I tried to save as many as I could, but my two cases of paste tomatoes were ignored under more pressing things.  I have to admit that almost 1/4 were turned into future pork chops and those fatties were excited!  It’s nice to know that with pigs around, even when food does go to waste, it never really is wasted.

In any case, I don’t make tomato paste with paste tomatoes, at least not initially.  I’m lucky enough to have freezer space, so I just wash and chop them, put them in freezer quart ziplock bags, squish them flat, and suck out all the air.  Then I freeze them flat.  This way when I transfer them to my big freezer in the barn, they will stack neatly in a row so I can see how many I have. And for heaven’s sake, no no no, I do not blanch and peel the skins off.  I don’t peel anything, because I’m lazy, I don’t want to lose any of the valuable food or vitamins, or waste time.

Pulling bright red  and tomatoey goodness out of the freezer in the dead of winter for soup, chile, tomato sauce or paste is heaven.