Monday 26 September 2011

Would you consider it a glut????

Well I popped down the allotment at the weekend to do a little (okay...A LOT!) of harvesting. I only went with one intention...TOMATOES!!!


And boy did we get tomatoes.....

freshly harvested tomatoes
Above is half of what we picked!!

So would you consider this a glut?? I have only picked about a quarter of the fruit...yet I intended on growing so much as there is lots of stuff you can do with tomatoes and they are all scrumptious!!


tomato butter
This is 'tomato butter' bubbling away in the pan...the end product is more like jam though...I think I cooked it a little too long. But it is very nice!



tomato soup
This is some tomato soup that I made. A very basic recipe...I am going to be making some chunky tomato soup too!!

I have also made up some tomato and basil pasta sauce, and I have yet too make Ketchup in two varieties and some other soups and pasta sauces...and I think I may try drying some too. I still have much more fruit to harvest and yet I wonder with all my plans if I will have enough...only time will tell if I need to plant more next year.

So what do you like to do with your tomatoes??

That's it for now...but more posts to follow this week as there has been plenty more to harvest at the allotment!!

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9 comments:

  1. wow, that's a lot of tomatoes. I've never heard of tomato butter before, sounds interesting.
    Most of our tomatoes get used for burgers and sandwiches.

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  2. Yes I guess it is a glut - we freeze and store as a tomato 'sauce' to use later in other recipes or as roasted tomatoes.

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  3. Wonderful. I only grow a few plants in my 4X6 greenhouse, there's only me who likes tomatoes so it's been ok so far, but next year I'm going to grow lots more outside the greenhouse in the garden as I want to make soups and sauces. Hubby's auntie gave us a big bag of tomatoes a couple of weeks ago which I turned in to soup.

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  4. I wish my tomatoes were producing as well as yours! And where do you get your plastic bags, Tanya? Those are great!

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  5. I don't know, a glut kinda implies you're struggling to know what to do with them. And you're clearly not!

    Pretty similar here too with soups and sauces, and have been experimenting with seed saving too.

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  6. Looks like a glut to me! I'm intregued by the tomato butter. How do make it and what do you do with it? I made some roasted tomato passata with mine - just roast the tomatoes in a medium oven for about an hour with some shallots/onions, garlic and herbs. Then push it all through a sieve. Tastes fab!

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  7. We made salsa with our excess tomatoes this year. It was pretty good even with different types of tomatoes but we didn't have a lot of extra they didn't grow so well.

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  8. Wow, I am impressed and really envious. My toms got the dreaded blight. I would love to have had all those for pasta sauce, tom soup etc. Well done x

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  9. Ann...the tomato butter is kind of weird...but I would make it again.

    Sue...I'm going with 'not a glut' as this is the amount I wanted!!...lol

    Jo, I love the way you can make so many different flavour and texture tomato soups!!

    Tanya, My bags are called 'Pour and Store' bags. I don't know where your from but I buy them in Home Bargains. They are a good price and you can put them in the freezer and also microwave your stuff in them. You can then wash and re-use them. They are one of my favourite finds!!

    RobD, I am hoping to save some or my Cherry tomato seeds this year...they were an unknown variety given to me and are delicious!

    Mark...I will definitely making some of that passata so thanks. The tomato butter is an old English tradition from Victorian times when dairy products were rare and expensive so people used fruit butters instead. It's very simple to make...tomatoes, lemon juice and sugar...kind of jammy with a bit of a kick and not as firm...if you would like the exact recipe let me know.

    Sundcarrie..I have never made salsa...another to add to my list as I do like it. Better luck with your tomatoes next year.

    Fran, fingers crossed i have never suffered with blight on my tomatoes. As of yet it's not something we have encountered on our allotments...wonder why that is??? I think I will look into the causes of blight a little more closely. Hope you have better luck next year.

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keep it clean...keep it relevant...I look forward to reading your comments!!