Tomatoes Galore!

My cherry tomatoes kept producing right up to the last frost this year. They were volunteers from a plant I had in the garden the year prior. I left split tomatoes and green ones in the soil to compost. They wintered over and grew, taking over the raised bed. I didn’t stake them, next year I will.

Just before the first hard frost I harvested all the green clumps. I laid them out on cookie sheets covered with newsprint. They are hanging out in the living room where the temperature stays fairly even. Even few days I go through, pulling out the deep orange tomatoes.

Because I had a large amount all at once we have not been able to keep up on eating the sweet gems. Noting how several were starting to shrivel, I sliced them all open and spread them out on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. An hour and half in the counter top oven at 200 degrees F produced a lovely batch of mushy, sweet tomato bits.

I packed them into a clean jar and topped with olive oil - organic of course, and popped them into the fridge. Now I have tomato topping for eggs, pizza or what ever dish I want to add some intense tomato flavor to. In a few weeks the olive oil will have a lovely tomato flavor too.