Wow, great journal article, thanks for posting it! I have to read papers for work and, the majority of the time, they bore me to tears (as much as I like my job this does suggest that my passion is elsewhere). This was really interesting. Now, how can I get an Urshel crusher to chop up my tomato skins into 1um pieces? Considering that an Urshel crusher is not likely in my future, what would be the best way to chop up the skins finely? I'd like to incorporate skins into my sauces without getting those unappetizing little skin-rolls.

Bellatrix

A good blender can chop the skins up quite fine. I tried it with seeds as well, but the seeds and skins offered a somewhat bitter taste by themselves and the seeds didn't all chop down. I suppose you could add a bit of tomato juices when you attempt to puree the skins in a blender. Be sure that the skins are blemish free before you start. Those rolled up tomato 'twigs' are quite common, so a lot of time in the blender is necessary. It may also help to pour the blender puree though a fine sieve to ensure that you don't get the little tomato twigs into the sauce. There are also a few strains of tomatoes that are bred to offer higher nutrients, so that can also help to increase the Lycopene. I take a capsule of it daily, as I can't have too many tomatoes in my diet. You probably don't need an Urshel machine unless your dealing with many tons of tomatoes at a time. If you have a Vitamix machine, which is simply a higher powered, and reversable bladed blender, that can work OK too, but its blades are not as sharp. A regular blender can be bought for under $20, and you can do several batches of skins if you have a lot of them. One way is to cut each tomato open, and carefully dig out all the seeds, then run them through a food strainer like a Villaware/Roma/Weston model, and then take the all skin waste and place that in a blender with some of the strained sauce and blend away.. Another option is to blanch all the tomatoes to easily remove their skins for the blender, and then deal with the tomatoes seeds, water, and pulp seperately.

I have a really good food processor that has two blades. I was curious so I peeled a store tomato (my hubby bought them, not me...) and I ran it through the food processor with 2 tablespoons lime juice and it made a beautiful puree, no big pieces that I could detect. I agree about the seeds...bitter and some varieties are worse than others I have noticed when making fresh salsa that has the seeds left in it. I also thought, after the fact, that perhaps cooking the skins in some water might also help to break them down faster. Will have to try it.

I have never seen any cooking softening the skins. Usually they remain as little rolled up twigs even after many hours of cooking. A food processor might work well most times. My food processor is quite small compared to my blenders, so I use the latter, either the regular blender or my 40 year old Vitamix.

Thanks for the suggestions! I usually run my tomatoes through my kitchenaid for sauce. I'll collect the skins from some deseeded tomatoes and try them in the blender and food processor. Unfortunately, I won't be able to try this for months. Sigh. Is it spring yet?

Bellatrix

Just saw this post.
This year I was tired of peeling maters, so I washed, quartered and ran them thru the Cuisinart food processor fresh, then thru the food mill to remove seeds/pulp etc. I had more volume and the puree was awesome, canned well. You could not detect skins, they were pulverized.
Although, I am noticing that after being in the cupboard for a few months the pectin has broken down a bit, when heating the spagh sauce it gets a little watery,for the batch I made without added tomatoe paste. The sauce has no bitter taste.
I have to look in the Ball Canning book, I think there is a method in there that also purees the skins.

I have never had any good luck with skins or seeds, they do taste bitter to me, and can throw off a nice sauce. I used my blender and a Vitamix, and neither would puree the skins to a point where none were seen in the end product. I use the Villaware strainer and the only thing necessary is to cut big tomatoes smaller to fit the hopper. The machine removes all seeds and skins and gives you just the pure pulp and juice. I also like scooping out some of the liquid and seeds using my fingers, then run them through the strainer. This makes a thcker sauce even before its cooked and I have not used any tomato paste to thicken. I do like to use a little dried granulated tomato, as that will soak up most of the watery liquid too.