Tomatoes - Better Late Than Never

It's been a cold and wet summer, and even in my sheltered back yard with southern exposure, tomato farming has been slow.  But in the end, I somehow have the largest crop of tomatoes ever.  For a long while, it was the largest crop of green tomatoes ever, but on September 21, I finally picked my first large red tomato from my Super Lakota plants.  

I also planted another heirloom called Jaune Flammee.  These are too small, and too sweet - they don't really taste like a tomato.  Could be a weather thing, but I think I'll go with something else next year.  As you can see, the plants are looking dead, but I've just let them alone and the tomatoes keep ripening.  These plants were huge, and they produced a lot of fruit, but the tomatoes are barely more than a cherry tomato.  They are golf ball size.   This is a Oct 8 photo.

By October 8, more of the Super Lakota had ripened, too, and I picked about one-third of what I have out there.

First, a tomato sandwich - which I love, but can't eat too many.  See, the sad thing is - I love tomatoes, but am very sensitive and/or allergic to raw tomatoes, so I don't dare have any more than once or twice a week.

So what I've been doing is freezing the tomatoes.  Since I have an upright freezer, it's much easier than canning.  I would have to invest in a lot of equipment to start canning, and freezing fresh veggies is very easy.   For tomatoes, you just blanch them, skin them, seed them, and put them in ziploc bags.  It's also easy to do in small batches as I pick the tomatoes.  To use them, I'll just run them through the food processor and use them in recipes where I'd normally use stewed tomatoes.  I can eat cooked tomatoes without any problem.  

Although my plants are looking pretty sorry, I'm leaving them alone for now to see how many tomatoes will continue to ripen.