Tomatoes, terrible/terrific

Ok I'll admit it, I don't like tomatoes. My husband LOVES tomatoes, so I grow a few every year. Each year I see these beautiful tomatoes, and I will try it, and yep, I still hate tomatoes 🍅. I do like things made with tomatoes. I work full time, have chickens, a pretty large garden, and love building stuff out of wood. So time to can is hard to come by. I would love to in the future, but I just don't have it in me at this time.  I thought tomato sauce, and spaghetti sauce took hours and was very difficult.  
I learned unfortunately at the end of the summer that a quick spaghetti sauce is easy and delicious. I cut onion, garlic, and cut a bunch of tomatoes from the garden. All different types of tomatoes, cherry, Roma, and slicer tomatoes. ( I didn't blanch them, didn't remove the skin, and I was ok with it) A little salt, and oregano. It cooked down and made a sauce pretty fast, and it was so good, I mean  it was amazing. Way better than store bought sauce. My daughter cut a bunch of the tomatoes up and cooked them down for a while. Let it cool, and froze it.  I was making chili, and didn't have enough tomato sauce. She pulled it out of the freezer, broke off a chunk and saved the day.  Again hands down the best chili I've made.
I will definitely be planting more tomatoes.  I plan to buy a small freezer.  My coworkers will probably be disappointed, because I won't be sharing as many. I will still share because it gives me joy but probably not as much. But I can't wait to have a bunch tomato sauce in the fridge, and eat a lot more meals with tomatoes.  This summer I will not be popping a tomato in my mouth in the garden, or a slice on my burger, but I will be using it in lots of meals, and freezing lot. I still think fresh tomatoes are terrible, but cooked tomatoes are terrific.

You mean I'm not alone?

I hate eating fresh tomatoes. Cherry, slices, whatever... bleh.

But, if you turn it into tomato soup or pizza sauce or home made ketchup... that is where it is at. So much more flavor.

Matt McSpadden wrote:You mean I'm not alone?

I hate eating fresh tomatoes. Cherry, slices, whatever... bleh.

But, if you turn it into tomato soup or pizza sauce or home made ketchup... that is where it is at. So much more flavor.

Yes Matt, pizza sauce is our family favorite tomatoe variety!

I would say that I have acquired the taste for fresh tomatoes over time as I used to only prefer to consume cooked tomato products. I would grow slicers for my grandfather who enjoyed a garden ripe tomato and I stumbled my way into learning to like them.

My wife however is adamantly in the camp of not liking fresh tomatoes. I believe this phenomenon might be more common than some of us imagine. Most of our grown tomatoes are destined to be turned into sauce which we enjoy through the fall and winter.

I never met anyone who didn't like fresh ripe tomatoes from the garden. No judgement, just interesting how we all have different tastes--literally in this case.

Jen, try this roasted tomato sauce recipe it's easy and good.   https://anoregoncottage.com/roasted-tomato-sauce/

If you want a water bath canning recipe of this same sauce check out this link. It's a slightly changed variation that's safe for canning, and the water bath method is super easy.  https://anoregoncottage.com/water-bath-safe-canned-roasted-tomato-sauce/

Similar to what Jen did, I make what I call fresh tomato sauce to add to meat loaf, etc.

I put all the end of summer stuff like tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, etc into the blended and turn them into my fresh tomato sauce.

Thanks everyone for all your great comments.
Steve thanks for the recipe. I'm definitely going to try it this summer.

Echoing Tim, I’m slowly coming to like tomatoes, but it’s an uphill battle. Meanwhile, my grandfather enjoyed eating them like an apple. To each their own!

I grew yellow pear tomatoes this year and truly disliked their flavor… but I had so many and I didn’t want them to go to waste, so I found a recipe for tomato jam and am slightly obsessed with it. Now I’m planning to grow a bunch next year.

If I remember right, even Joseph Lofthouse doesn’t love the taste of “common” tomatoes and finding a flavor he did like was one of the motivations for his Profoundly Promiscuous and Totally Tasty Tomato Project.

I’ve also been experimenting a bit myself, saving seeds from the earliest and, most importantly, tastiest cherry tomatoes in my garden. I finally found one that I really vibe with and am excited to give it a go again next year.

So maybe one day you’ll stumble on a variety you do find totally tasty!

I absolutely loathe raw tomato in all shapes and colors. But cooked they are yummy!

Try a fermented green tomato relish,if you dont like ripe ones. I eat fresh ones with a dash of salt in each bite.

I also don't like raw tomatoes. Therefore, my plant breeding focuses on generating tomatoes that taste like plum, guava, persimmon, melon, tangerine, or sweet tropical fruits.

persimmon

That tart tropical fuyu rounded out with freshly ground nutmeg flavor persimmon?

Now I'm wondering if the missing ingredient for the tomato haters is salt.  Even home-grown ones taste better with a light sprinkle. So do a lot of store-bought concoctions - and a dash of sugar - probably because the tomatoes were slightly unripe to facilitate bulk handling.
I hated them when I was a kid - but that's to do with developing taste buds not liking the acidic nature of 'em.

Well said Jill,ever eat a store peach?They taste like cardboard,now a fresh ripe peach is the best thing on the planet.Tomatoes are the same,you got to get a ripe one right off the vine!
Also some salt.

Clay McGowen wrote:Echoing Tim, I’m slowly coming to like tomatoes, but it’s an uphill battle. Meanwhile, my grandfather enjoyed eating them like an apple. To each their own!

That's my daughter. Any variety I grow. How did I spawn someone like that?!? But I am very glad. Maybe I can practice eating raw tomatoes with her this summer.