Professional chefs recommend adding peeled tomatoes to tomato puree, borscht and other dishes that require heat treatment. You can peel the fruit in a spiral, like an apple and a potato, but it takes some skill. The tomato can be easily peeled off if it is preliminarily heat, microwave or mechanical treatment.
Tomatoes are delicious and healthy summer vegetables that are eaten both raw and processed. When preparing food, it is best to use peeled tomatoes, without thin skin, which is separated from the pulp during the stewing or cooking of vegetables, but is not digested in the human digestive tract. To remove the skin from tomatoes, you must first subject them to heat, microwave or mechanical processing.
Heat treatment
To work you will need two pots, water, a slotted spoon, tomatoes and a sharp knife. Pour boiling water into one pan, ice water into another. Choose ripe fruits with firm flesh. Make a shallow cut in the bottom of each fruit with a sharp knife, being careful not to sink the blade into the flesh of the tomato. Place a few tomatoes in boiling water. It is enough to hold soft, ripe fruits in boiling water for 5-10 seconds, vegetables with dense pulp - from 15 seconds to one minute. As soon as the thin skin at the edge of the cross-shaped incision begins to curl up, remove the fruits with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a pot of ice water until completely cooled. The peel can be easily removed from chilled tomatoes by gently pulling on it with the blunt side of a knife. If the skin does not come off, try to heat the fruit again.
Microwave processing
You will need a microwave oven, flat plate, tomatoes, and a sharp knife. This method of processing is only suitable for hard fruits, since soft vegetables, after being removed from the microwave, become even softer and flabby, suitable only for pureeing. Make a cruciform incision in the lower part of the dense tomatoes using a sharp knife, being careful not to damage the flesh, but to cut only the thin skin. Place the vegetables on a plate at some distance from each other, cross-shaped cuts up. Select the highest microwave setting and cook the vegetables for 30-60 seconds, depending on their size and firmness. Remove the cooked vegetables from the oven and peel off the skin with the blunt side of a knife.
Mechanical restoration
You will need ripe tomatoes and a small knife. Holding the tomato in your left hand, take a knife in your right hand and attach it with a tip to the surface of the fruit. Using light pressure on the knife, move it along the vegetable, as if scraping something from its surface. Cut the whole tomato with a knife, without missing a single centimeter. If you do everything correctly, the skin will become soft after processing, but its integrity will not be compromised. After the skin has softened, pierce it with a fork and carefully remove it from the fruit. This method does not involve cooking vegetables, so the tomatoes retain their freshness and firmness.
