How to peel tomatoes

If you’ve ever tried to peel a tomato like you do an apple you probably gave up within minutes… or after losing a thumb in a shower of blood.

But there’s a clean way to strip these recalcitrant fruits, a method that only takes 10 minutes, two pots, and some water.

PREPARATION

• Wash the tomatoes thoroughly
• Trim off the stalks
• Make a cross-like incision on the tip of the tomato, the one on the opposite side from the stalk; this is where you’ll start peeling the skin off your tomatoes

• Prepare a bowl of ice cold water and set it aside
• Place the tomatoes in a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds
• Drain the tomatoes and plunge them into the bowl of ice cold water

• Wait a few minutes until the skin of the tomatoes starts wrinkling
• Pinch the skin that has lifted at the incision site between two fingers
• Pull it downwards gently until your tomatoes have turned into nothing but juicy pulp

Now your tomatoes are ready to be turned into a velvety passata or one of the many sauces and dips that require only their pulp.