Tomato tips

Take your pick: It's OK to pick tomatoes when they're just blushing or pink. Let them sit at room temperature to ripen and develop full color and flavor. If you refrigerate them, they will will never ripen. Cold temperatures destroy the flavor enzyme in the tomato, according to the California Tomato Commission.

How much? Three to four medium tomatoes weigh about 1 pound. One pound of fresh tomatoes, peeled and seeded, will produce about 1 1/2 cups pulp.

Peeling and slicing: Peeling fresh tomatoes is not usually necessary. Heat causes skins to slip away from the flesh, so it is best to peel a tomato before adding it to a heated dish. To peel fresh tomatoes, submerge them in a bowl of boiling water for about 30 seconds. Transfer to cold water and the skins will slip off.

Use a sharp, serrated knife when you slice tomatoes to keep them from falling apart.

Seeds: Scrape seeds away from the tomato flesh with a pointed utensil, such as a grapefruit spoon, being careful not to puncture the skin. Or you can cut the tomato in half, grasp it in your hand cut-side down and squeeze out the seeds.

Removing the seeds will make your salsas less soupy; however, tomato seeds contain significant nutrition, according to the California Tomato Commission, so avoid seeding whenever possible.

The layered look: A simple Insalata Caprese (Caprese salad) offers lots of color and flavor appeal: Arrange alternating slices of tomatoes and mozzarella on a platter. Sprinkle with a little salt and fresh basil leaves (or tuck the leaves into the tomato and mozzarella layers ), drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Yes, you can! But you should follow a reliable home canning guide from such organizations as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Utah State University Extension or Ball Blue Book of Preserving. Tomatoes have barely enough acidity to qualify them for water-bath canning, so the USDA recommends adding a little lemon juice or vinegar to each jar of tomatoes.

If you throw in a lot of low-acid foods such as chiles, onions and cilantro, you must balance them with more acid, or you could brew up a nasty case of food poisoning. It's important to use a salsa recipe specified for home canning. When you serve it, you can always add more cilantro or chiles to boost the flavor. Or, freeze the salsa instead.

The secret's in the sauce: If you have an overabundance of tomatoes, make them into a sauce that you can freeze for later use. To simplify things, don't bother peeling or seeding the tomatoes. Afterward, you can strain the cooked pulp through a sieve to get rid of the skin and seeds.