Back in August I shared my recipe for making homemade tomato sauce and it’s been a very popular post here on the blog. I’m glad that I’m not the only one who enjoys making their own homemade tomato sauce & doing home canning.
Last month I got an email from one of our readers asking me if I’ve ever used the small cherry tomatoes when making my sauce and if so, how do I remove the seeds? The answer to her question is YES and I explained to her how I do it. I thought I would share on the blog too.
How to Remove Seeds from Cherry Tomatoes When Making Homemade Tomato Sauce
Wash the cherry tomatoes under cool running water. Use a sharp paring knife to cut the tops off of each tomato. I do that to remove the stem and to make an opening for the seeds to slide out.
Rinse each tomato underneath a “low-running” stream of water. The water helps to flush the seeds out of the tomato. I use my fingers to ease them out. I can get almost all, if not all of the seeds out.
I toss the cherry tomatoes in with my regular-sized tomatoes when blanching them to make my homemade sauce. It only takes 1-3 minutes for the skins to loosen. I then fish them out with a slotted spoon and place them into a colander underneath cold running water to cool them down & stop the cooking process. Then slip the skins right off. If any seeds remain, I just rinse them underneath the running tap water.
It’s a time consuming process, but I always get an over-abundance of cherry tomatoes from our garden. So, when I make my homemade tomato sauce, I will toss them in too! Yup, I don’t like to waste anything! So…time consuming…YES, but well-worth my efforts. The tomato pulp shown in the photo above is from about 12 cherry tomatoes. No seeds!
You can find my How to Make Homemade Tomato Sauce recipe with step-by-step photos and directions right here on the blog. I also give you instructions on how to can it or how to freeze it for later use.
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I just roast my cherry tomatoes along with zucchini, eggplant and peppers. It tastes delicious over pasta lightly coated with olive oil..
I have never removed the seeds from cherry tomatoes before since those are the ones I typically use in salads not sauces. I had no idea that there could be digestive issues with the seeds for some folks so that is good to keep in mind.
I would rather just eat the cherry tomatoes and make the sauce with the larger tomatoes. I love to eat the cherry tomatoes like grapes. They are so good.
When I make homemade tomato sauce 90% of my sauce is made with the big tomatoes. However, when my garden is over-loading me by the hundreds with cherry tomatoes (we can’t eat them all), I will process them too, instead of wasting them. Yes, some I give away, but most times I have too many to even give away. They grow extremely well in my garden.
I’ve never even giving the seeds in cherry tomatoes any thought. I can see from the previous comments why people would remove them. But why do YOU remove them from your tomato sauce?
Because I have digestive issues caused by my disease. If I eat a lot of fruit seeds (any type of fruit) it sets it off. Plus, having a gazillion tomato seeds in your homemade sauce is not appealing to look at. Food should look appealing. My husband hates having tomato seeds caught between his teeth too. I remove the seeds from tomatoes when making my sauces. Just like they do with store bought sauce.
I never knew how to do this before thank you for sharing this information. I love cherry tomatoes but the seeds hurt my teeth even when I put the tomatoes in salads so I am going to try this.
I have to get rid of the seeds in tomatoes because of ulcerative colitis. Those little seeds can get into the ‘ulcers’ in the colon and cause pain like you wouldn’t believe…but no way will I give up tomatoes, lol!!