Terry Coombs wrote:
>penmart wrote:
>>U.S. Janet B. wrote:
>>>notbob wrote:
>>>>U.S Janet B wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> 2 pounds ripe tomatoes, seeded
>>>>> 1 large onion
>>>>> 1 1/2 large sweet red pepper
>>>>> 2 large jalapeno's
>>>>> 1 bunch cilantro
>>>>> juice of a lime or two (to taste)
>>>>> 4 cloves garlic
>>>>> salt and coarsely ground pepper
>>>> I leave the salt/ppr to the end user. I find putting salt in pico de
>>>> gallo leaches out any liquid outta the veggies/fruits/herbs and
>>>> shortens the dish's shelf-life.
>>>>
>>> It needs to be eaten fresh. Refrigeration ruins the taste. IMO. I
>>> drain the juice at the end, freeze it and put it in a soup preparation
>>> in the winter. There's a lot of juice if you use fresh picked, ripe
>>> tomatoes.
>>>
>> The juice is very flavorful, I eat it along with the veggies... I see
>> no point in freezing it for later when I can eat it at it's best.
>> Tomatoes are coming in, I'll soon have more to give away than I can
>> possibly use.
>
> We've got a lot on the plants , but not ripe yet . When they come off
>too fast to eat fresh they get stuffed into quart jars and processed for
>later use . I prefer freezing , but limited space won't let me do very
>many that way .
> Snag

We'got more than 40 tomato plants of five kinds... 24 plants are
Romas. Some are just beginning to show a bit of red... due to lousy
wet/cold weather here we got a late start in the garden, couldn't work
the ground until the third week in June, usually we plant the day
after Mother's Day.

I used to can and freeze but I no longer bother, canning is too labor
intensive, and freezing requires too much freezer space. Most of our
tomatoes are eaten raw in salads/sandwiches, and many are given away.
I discovered that for cooking it's a lot easier to buy canned tomatoes
by the case, and actually costs less than gardening and processing...
mostly we have a vegetable garden as a hobby and to enjoy very fresh
produce, not to save money. It costs more to operate a home vegetable
garden than to shop at local farm stands. And still we buy a lot of
produce because many items are too difficult to grow and/or we don't
use enough to make it worthwhile, and many items simply won't grow in
this climate.