How to Store Tomatoes
It was during a conversation with a customer that our Founder and CEO Toni Desrosiers had a realization.
“But what happens to the Abeego food wrap when my tomato goes slimy, mushy, or mealy?” the customer asked. Toni had been using Abeego beeswax food wrap for so long, she forgot that her experience of how food behaves is so different from those who still use the “lock and seal” methods of saving food.
“In Abeego, tomatoes don’t behave that way,” explained Toni. “Slimy tomatoes are a result of airtight environments, like plastic wrap.”
Think about how saving food in airtight ways may have shaped your understanding of food. Mind-blowing, right? Using Abeego for the first time comes with a bit of a learning curve as you get to know your food and understand how it acts more deeply. Soon, your expectations of food and its lifespan will be completely revamped.
With Abeego, you can say HELLO to plump, juicy, refreshingly tasty tomatoes bursting with flavor and nutrition for longer than ever imagined.
Pull up a chair and dig into tomatoes with us. You'll learn:
- The best way to store cut tomatoes and whole tomatoes
- Stunning stats about how a tomato wrapped in Abeego compares to an unwrapped tomato
- What to look for when choosing the perfect tomato
- The most delicious way to devour tomatoes
THE BEST WAY TO STORE TOMATOES
Think beyond fresh—Keep Tomatoes Alive!
At last! It's tomato season! Perhaps you've started harvesting your backyard plants or are making weekly trips to the Farmer's Market to gather these summertime gems. However you get 'em, we're here to help you preserve them for much more than a couple of days. Skip the flimsy paper bags and airtight plastic bags and instead, reach for Abeego—the reusable beeswax food wrap that breathes and protects.
How do you keep tomatoes fresher for longer? Well, we encourage you to rethink "fresh" and dig into how to Keep Tomatoes Alive!
HOW TO STORE CUT TOMATOES
With Abeego against the cut side as a new skin, your tomato won’t even notice it's been cut! Use a Small Abeego to cover the cut surface and place face up in your fridge. Alternatively, place in a small bowl, face-up, and cover with Abeego. Your tomato can breathe while it’s protected.
HOW TO STORE WHOLE TOMATOES
Abeego acts like a protective second skin for thin-skinned tomatoes.
Underripe tomatoes? We love fried green tomatoes as much as the next guy, however, if you’d like them to continue to ripen, Abeego is your hero. As part of their ripening process, tomatoes release ethylene gas. Keep them in a bowl covered in Abeego or wrapped loosely at room temperature on the countertop (no refrigeration!) and your unripe tomatoes will ripen beautifully as they breathe.
Perfectly ripe tomatoes? Wrap up those juicy, plump, and ready-to-eat tomatoes in Abeego and refrigerate (you heard us, refrigerated tomatoes!). The cool temperatures will slow down their ripening while Abeego protects and preserves their flavor.
Bundles of beefsteak or cherry tomatoes? Make a bag by using a Giant Abeego.
Abeego tip: Tomatoes on your counter? Don’t worry about fruit flies! Wrap Abeego snugly around the bowl to keep them out. Cover your entire fruit bowl, compost container, or glass of wine.
ABEEGO TEST KITCHEN | ABEEGO VERSUS NAKED TOMATOES
The results from our Tomato Test are pretty juicy!
Spoiler Alert: Half tomatoes wrapped in Abeego retained 11X more moisture than unwrapped tomatoes.
Our Method
We cut a Roma tomato in half, wrapped one half in Abeego and the other face down on a plate, and weighed them. In our second test, we left the uncovered tomato half face up. We weighed the tomatoes again after 6 days. All tomatoes were stored in the fridge.
Our Results
The Abeego-wrapped tomato half retained 98.37% of its moisture. That's 11X more than the uncovered, face-up tomato, and 4X more than the uncovered, face-down tomato.
The yummy juices of the tomato on the plate spilled out, while the face-up tomato quickly withered and dried, leaving a tough cut side.
Our Why
Abeego provides a second skin for thin-skinned tomatoes. Cut or whole, all tomatoes benefit from an extra layer of protection that also allows them to breathe. When cut, Abeego left the flesh juicy and delicious, like the tomato’s very own skin would have. And more nutritious! Lost moisture leads to lost nutrients as well.
PICK TOMATOES WITH PLENTY OF PLUMP
If you can get ‘em, there’s nothing like fresh tomatoes at the height of ripeness plucked right off the plant, bursting with sweet juices warmed by heaps of summer's direct sunlight.
When bought at the grocery store, you can almost guarantee they were picked before they were ripe so they can travel the distance. Yet when bought in season, local, farm-direct tomatoes are easy to find, ensuring a more tasty tomato!
Visit your farmers’ market or greengrocer to hunt for the vibrant, colorful hues of plump heirloom tomatoes. These jewels from the garden are richer than all the rubies in our world! Look for deeply tinted tomatoes with smooth skins and avoid deep cracks. If you’re not planning to eat right away, then choose tomatoes free of bruises and dents. Use your instincts and we’re certain you’ll pick some winners!
Abeego tip: Juicy, plump tomatoes have a thin skin ready to burst with flavor. Help them keep it together until you get home - gently wrap in Abeego to provide an extra layer of protection in your market basket.
FRESH TOMATO RECIPES
Good tomatoes deserve good recipes, and if you're using Abeego, get used to good tomatoes.
Tomatoes are the stars of the late-summer show and shine the brightest in meals where they’re given the limelight. Create the most amazing salad by following your senses: what in-season fruits look delectable? Imagine the flavor combinations, take in the herbal scents, then throw it all together. Drizzle with sweetness or tang and sprinkle with salt, spices, edible petals, or nuts.
On our trip to the market, we grabbed luscious fresh figs, basil, soft burrata, and peaches then drizzled with olive oil and honey from Melliflera Bees. It tasted as good as it looks! Throw this together, cover with Abeego, then unveil for dinner guests!
Do you have bushels of tomatoes to harvest and not enough time to eat?
- Slow roast them like Abeego Founder, Toni Desrosiers, seal them in a mason jar and enjoy well after you've consumed your fresh tomatoes.
- Frozen tomatoes are the way to go! Try The Kitchn's tomato puree recipe and freeze it for a future recipe like Mash & Spread's Smoked Tomato Sauce.
- Did you know you can turn your tomatoes into... salt? Dry the skins in the oven and follow these steps for a salty addition to any dish.
BUILDING THE ABEEGO HABIT
UNDERSTAND YOUR FOOD
If you haven’t saved a particular food in Abeego before, forget everything you learned about airtight containers! Keep an open mind and explore. Then share your discoveries with us! We don’t know everything and we love to learn.
SHARE TOMATOES
Give the tomato lovers in your life the gift of juicy tomatoes! Make a bag from your Giant Abeego and share the tomato harvest.
SHOP ABEEGO & KEEP TOMATOES ALIVE
It is with deep respect and gratitude that we create, build and operate our business in the communities of Southern Vancouver Island, which as a business we acknowledge is located within the ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia'new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.
Get your Abeego on! Enjoy these other posts: