How to peel tomatoes

Peeling tomatoes is an easy task, often done so that your soup or sauce is perfectly smooth, or because it results in a tastier dish.

The reason why there are still noticeable bits in your soup or sauce after puréeing is because tomato skin is tough, and difficult to dissolve in a liquid. Whether or not this bothers you is down to personal preference. However, with these tips you will have a batch of skinless tomatoes in no time!

Peeling tomatoes – 15 minutes

1. Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil.
2. Prepare a large bowl of iced water.
3. Wash the tomatoes and use a sharp knife to make a cross on the base of each tomato.
4. Use a small knife to cut the hard core from the tomato.
5. Place the tomatoes in the boiling water for around 20 to 30 seconds.
6. As soon as the skins become loose at the cross, transfer the tomatoes to the iced water to stop the cooking process.
7. You can now easily remove/slip off the skins, using a small knife if necessary.

Tips:

• Once the tomatoes are peeled you will see a dark red line across the middle, this indicates exactly where the seeds are. Position the tomato with the stripe horizontally on the chopping board. This way you will be able to cut the most attractive slices of tomato.
• Would you rather use tomatoes without their seeds? If so, cut the tomatoes into quarters, then use a knife to cut along each segment to easily cut away the flesh. You can now use the peeled tomato segments, without seeds, in (for example) a salad or starter.
• If you want to use tomatoes without seeds for a soup or sauce, you can simply cut the tomato in half and squeeze it. The seeds will fall right out, meaning that your finished soup or sauce will be less watery.
• Peach, nectarine or apricots can be peeled in exactly the same way.