How to skin a tomato: 6 ways

Tomato is one of the favorite vegetables for many people. It is often added to various dishes: soups, sauces, stews, salads and others. It gives dishes a great spiciness, a light, pleasant sourness and an incomparable taste. However, in most recipes, tomatoes are recommended to add without the skin, which by its properties is not very useful, makes the dish slightly bitter with an unpleasant taste. In addition to the unpleasant taste, the tomato skin often gets stuck between the teeth, sticks to the palate and spoils the entire appetite. But what to do if the skin on the vegetable is too dense and thick, and it is simply impossible to remove it easily. Even after heat treatment, it is not always easy to remove the skin.

The article below describes some great ways to peel a tomato without much difficulty, quickly, and without damaging the flesh of the vegetable. It also gives some basic tips on how best to do it. But first we want to tell a little about the useful properties of the tomato and the harm of its skin.

Useful properties of tomato

It is known that tomatoes consist almost entirely of water. But they also contain a lot of useful vitamins and trace elements for humans. In addition to all this, the tomato is considered a low-calorie vegetable. For example, there are only 20 kcal per 100 grams of flesh. Also, tomatoes have such useful substances:

1. Protein - promotes proper metabolism.
2. Fiber - removes cholesterol and harmful toxins from the blood.
3. Carbohydrates - promote a good defense function of the body and the formation of new cells.
4. Organic acids: they remove harmful toxins from the body.
5. Vegetable fats - normalize the work of the liver and intestines.

In addition, tomatoes contain vitamins A, C, B and others. The study of individual varieties revealed that these vegetables have a large amount of vitamin C, on a par with oranges and lemons.

Tomatoes also contain a small list of useful trace elements:

1. Copper - responsible for the normal functioning of the body's nervous system and motor function.
2. Iron - prevents the development of anemia.
3. Iodine - gets rid of excess fat deposits and makes blood vessels more elastic.

How tomatoes are useful

1. Due to the rather high content of vitamins and trace elements, tomatoes help our body to fight against an aggressive environment, prevent the influence of various bacteria and microbes.
2. Consumption of tomatoes helps to strengthen the immune system. They normalize overall digestion and promote good digestion.
3. Tomatoes are an excellent substitute for fatty foods, which is why they are often recommended for people suffering from chronic hepatitis or diabetes.
4. The daily use of this amazing vegetable contributes to the good functioning of the cardiovascular system, the vegetable is especially useful for people with chronic heart disease or vascular disease.
5. Also the use of tomatoes helps to normalize blood pressure and reduce various types of edema.

The harm of tomato peel

Many doctors often advise patients not to consume tomatoes with the skin. The thin red shell of tomatoes when eaten is not digested by the stomach and enters the intestines, where it sticks to its walls, which contributes to the development of ulcers. Therefore, it is better to mess around a little while cooking than to reward your body with a bunch of unpleasant problems later. Below is a detailed description of several ways to quickly remove the skin from tomatoes.

Ways to quickly peel tomatoes

Important! To make the skin easier to remove, you should first make a small incision in the shape of a cross in the area of the stalk.

All of the following ways to remove the tomato skin are in fact simple, so every housewife will be able to cope with it, you just need a few minutes of patience and effort. If you do everything correctly, tomatoes during peeling are not deformed, remain smooth, tender.

Skinning with blanching

Perhaps the most relevant and simple way to remove the skin from a tomato is to scald it with hot water. This method is only suitable for those fruits that have a thin shell, thick-skinned ones do not lend themselves to this technique. Blanch the tomatoes to remove the skin should be as follows: in a deep bowl pour hot water, immerse the vegetables in it and leave for 1 minute. Drain the water and leave the tomatoes on a plate to cool. Take the cooled fruit in your hands, gently pull on the detached tip of the skin at the stalk and then remove it all over the surface. You can even use a knife for this.

Important! When the tomatoes are already freed from the skin, you must necessarily put them in cold boiling water to stop the heat treatment process, otherwise they can completely fall apart, turning into mush.

From hot to cold

This method is more effective than blanching because it is suitable for all tomato varieties. It is relevant when there is no time at all to prepare lunch or dinner. It is no problem to remove the skin. To do this, pour water into a metal container and boil it. At the same time, prepare a second similar container with cold water and throw a few ice cubes in it. Dip the prepared tomatoes in the hot water, keep for half a minute. Slowly remove the tomatoes with a skimmer, put them in cold water and keep them for about the same amount of time. Take the tomatoes out of the water and slowly begin to separate the skin, it is very easy and quickly removes it.

Important! Keep the tomatoes in hot water no longer than 30 seconds, otherwise they may get very soft and turn into mashed potatoes.

Peeling tomatoes with a microwave oven

This method belongs to the non-standard. To do this, you need to turn the machine on the highest power. Place the tomatoes on a flat plate, place in the microwave for 30 seconds. This method is suitable for both homemade and store-bought fruit. It not only helps to quickly remove the skin from tomatoes, but also keeps more vitamins in them. This method is good when you need to peel a large batch.

Cleaning tomatoes with a gas burner

And with this method of cleaning tomatoes, you need to be especially careful, careful and know a few rules to get a fresh tomato as a result, not a baked tomato dish. Wash the tomatoes well, cut out the stalks, and make a cross-shaped incision. Adjust the burner to maximum power. Prick the fruit on a fork or any wooden stick. Process the vegetable with a burner so that the distance between them is not less than 3 cm. Spin the vegetable near the burner for half a minute, that is, until the skin begins to flatten and burst. Put the processed fruit on a cutting board, leave it to cool, and then start to separate the skin, starting with a slit.

Tip! When processing tomatoes with a gas burner, you should always wear gloves on your hands, so as not to burn yourself.

Instead of a gas burner for this method of cleaning you can use an ordinary electric stove, fireplace, fireplace, grill.

For cherries this method of cleaning is better not to use.

The baking method

In the case of a large number of tomatoes for cleaning, you can use baking. The method is not complicated, just wash the tomatoes, cut at the stalk, spread them on a baking tray greased with butter and put them in a hot oven at 180 degrees. The baking time depends on when the skin begins to wrinkle. You need to constantly monitor the process, so as not to overcook the tomatoes, otherwise they can burn. With this method, they perfectly preserve all the useful vitamins.

Tip! Instead of a baking pan, tomatoes can be placed in an ordinary deep pan.

Removing the skin from tomatoes with a vegetable peeler

It is possible to peel tomatoes even without heat treatment. To do this, you will need an ordinary, familiar vegetable peeler. This method is particularly suitable for very ripe tomatoes with thin skin, and in a situation where you need to peel one or two tomatoes. Before peeling, the tomatoes should be washed well, just like the previous methods, then cut out the stalk and make a cross-shaped incision. If the recipe requires shredded tomatoes, then they can be cut into small slices beforehand, so it will be much easier and faster to peel them. To make this method even easier and simpler, you can slightly freeze the vegetables before peeling, putting them in the freezer for 15 minutes. But it's worth knowing that after freezing, a small portion of the useful vitamins will escape from the tomatoes.

Tip! If you do not have a vegetable peeler in the kitchen, you can replace it with an ordinary knife, as long as it is very sharp.

Cleaning with a special serrated tomato knife is also possible. After using this device, they do not look very attractive, so they will be suitable only for cooking sauces, soups or tomato juice.

Tip! Peeled skin with a serrated tomato knife can be used separately as an original decoration of a variety of festive salads, appetizers. Since the detached skin from the serrated knife has an unusual, beautiful appearance in the form of a spiral, it can be cut into small pieces if desired, and decorate salads with it, thereby imitating rose petals.

The presented ways of peeling tomatoes from the skin will help you quickly, literally in a few hours to construct a delicious, original dish, while nothing can spoil the appetite and cause an aversion to the dish when serving. It is enough just to learn all the ways and apply them every time in the kitchen. And you can choose a suitable method of cleaning, focusing on the degree of ripeness of tomatoes and the chosen recipe. We hope that all the methods described will help you in the kitchen.

Interesting facts about tomatoes

1. With the daily use of tomatoes for various dishes, you can avoid many neurological diseases.
2. For the male population, frequent consumption of tomatoes prevents the occurrence of inflammation of the prostate gland.
3. The most surprising thing is that this vegetable, excellent in taste, promotes a good mood and excellent cheerfulness. Tomatoes are especially useful for people with frequent nervous disorders and depression.
4. Surprisingly, the homeland of tomatoes is South America, where they were used as a food even before the 18th century. The fruit was not brought into our country until the late 18th century. But nowadays not a single feast can do without tomatoes. Experienced housewives every day prepare a variety of dishes with tomatoes, as well as make various winter preparations on their basis.
5. The name "tomato" was invented by the Italians. In their language it is translated as "golden apple".
6. In Europe, tomatoes used to be considered poisonous for a long time; they were even afraid to use them for food. Many owners of their homes grew them only for decorative purposes.
7. The first dish with tomatoes was tried in Naples in 1692.
8. Tomato roots go down to 1 meter into the ground and grow up to 2.5 meters. And the bush can sometimes be up to 2 meters tall.
9. The fruits of some tomato varieties reach 1 kilogram. The heaviest fruit was grown in the United States, its weight reached 2.9 kilograms.
10. Among many gardeners there is still a debate as to whether the tomato belongs to vegetables, fruits or berries. Some consider it a berry. Only a U.S. court has listed the tomato as a vegetable, but in the European Union it is still considered a fruit.
11. Dried tomatoes are considered the most nutritious. So, to make 1 kilogram of dried tomatoes, up to 14 kilograms of fresh tomatoes are required.
12. In one small town in Ukraine there is a tall monument with the inscription: "Glory to the tomato.
13. There are as many as 10,000 varieties of tomatoes in ancient horticultural books.
14. Tomatoes can be red, yellow, orange, pink, or even black. Black tomatoes, like red tomatoes, are known for their high vitamin content and great nutritional value.
15. Every year up to 60 million tons of tomatoes are grown around the world.
16. About 95% of a tomato's total weight is liquid.
17. Strange as it may seem, but heat treatment of tomatoes improves their useful properties. So you can safely apply to tomatoes absolutely any heat treatment, without fear of losing vitamins.