled and oven-baked vegetables remain whole or are cut into large pieces. Peeling them is not considered a requirement, but many recipes recommend peeling the tomatoes before cooking. During heat treatment, the skin can become tough and curl into spirals, spoiling the taste of the dish. The curled peel can also scratch the esophagus. If the recipe does not indicate that the tomato skin needs to be removed, use your discretion.

It is better to cook tomatoes over an open fire with their skins on, then the skin will turn black and peel off without much effort. It is advisable to peel vegetables cooked on the grill before eating.

The skin of tomatoes baked on skewers turns black from the grill, but is easy to peel

Peeling frozen tomatoes

When frozen, vegetable pulp changes its structure and becomes loose, but the skin remains tough. To remove it from tomatoes, you need to remove the required amount of tomatoes from the freezer and leave for 15–20 minutes at room temperature. After this time, the skin will easily separate from the tomatoes.

The second option for cleaning frozen tomatoes:

Boil the water.

Remove vegetables from freezer.

Throw the tomatoes into boiling water, and after 15-20 seconds, remove them with a slotted spoon.

Remove loose peels.

You need to act carefully so that when peeling you do not crush the defrosted tomato.

If a tomato takes too long to melt, it will lose its shape.

I have tried all of the above methods for peeling tomatoes. It seemed most convenient to do this using a microwave. After taking it out of the oven, I set the plate of tomatoes aside for a minute so that the vegetables cooled a little, and then peeled them off with my hands. Cleaning does not take much time and the risk of getting burned or cut tends to zero.

How to remove seeds from tomatoes

To remove seeds from a tomato, cut the vegetable into 2-4 pieces and remove the core from the fleshy part using a teaspoon or knife.

Tomato seeds are of no value; removing them does not affect the usefulness of the vegetable.

Decorating dishes with tomato peels

Housewives use tomato peels to decorate dishes. Fleshy varieties of tomatoes are suitable for this purpose, giving the decoration the desired volume.

Spiral rose:

Cut the peel on the side of the tomato opposite the base of the stalk, capturing some of the pulp.

Using a sharp knife, continue to remove the tomato skin in a spiral until you reach the stem. The peel strip should be the same width and thin for easy rolling.

Place the resulting spiral on the table with the beginning of the cut with the pulp facing down and twist the strip of peel into a flower.

You can use a toothpick to hold a tomato rose together, but the shape often holds even without devices that spoil the appearance.

A flower made from a strip of tomato peel will decorate any salad.

Tulips with filling:

Take an oblong tomato that is slightly underripe.

Remove the stem and cut the tomato into 6 parts, not reaching 1/3 of the base of the future flower.

Scoop out the pulp completely and set it aside.

Fill the tomato peel with the soft filling and place on a plate, adding herbs.

Peeled tomato skin will make an original serving of snacks

In combination with other vegetables, tomato peels serve as a decoration for children's dishes.

The desire to feed a child with healthy food awakens the imagination of parents, then an ordinary tomato peel becomes a ladybug

Peeling tomatoes is not difficult if you get the hang of it. Try several methods and use the one you find comfortable. Dishes made from tomato pulp, peeled and seeded, taste better.

The vast majority of recipes that include tomatoes require you to first remove the thick peel from the juicy vegetable. To facilitate the process, many approaches have been developed to peel ripe or slightly unripe tomatoes. In most cases, exposure to high temperatures is used, so you will have to act quickly. Any delay will negatively affect not only the physical condition of the pulp, but will also deprive it of many useful components.

Professional chefs consider baking tomatoes in the oven to be the best option. This allows you to preserve a maximum of vitamins and microelements in them, while making it easier to remove the skin.

If time does not allow you to wait long, you can resort to one of the high-speed methods: treatment with boiling water, heating over a fire, or mechanical cleaning.

How to properly use boiling water when peeling tomatoes?

To peel tomatoes in a few seconds and in large quantities at once, you need to prepare two bowls - one with boiling water and one with ice water (even adding a few ice cubes is allowed). The manipulation is carried out according to the following scheme:

We make small cross-shaped cuts on both sides of the tomatoes with a very sharp knife. You only need to use the skin, being careful not to damage the flesh.
Place the vegetables in a container with boiling water and leave for 20-30 seconds. If the products are not very ripe, then the holding time can be increased to a minute, then they will begin to cook.

Tip: It is recommended to lay out the tomatoes rather than pour them hot water. Scalded fruits will peel off the skin much faster, but during subsequent cleaning it will come off unevenly, which will greatly complicate the processing process.

As soon as the cut edges of the skin are wrapped, we take out the fruits. Then we transfer them to ice water for just a few seconds.
We drain the liquid and begin to remove the skin. Leave vegetables in cold water it's impossible, their taste properties and the texture will change.

If all stages of manipulation were carried out correctly, then the skin can be easily removed with the blunt side of a knife. If difficulties arise with cleaning, the procedure can be repeated.

Gas and microwave options

If desired, you can do without boiling water, but again using high temperatures. If you need to peel a small amount of tomatoes, an open fire or microwave will help.

Cleaning using a gas torch. This approach allows you to remove the skin from a tomato quite quickly, but you will have to work with each vegetable separately. We take the fruit, wash it in cold water and dry it. We thread the product onto a fork with the side with the stem on it; it should hold very tightly. Turn on the smallest burner and place a tomato over it at a distance of a couple of centimeters from the fire. We rotate it slowly, ensuring uniform heating on all sides; manipulation should not take more than 20-30 seconds. After the specified time, the skin should become covered with blisters, which means it can be removed after cooling the product.
Microwave cleaning. Wash the tomatoes in cool water and dry thoroughly. We make small cuts on each vegetable, process the poles and even the sides. Then we lay out the preparations on a plate with a flat bottom, which we place in the microwave. Set the heating mode for 30 seconds and wait for the result. During this time, the skin will have time to heat up, and it will begin to lag behind the pulp. All that remains is to clean the product from its flaps.

When using these options, you must strictly observe the holding time, otherwise the products may burn, juice will leak, and the pulp will begin to break down. If after the first approach it was not possible to carefully remove the skin, it is better not to repeat the heating, but to immediately begin peeling the vegetable with a dull knife.

Peeling tomatoes with a knife

This technique is not used very often, and only when working with very ripe tomatoes. But it allows you to clean the fruit without exposure to high temperatures and fully preserve its benefits. Processing will be carried out individually, but first it is recommended to rinse, dry and cut all products into four parts. Next, take one tomato slice at a time, grab the edge of the skin with a blunt knife and gently pull, removing the flaps. If the tomato is ripe, the skin will come off without problems, but in some cases it will have to be trimmed.

If the product is not very ripe, then another technique will be more suitable. Place the quarters on a cutting board, skin side down, take a very sharp knife and begin cutting out the flesh, bringing the blade as close to the skin as possible. You should not peel a tomato like a potato; this arrangement of the tool and product will allow you to preserve the pulp as much as possible.

In addition, there is a special knife for peeling tomatoes, although it will take a lot of work to master the relevant skills. A regular vegetable peeler will only spoil the product by cutting off too much pulp from its surface and releasing juice.

Tomatoes are a popular vegetable that is often used in culinary recipes. Depending on the cooking method, it is important to process them correctly. Options such as washing, cutting, and removing seeds are not difficult to deal with. However, not everyone knows how to peel a tomato.

In this article we will look at the most popular and simple ways to peel tomatoes, and also tell you what can be prepared from them.

Peeling tomatoes before preparing soups, stews, lecho, sauces, and preservation allows you to give a more appetizing appearance to the dish, since after heat treatment the skin peels off and rolls off. In addition, the skin is difficult to digest and is undesirable for consumption, especially for elderly people and children.

Do I need to peel tomatoes before eating them?

Tomatoes are vegetables high in vitamins and nutrients. Useful properties found both in the seeds and in the skin. But due to the content in the skin large quantity insoluble fiber and cellulose, its consumption should be limited, and in case of gastrointestinal diseases it is even contraindicated.

It is advisable not to give unpeeled tomatoes to small children because the skin of tomatoes is thin and tough - a child can choke on it. If there are no medical contraindications, tomatoes can be consumed with the skin.

Reference! Tomatoes contain a lot of serotonin, the hormone of happiness, so the vegetable is considered a natural antidepressant.

Methods for cleaning tomatoes

There are many ways to peel tomatoes. In some cases it will be necessary kitchen appliances, in others you can get by with simple tools. But they are all quite simple and accessible to everyone.

Peeling tomatoes by hand

You can use a special knife to peel vegetables, but you need to take into account that it also removes part of the tomato pulp, which will have an adverse effect on the product: if it is ripe, juice will flow. An ordinary kitchen knife must be sharpened well before the procedure. When cutting the skin, control the pressure, avoiding squeezing the tomato.

This is a simple and quick way to peel several vegetables, but for canning, when you need to peel a lot of fruit, it is quite labor-intensive.

Using fire

Helps remove skin gas stove. To do this you need:

Wash the tomato and place it in cold water.
Dry and thread onto a fork.
Turn on the stove to maximum heat.
Hold the tomato over the heat for 15 seconds, constantly rotating.
Assess the condition of the skin - it should burst.
Remove the skin.

For this method, it is better to choose large and unripe fruits.

Important! There should be no light veins in cut tomatoes. Once you find them, place the tomato in ice water for at least an hour, and only then eat the vegetable.

Using a microwave

By using microwave oven You can quickly and easily peel tomatoes, the main thing is to strictly follow the instructions:

Peel the vegetable and wipe with a paper towel.
Make longitudinal cuts.
Place the tomatoes in a flat dish and place in the microwave.
Turn on maximum power for 40 seconds.
Open the oven - the skin should come away from the vegetable on its own.

If peeling fails, remove any remaining skin using a kitchen knife. Repeated heating may spoil the pulp.

Blanching

Blanching is a method of heat treatment of products using steam or boiling water. This method allows you to preserve the color of the tomato.

Processing technology:

Heat water in a saucepan.
Wash the tomatoes and make cuts in the stem area.
Place in a sieve and blanch for 30 seconds.
Remove and plunge into ice water for 5 seconds.
Remove the skin from the tomato.

Cleaning should occur immediately while the tomatoes are warm. Using steam instead of boiling water, vary the processing time. Steam is gentler, so you need to scald the tomatoes for at least a minute.

Using boiling water

This is the most common method of peeling tomatoes. It is widely used due to its ability to process large quantities of tomatoes.

Processing technology:

Heat water to 100°C.
Wash the tomatoes, make cuts and place in a bowl.
Scald with boiling water and leave for 30 seconds.
Remove and rinse with running water.
Remove the skin with the back of a knife.

If the vegetables are poorly peeled, repeat the procedure again, reducing the time in boiling water to 15 seconds.

Baking

The oven is a great helper in the kitchen. It is used not only to prepare dishes, but also to peel vegetables.

Processing technology:

Wash the vegetables, dry with a paper towel, cut at the base.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Place vegetables on a sheet.
Place in the oven for 3 minutes.
Use the back of a knife to peel the hot fruit.

Reference. Roasting can be used to remove the skins from peppers, beets, and other vegetables.

How to peel tomatoes using the “warm to cold” method

If the tomatoes are not ripe enough, use this method.

Processing technology:

Heat water to 100°C.
Cut the vegetables on one side.
Dip into boiling water for 30 seconds.
Remove and place in ice water.
Peel the skin.

If it doesn't clean well, repeat the procedure again.

How to peel green tomatoes

Peeling green tomatoes is a more difficult process. The skin is very hard, which precludes some methods of removing it. The best option Manual cleaning is considered, but this is not easy if you need to process a lot of tomatoes.

To prepare large quantities of fruits, it is better to use baking or blanching. Green tomato is toxic, its consumption can harm the body, and thermal processing methods reduce the concentration of harmful substances.

How to peel tomatoes from seeds

The seeds are tasteless and can spoil the dish, so they must be removed. The technology is simple:

Cut the tomato in half, and each half into three more pieces.
Remove the seeds from the pulp with a small kitchen knife.
Chop the pulp as required by the recipe.

Don't forget to sharpen your knives regularly. Fresh tomatoes are very soft and need to be handled carefully.

Using peeled tomatoes

It’s nice to eat vegetables without skin, especially since there is a category of dishes in which the skin will not only spoil the appearance, but also the taste of the dish. For borscht, lecho, various preserves, and stews, it is necessary to peel tomatoes.

Let's look at several recipes where peeling tomatoes is needed.

Peeled tomatoes in their own juice

Ingredients:

300 g tomatoes;
½ tsp. salt;
1 tbsp. granulated sugar;
5 black peppercorns;
citric acid to taste.

Preparation:

Place granulated sugar, salt, and citric acid in a jar.
Peel the tomatoes and put them in a jar.
Heat the water for sterilization and place the jar in it.
Boil, periodically add tomatoes to the jar when they settle.
Sterilize the jars for 15 minutes after they are completely filled with juice.
Roll up and put in the pantry.

This is an excellent side dish for potato dishes.

Important! For canning, use only rock salt - iodized salt is not suitable for canning.

Vegetable stew

Ingredients:

2 potatoes;
1 bell pepper;
2 tomatoes;
0.5 pcs. zucchini;
1 onion;
1 tbsp. tomato paste;
frying oil;
salt to taste.

Preparation:

Peel and cut the vegetables.
Blanch the tomatoes and remove seeds.
Fry carrots and onions in oil.
Add tomato and zucchini.
Add salt, add water, simmer for 7 minutes.
Add the rest of the vegetables and tomato paste.
Add water to cover all products.
Simmer over low heat for 40 minutes.

Cherry tomato sauce

A great addition to spaghetti and potato casseroles.

Ingredients:

20 cherry tomatoes;
2 cloves of garlic;
15 basil leaves;
2 tbsp. olive oil;
spices to taste.

Preparation:

Coarsely chop the garlic.
Heat a frying pan, add oil and add garlic.
Scald the tomatoes with boiling water, remove the skins and place in a frying pan.
Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.
Add basil and spices to taste.
Cover with a lid for 3 minutes. Finally, remove the garlic from the sauce.

Can be served both cold and hot.

Using cut skins to garnish dishes

Carving is the art of artistic cutting of vegetables and fruits. Increasingly used in home cooking. Housewives strive to surprise guests not only with taste, but also appearance dishes. After peeling tomatoes, do not throw away their peels - they can be used to prepare various decorations.

One of the options:

Cut the skin off the tomatoes in one spiral strip.
Place flesh side down.
Roll the rose with a wide strip inward.
Decorate salad, potatoes, chopped vegetables.

Similarly, you can use the skins of beets, carrots, and cucumbers.

Conclusion

Eating tomatoes with their skins will not cause harm. However, there are recipes for dishes for which it is still necessary to peel the tomatoes. There are many ways to remove the peel: baking, treatment with boiling water, fire, blanching and others. The choice of option depends on capabilities and personal preferences.

Dishes made from peeled tomatoes have a more aesthetic appearance and a pleasant taste. Don't throw away vegetable skins - they can be used for decorative decorations. I wish you useful and original culinary masterpieces!

One of the most common ingredients in world cuisine. Quite often, before using tomatoes for culinary purposes, they need to be thinly peeled, seeded, or simply chopped. We will tell you how to correctly perform all these, in principle, simple operations.

Tomatoes, useful tips: ToHow to remove the skin from a tomato

It is imperative to peel tomatoes if you add them to soups, stews, or make sauces with them. This needs to be done for two reasons. Firstly, tomato skin is poorly absorbed by the body (this is especially important to remember when preparing dishes for children and the elderly), and secondly, during heat treatment, the skin is separated from the tomatoes and curls up, ready dish it looks unappetizing and just spoils its appearance.

Using a small knife, make a shallow cross-shaped cut into the skin at the base of the tomato so as not to cut through the flesh of the tomato itself.

Place the prepared tomatoes in a large saucepan. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes so that the water covers them completely. Leave for 10-20 seconds.

When the corners of the skin formed by the cuts begin to curl up, drain the water...

... and immediately immerse the tomatoes under cold running water.

Remove the skin from the cooled tomatoes by gently pulling the corners using the blunt side of a knife.

If the skins are difficult to separate, re-immerse the tomatoes in boiling water. And also, the riper the tomatoes, the less they need to be kept in hot water. Unripe tomatoes may take up to one minute. However, be careful: when long stay V hot water The tomatoes are starting to...cook and may become too soft. Keep this in mind if you want to leave the tomato pieces in an elastic form.

Tomatoes, useful tips: tohow to remove seeds

Easily. But first, let’s talk about why tomatoes should be deseeded. The seeds have no taste and add nothing but excess liquid to the dish. Therefore, you should part with the seeds without hesitation. How to do this? Cut the tomato in half and cut each half into three wedges. Using a small sharp knife, remove the seeds from the pulp (membranes). All. Cut the flesh the way you want. If you want to get perfect tomato slices for salads, then simply cut out the membranes along with the seeds.

Tomatoes, useful tips: tohow to cut tomatoes

Even easier! Place the tomato on a barrel, cut it with a sharp (!) knife from one end (either one) and cut the entire tomato into thin or medium-thick slices. Place the circles beautifully on a plate and drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar, sprinkle sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, garnish with olives, fresh herbs, capers, add anchovies, feta cheese and you can safely serve this salad to the king himself.