Blanching and Peeling Tomatoes and Fruits
Blanching and peeling is absolutely necessary if fruit has
been treated with insecticides or pesticides as skin
absorbs and retains those chemicals. We recommend
trying to can using organic products to avoid chemical
worries.

Blanching before peeling is the easiest and fastest
method for large quantities of fruit. This method is
identical for tomatoes, apricots and peaches and can be
seen in our free Videos 2 and 3.
1.  For this work area, there
are a cutting board with a
paring knife plus a cutting
knife. The sink is filled with
cold water and the blanching
basket is to the left of the sink.  
There is a sack to discard
peels and seeds. Left handed
cooks may wish to reverse the
work area.
 2.  Cut out the stem portion of
tomatoes. Water is heating at
the same time.
 3.  On the bottom of the fruit
score a crosshair then place it
into the blanching basket. Be
careful to not overfill the
blanching basket as it will cool
the boiling water, reducing the
time for the skin to loosen.
 4.  Place the blanching basket
into boiling water. This may be
done with tongs if a basket is
not available.
5.  After about 1 minute the
skin should begin lifting off.  
Remove the basket, being
careful to not burn yourself,
using tongs. Carry the basket
to the sink with a plate
underneath to not soil the floor.
 6.  Place the fruit in cold water.
 7.  After the fruit has cooled
remove the skin by simply
pulling at the crosshair.
 8.  If deseeding, cut the fruit in
half from side-to-side for most
tomatoes or from top to
bottom for Roma tomatoes or
fruit with pits.
 
9.  Remove seeds with thumb
or fingers.
 10.  As an alternative you may
squeeze the seed out.
 11.  After chopping tomatoes,
add them directly into the
already cooking sauce. When
working in batches, remove the
next batch of fruit from boiling
water at this time (Step 5).
  
Return to Main Table of Contents for other recipes and canning information
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© 2004 David G. Blackburn
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Free Video 3: Canning Tomatoes;
Crushed, Whole, Tomato Sauce
and Salsa
Free Video 2: For blanching,
watch Video 2
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