Itโs that time of the year again!
๐ Tomato extravaganza!๐ ๐
๐ย Blog guide –ย If you want to:
- go directly to the recipes ย โกย click here
- have a look at my tomato garden.ย โกย click here
- know some tomato facts.ย โกย clickย here
Receitas em Portuguรชsย โกย clica aqui
๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐
๐ฑย In the Garden!ย ๐ฑ
The garden is mainly my momโs hobby, but Iโve always been a part of the process. There is nothing better than going to the backyard supermarket!๐ย Hehe
Itโs fairly easy to grow tomatoes. We bought the small plants and transplanted them into our garden. You can go to your local nursery and buy them. They come in little pots like you can see below:
You can see a brief schematic of how we did it. If you need more details you can always visit the Farmers Almanac here.
This is the garden once we planted the tomatoes. As you can see in the image below we added sticks near the plant, so once they grew tall we can tie them to the stick, so they donโt fall.
We watered the plants every other day unless it was too hot then we would water every day. We would water them early morning around 6:30 am before going to work. This will allow the water to run down into the soil and reach the roots of the plant. If you water them at knight let say 8:00 pm, most probably because of the heat it can cause the water to evaporate before the plants can absorb it and then it would just be a waste of water…ย ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฆ
Fast forward to three months later and look how beautiful they grew!
Here is a video!ย ๐ฅย โฌ
Did You knowโ
๐ ย Tomatoes are a big part of the famously healthy Mediterranean diet. Many Portuguese dishes (link Portuguese recipe playlist), for example, call for tomatoes or tomato paste or sauce.
๐ ย There are over 10,000 varieties of tomato, these come in a variety of colors including pink, purple, black, yellow and white.
๐ ย Some recent studies have found that people who most closely follow the Mediterranean diet have lower death rates from heart disease and cancer.
๐ ย ย Lycopene is the most abundant plant compound in tomatoes. It is found in the highest amounts in tomato products, such as ketchup, tomato juice, and tomato-based sauces.
๐ ย Tomatoes contain all three high-powered antioxidants: beta-carotene, vitamin E, and vitamin C.
๐ ย Tomatoes are rich in potassium, a mineral most of us donโt get enough of.
๐ ย Thereโs almost twice the amount of vitamin C and beta-carotene in a homegrown, vein-ripened tomato as in a commercial market tomato that is picked โmature-greenโ and gas ripened with ethylene.
๐ ย When tomatoes are eaten along with healthier fats, like avocado or olive oil, the bodyโs absorption of the carotenoid phytochemicals in tomatoes can increase by two to 15 times.
๐ ย Tomato peels contribute a high concentration of the carotenoids found in tomatoes. The amount of carotenoids absorbed by human intestinal cells was much greater with tomato paste enriched with tomato peels compared to tomato paste without peels. The tomato skin also holds most of the flavonols.
References
So many tomatoes, what to do with them?
There are so many things you can do with the tomatoes besides just eating them fresh on your salad or to top your bruschetta.
You can make:
-
- tomato sauceย โกย click here
- tomato jamย โกย click here
Or you can freeze tomatoes for the whole year! Just wash and core them put them in a Ziploc bag, label the month and year, and put them in the freezer. You can keep them for up to 6 months.
โ ย Discloser about canning method: Iโm not a canning expert, this is just how we have done these recipes for a long time without any problems. (but I am thinking of trying the pressure cooker method.)
Other Tomato Recipes:
- tomato bruschettaย โกย click here
Tomato Sauce-EN

This tomato sauce recipe was given to my mother by an Italian nonna about 40 years ago. My mom has been making this sauce ever since. It’s practically the only one we use. Once we put the sauce in the jars, we freeze them. Yes, we put the jars in the freezer. Whenever we need them, we just take one out and let it defrost slowly inside the fridge, and then the countertop. Let’s say you need it for dinner, I would remove it from the freezer early morning, so about 8 – 10h prior.
Ingredients
- 2 kg of tomatoes
- 2 onions
- 4 garlic cloves
- ยผ cup of Olive oil
- 1 hand full of oregano and basil
- 2 bottles of tomato pure (690g)
- Salt to taste(aprox. 4 tbsp)
- black pepper to taste (1/2 tsp)
- 3 tbsp of sugar
Directions
- Prep tomatoes, wash them and cut them. Chop onions and garlic.
- Put onions and garlic in a pan with the olive oil, let it simmer medium heat until they are translucent.
- Add tomatoes, herbs, tomato puree, salt, and black pepper. Let it cook for 1 hour.
- Blend everything very well. Add sugar. Leave it for another hour medium heat.
- Meantime taste the sauce make sure there is enough salt.
- While your tomato sauce is getting ready prep your jars.
- Fill in jars, close lid, and turn them upside down to seal.
Here is the video!ย ๐ฅย โฌ
Tomato Jam - EN

Ingredients
- 2kg of tomatoes
- 1.8kg of sugar
- Peel & juice of 1 lemon
- Peel of 1 orange
- 2 cinnamon sticks
Directions
- Prep tomatoes, wash them and cut them.
- Put prepared tomato, sugar, peels of both orange and lemon, lemon juice, and cinnamon sticks in a pot on medium heat.
- Let it boil for about 30 min. then blend it very well.
- Let it cook until it reaches 105ยฐC. Remove from heat.
- Fill in jars (that have been previously prepared)
- Turn jars upside down to seal the jar.
- Keep jars in a cool place.
Here is the video!ย ๐ฅย โฌ
๐ต๐นย Receitas em Portuguรชsย ๐ต๐น
Molho de Tomate-PT

Ingredients
- 2 kg de tomates
- 2 cebolas
- 4 dentes de alho
- ยผ copo de azeite
- 1 mรฃo cheia de oreganos e manjericรฃo fresco
- 2 frascos de pure de tomate (690g)
- Sal a gosto (aprox. 4 colheres de sopa)
- pimenta preta a gosto (1/2 colher de chรก)
- 3 colheres de sopa de aรงรบcar
Directions
- Prepara os tomates, lave-os e corte-os. Pique as cebolas e o alho.
- Coloque as cebolas e o alho numa panela com azeite, deixe ferver em lume mรฉdio atรฉ a cebola ficar translรบcida.
- Adiciona os tomates, ervas aromรกticas, purรช de tomate, sal e pimenta preta. Deixe cozinhar por 1 hora.
- Passar pela varinha mรกgica. Adicione aรงรบcar. Deixe por mais uma hora em lume mรฉdio.
- Entretanto, prova o molho e verifica se tem sal suficiente.
- Enquanto o molho de tomate esta acabar de fazer, vai preparando os frascos.
- Enche os frascos, feche a tampa e vire-os de cabeรงa para baixo para selar.
Para veres o video da receita clica aqui.
Doce de Tomate - PT

Este doce de tomate รฉ uma receita da minha mรฃe. Apรณs muitas tentativas, esta รฉ a receita que temos feito hรก algum tempo.
O mรฉtodo รฉ, para cada quilo de tomate precisas de um quilo de aรงรบcar. Dependendo de como gostas do teu doce, podes remover atรฉ 500 g da receita. Abaixo podes ver que removi 200 g da proporรงรฃo original de aรงรบcar 1: 1, eu acho muito doce quando se usa a proporรงรฃo 1: 1.
Ingredients
- 2 kg de tomate
- 1.8 kg de aรงรบcar
- Casca e sumo de 1 limรฃo
- Casca de 1 laranja
- 2 paus de canela
Directions
- Prepare os tomates, lave-os e corte-os.
- Coloque o tomate preparado, o aรงรบcar, as cascas de laranja e limรฃo, o sumo de limรฃo e os paus de canela numa panela em lume mรฉdio.
- Deixe ferver por cerca de 30 min. depois passar pela varinha mรกgica, muito bem.
- Deixe cozinhar atรฉ atingir 105ยฐC. Retire do lume.
- Encher os frascos (que foram previamente preparados)
- Vire os frascos de cabeรงa para baixo para selar o frasco.
- Mantenha os frascos num local fresco.
Para veres o video da receita clica aqui.
๐ย Referencesย ๐
- https://www.almanac.com/plant/tomatoes
- http://www.cmaj.ca/content/163/6/739.full#abstract-1
- https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/135/5/1226/4663991
- The Complete Book on Tomato & Tomato Products Manufacturing
- The Great Tomato Book