If you are like me and love everything about tomatoes and every type of tomato, then you also know the havoc an improperly prepared tomato can reap on your dishes.
I've seen it too many time at too many picnics... you know what I am talking about... the dish at the pot luck that nobody seems to touch. These innocent pasta salads and tossed salads didn't do anything wrong, but because of one simple step, they turned into a water yucky-looking mess. I mean, really... who wants to eat a mix of tomato water and mayo... and what a disgusting color!!! What a waste of some once-delicious produce!
Properly de-seeding your tomatoes prior to use can really add longevity to your tomatoes and help keep your prepared foods fresh looking longer.
For this example, I am using a run of the mill greenhouse tomato. Nothing much is in season right now, but my local produce market has had some great looking locally grown greenhouse tomatoes. I can't wait to start my tomato plants so all I have to do is step on my back deck to grab a fresh tomato!
I didn't take pictures of this step, but I sliced my tomato in 8ths. First in half, then the halves in half, then those halves in half. This is what you end up with! The tomato looks great, right? Well those seeds just HAVE to go. See the stuff that the seeds are expanded in? Well, add some salt to that and it gets awfully watery. Watery is generally not a good description of anything I want to eat.
Get some cool water running in the sink at a moderate rate. Hold your tomato under the water with the stream hitting right where your seeds are. This will help rinse all of our unwanted tomato away.
Now, just rub your finger along the seeds. You may have to pinch where the seeds attach to the tomato and sort of tear it away. It doesn't take much force.
Lastly, pat your tomato dry, making sure to get all of those seed pockets dry along with it.
I told you this was easy! Please, please, please remember this step the next time you want to make a pot luck dish or something for a family picnic. There is no reason for your dish to be passed up because of one small mis-step. And really, it takes seconds to do.
Don't let your next pasta salad become the neighborhood flub!
This tip works great when you are making your Weekday Lunch Salads, as well. Your salad on Friday will taste just as fresh as your salad on Monday, with this one simple idea.
Who knew tomato seeds could cause so much damage?
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