Clifton's Cooking Blog: Peeling Tomatoes

Peeling Tomatoes

This is a recipe on how to peel fresh tomatoes. I would always prefer to use fresh tomatoes rather than canned, and there are times that I do not want the skin in the recipe. This method only take a few minuets and you have fresh peeled tomatoes.

photo by: Dave Fisher under Creative Commons Licenses

The Instructions

1 Boil a pot of water in a four or six quart saucepan.

2 Wash the tomatoes, if they have any labels remove them.

3 Fill a bowl half way with ice, and then add cold water until it is almost full, approximately 1 inch from the top, I use a 2 quart bowl.

4 Cut a shallow slit into the bottom of the tomatoes, opposite from the stem end, with an X. These slits are only to aid in peeling, it serves no other purpose.

5 Put the tomatoes in the ice water for about 5 minutes. This is to chill the tomatoes so that the interior does not cook. If you store your tomatoes in the refrigerator, it is not necessary to chill them in ice water.

6 From the ice water go directly into the boiling water.

7 Only allow the tomatoes to be in the boiling water for about 30 seconds.

8 Remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and plunge directly back into the ice water, this is to stop any residual heat that would cook the tomatoes.

9 Starting at the tip if the X peel the tomatoes. They should peel very easy.