Daily Kitchen Note
Peeling tomatoes can be tedious and messy, especially when you need smooth tomatoes for sauces or salsas. By scoring an X on the bottom and briefly blanching them, the skins slip off effortlessly.
How to Peel tomatoes
- Using a sharp paring knife, score a shallow X on the bottom of each tomato.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and prepare a bowl of cold water.
- Carefully lower the tomatoes into the boiling water and blanch for about 30 seconds, or until the skins begin to peel away at the X.
- Immediately transfer the tomatoes to the cold water using a slotted spoon or spider.
- Once cool enough to handle, slip the skins off the tomatoes starting from the X.
Why it works
The brief exposure to boiling water causes the moisture just under the skin to turn to steam, loosening the skin from the flesh without cooking the tomato.
