Tomatoes are widely used in cooking. They are used as an ingredient in appetizers, first and second courses, salads – both raw and ready-made. Salads with fresh tomatoes, tomato soups, sauces, pizza and pasta with tomato dressing have become quite familiar to us.
How to Cook Tomatoes
Tomatoes are successfully used for cooking various types of canned food. Fruits contain a significant amount of acid, which makes it possible to limit the production of canned food to sterilizing them in boiling water. Depending on what taste the cook wants to achieve, tomatoes can be pickled, salted, boiled sweet sauce, juice or drink. As a rule, sugar, salt, vinegar, citric acid and all kinds of spices are used in any kind of canning. With proper preparation, the product can be stored in a dark, cool place for several years. These preserves are always an excellent addition to side dishes, meat, fish, salads and an independent snack. A well–known tomato product is ketchup, a sweet tomato sauce with seasonings.
Combination with Other Products
Tomato is not desirable to combine with starch-containing and cereal products. It is recommended to eat tomatoes with herbs and vegetables that do not contain starch. It is advised to take tomatoes with proteins and fats, thus improving their assimilation. A useful combination is tomato and avocado, as well as broccoli. The usual combination of tomatoes and cucumbers is not as useful as it seems – the components of these vegetables, according to recent studies, mutually interfere with the assimilation of various components of each other. Tomatoes with liver or olive oil are considered useful combinations.
The Use of Tomatoes in Drinks
The most famous tomato drink, as expected, is tomato juice. It is consumed both in its natural form and with the addition of salt, pepper, celery, Worcestershire sauce, lemon and lime juice. In addition, tomato juice is used as a component of several alcoholic cocktails. Tomatoes can be added to vegetable smoothies based on yogurt, as well as to prepare diluted drinks with spices from them.
Types of Tomatoes
There are hundreds of types of tomatoes – small cherry the size of a grape, huge tomatoes weighing 600-800 grams, juicy for salads and fleshy for pasta, campari and – these are just the most famous of the many varieties. The color of the fruit, in addition to red, can vary from white, orange, yellow, green to purple and chocolate.
How to Choose and Store Tomatoes?
Ripe tomatoes have a rather rich aroma. If there is no smell, most likely the tomatoes were picked unripe. The peduncle should be small. When choosing tomatoes, you need to pay attention to the smoothness of the skin, the absence of cracks, spots and traces of blows. A fully ripe tomato is soft and springy, but you can choose it only if it is consumed immediately. Overripe tomatoes are always good for sauces and soups. In healthy fruits, the skin is thin, and the flesh is monotonous. If white thin veins are visible in the pulp, there are white spots in the core, and it itself is “plastic” to the touch – it means that there are nitrates in the tomato.
The storage conditions of a tomato directly depends on how ripe it is. Room temperature will accelerate the ripening process. Therefore, if you want the tomato to ripen, feel free to leave it warm. Ripe tomatoes are best stored at a temperature of about 12 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, the tomato will cease to ripen, but it will not lose its taste and useful properties.
Not everyone in my family eats cauliflower with pleasure. I will try to change this opinion about cabbage and cook it very tasty and appetizing. A hearty, juicy dish for any, the most demanding taste.
I decided to try, for the sake of interest, a cooked omelet with mushrooms from the movie “Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar”. Where the sorcerer is trying to make peace with Asterix. The real toadstool was replaced with mushrooms, and even better with chanterelles and a little smoked brisket was added. Quick and easy.
A beautiful and delicious dish for a Sunday breakfast or for a festive table. Combining the ingredients can be a bit awkward, but don’t worry, you’ll like the taste.
Cooking such a soup is not difficult at all, and its spicy and salty taste is sure to appeal to lovers of spicy dishes. The recipe is just great! I like it better when it’s cold.
A very spicy and delicious snack. This bean combines all flavors, from the sweetness of plums to the sharpness of pepper and garlic and the sourness of lemons and tomatoes. Try this fireworks to taste, it will not leave you indifferent. It is very well suited to fish and meat dishes.
Juicy, bright, summer salad with fresh vegetables. Moderately sharp and very interesting. There was a young cabbage, sweet and juicy, so I did not observe the proportions, the cabbage I have here is more than noticeable. It is very tasty, juicy, fragrant, spicy, festive. Barbecue is the best option.
I want to offer you, dear cooks, an interesting women’s salad: tender, low-calorie and very tasty. Wonderful, tender, with a pleasant sourness salad! I didn’t peel the apple, I barely rubbed some cherry tomatoes, cut the rest. Dressed in half with sour cream and mayonnaise!
An ordinary salad with an unusual dressing. Great salad! How vegetables are combined with this wonderful dressing! Girls, do not pass by this recipe, I strongly recommend you to cook this salad!
The salad is vitamin-rich and very tasty. It is useful to everyone during the period of spring vitamin deficiency. If you love seaweed and mushrooms, you will surely get delicious!!
For us, this is an ordinary everyday salad. The salad turns out to be very juicy and delicious. Sea cabbage is very useful. Only my kids don’t really like you. We need to come up with a salad so that it doesn’t feel so much.
