My Roma tomato plants have been highly productive this summer. I’ve brought in 20-25 every day for the past two months. That means I have a lot of work ahead of me to get them processed and stored away for winter. Thankfully, I’ve been able to stay on top of the garden work thanks to My Gardening Schedule! I tend to the tomato section on Fridays, but at the peak of harvest, new tomatoes are ready for harvest every day!
Transplanting the Seedlings Outdoors, Caging in the Tomato Plants, and Pruning Them Back…a lot of steps have happened along the way to get us to this point in the season! I started these flourishing Roma plants way back in February, so it feels incredible to gather up the fruit of all the labor and supply some food for my family. Learn more about Starting Seeds Indoors right here!
Wondering what exactly I plan to do with all the Romas? I’ll tell ya!
Come along and learn a bit about what I’m doing with my Roma tomatoes. You’ll find all the details down below. From harvest, washing, storing, processing, and consuming…I’ll tell you all about it! Find out how I store my tomatoes away until I have a large enough batch for preserving. You’ll even find a few ideas for how to eat Roma tomatoes fresh! Scroll all the way to the bottom of this post for more resources about growing tomatoes from seed, making cages for the plants, and why to prune them.
What to do With Roma Tomatoes
Harvest
For the best flavor, pick the fruits after fully ripened on the plants. You can also pick earlier and allow them to finish ripening indoors if frost or pests are a threat.
Washing
Washing tomatoes is quite simple. Just rinse with water (rubbing the skin with your hands), dry, and rinse one more time.
Storing
My goal is to preserve all of my Roma tomatoes into sauce or paste, so I need a whole bunch in order to make all of that work worth the while!
Unfortunately all of the fruit isn’t ready for harvest all at once, so how can I save them for later when I have a large enough batch to process? The solution I use for this problem is freezing! And it is super simple!
I just place the whole Roma tomato (core and all) in a gallon size freezer bag and pull them back out when it’s time to process. As I harvest more tomatoes I simply add them to my stash!
I’ll remove them from the freezer and thaw them under warm water for 3-5 minutes when I’m ready to start preserving. The best part is that the skins will peel right off!
Tip: You can also use this storage method for other types of tomatoes. I’ve found with larger tomatoes it is helpful to core them before freezing. This step isn’t necessary, but it’s much easier to remove the core when the tomato is firm instead of soft from the freezing and thawing.
Processing
Roma tomatoes are ideal for sauces and pastes because they are very meaty. I plan to make both of these tomato products out of this year’s Roma harvest!
Tomatoes can be preserved in a water bath canner or pressure canner. I suggest reading this article if you plan on using either preservation method.
Consuming Them Fresh
Roma tomatoes are most often cooked into sauces or pastes before consumption, but there are still a few great ways to eat them fresh!
- Fresh salsa
- Sliced for sandwiches
- Disced for a salad
- Tomato soup
- Roasted in olive oil
- Pico de Gallo salsa
- Bruschetta
More on Tomatoes
- How and Why to Prune Tomato Plants
- 5 Tips for Transplanting Seedlings to the Garden
- How to Cage in Tomato Plants
- How to Harden Off Seedlings
- The Basics to Starting Seeds Indoors
- A Guide to Caring for Indoor Seedlings