Tomatoes in the mid-sixteenth century were brought from South America to Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy), where in the literature they were described as “golden” or “paradise” apples. The tomato, according to the rules of botany, is not a vegetable, but a berry, and the plant itself is not a vegetable, but a fruit crop. But it happened because of a confusion of terms that in agricultural literature, in culinary (when they are used fresh or prepared for winter from a tomato) and in everyday life, the fruit of this plant is called a vegetable in our country. In the European Union, the confusion with the terms was eliminated in 2001, recognizing the tomato as a fruit.
But experts for another reason agree that the term “golden apples” was correctly applied to tomatoes. Tomatoes are rich in vitamins such as B1, B2, B6, C, P, PP, K. They contain carotene, potassium salts, sugars, malic and citric acids, and have phytoncidal properties. Especially valuable dietary product is juice made from them, it is used in medical nutrition, it is useful for people engaged in mental or hard physical work, it is recommended for patients with metabolic disorders, gastrointestinal tract diseases and the cardiovascular system. Children love delicious and healthy tomato juice with honey and lemon.
The fruits of this plant are consumed fresh, and they also make tomato preparations for the winter: salt, pickle, preserve, fry, stuff, prepare seasoning for borscht, various soups, pickles. There are more than a hundred ways to cook tomatoes at home.
Recipe 1
Harvested tomatoes for the winter in salted form are often made with peel, but it is better to cook without it. As storage containers, well-washed glass jars of half a liter or one liter are used, which are subjected to dry heat sterilization in an oven at a temperature of 100 ° C, hot jars are used. No spices are used for this method. Ingredients (take as much as will go into prepared banks):
- ripe tomatoes of medium size;
- salt solution (one tablespoon of salt is taken per liter of water) or tomato juice is used only if it was not possible to tightly put the tomatoes in jars.
Tomatoes blanch in hot water for 2 minutes at a temperature of 95-98 ° C. Quickly removed to a colander and lowered into cold water. Cracks appear on the skin. It is easily separated (they begin to remove from the opposite end of the stem). The peeled fruits are tightly packed in jars so that there are no air gaps, they immediately pasteurize and roll up the jars with metal lids. If the gaps remain, then the tomatoes are poured with a salt solution or tomato juice, pasteurized and sealed hermetically. Pasteurization time at a temperature of a water bath of 70-80 for cans per half liter - 35 minutes, cans per liter - 40 minutes. Such preparations for the winter of tomato are stored in the refrigerator.
Recipe 2
Preparations for the winter from tomato in apple juice are made from fruits without removing the skin from them. So that it does not crack, the fruits are pierced with a wooden toothpick in the places where the stalks are attached. Spices are not used for this preservation method. Ingredients per one three-liter jar (washed and sterilized as described in recipe 1):
- ripe tomatoes of medium size (how much will go into the jar);
- 1 liter of apple juice (or a little more);
- 1 tablespoon of salt.
Tomatoes are placed in a jar and pour them with boiling water, stand for 10 minutes, drain the water and repeat this procedure one more time. At this time, 1 liter of apple juice is brought to a boil and the salt is dissolved in it. Tomatoes are poured with hot juice. If this amount of juice is not enough, then add the right amount of boiled (but without salt) juice. The filled jar is not pasteurized, but immediately rolled up with a metal boiled lid. The jar is turned upside down and in this state is left until it cools down. Store such tomato blanks for the winter in a cold place.