Gauteng Smallholder March 2016 | Page 43

From page 44 Freezing cubes of tomato paste From page 40 fresh or dried herbs to taste. Cool the pulp thoroughly before adding to your freezer bags. You can bottle tomatoes in the same way that you would fruit or other vegetables. You can also pickle them, on their Bottled tomatoes own or with other vegetables. Tomato paste is easy to make and can be frozen for up to six months or so before the taste begins to change. Chop the tomatoes into relatively small pieces so that they will break down easier. If you want a rich tomato flavour, you can actually leave the seeds and peelings intact although you will need to strain them through a sieve before you freeze. Cook the tomatoes over medium to low heat and add a half a teaspoon of salt for every five or so tomatoes that you are going to cook. You just have to continue cooking until you get a pasty consistency. Once achieved, cool the paste and fill ice cube trays for IN THE KITCHEN freezing. Once they are for chutney using the green frozen, simply remove from produce. the trays and store in a freezer If you still have tomato plants bag. but are anxious that the frost Sometimes at the end of the will hammer them, uproot season the tomato plants begin to die off before all the tomatoes have ripened. You can pick the green tomatoes and store them on a shelf, preferably in a cool room. They will Fried green tomatoes gradually ripen. Or there are many recipes the whole tomato vine, shake that use green tomatoes. You off the dirt and hang the can make fried green plants upside down indoors. tomatoes or simply roast The fruit will then ripen in its them. There are many recipes own time. 41 www.sasmallholder.co.za