For boiling water peeling just dip the tomatoes into the boiling water a few at a time - 4-5 at a time depending on the size of the pot you are using - the bigger the pot of boiling water the more tomatoes can go in at one time.

Then they go immediately into heavily iced water. Then when cool enough to handle, you peel.

If you fill a pot of boiling water up with tomatoes then yes, the temperature will drop substantially and by the time it returns to boiling the tomatoes are cooked.

Dave

Skin on ripe tomatoes will start to split in as little as 15 seconds and they can be taken out of the boiling water then. Less ripe ones may take a little longer or not split at all, but the skin will still slip off with no more than a minute in the hot water. A little cut at the bottom will help the skin split if you need that as marker.

I let the water come back to a boil before putting in the next batch. That gives the ones in the ice water enough time to cool off so that they can be removed in time for the next group of 4-6 fruit. It all goes pretty quickly, with little wait time. If you let the fruit sit in the boiling water too long the fruit retains too much heat and the ice water warms up quickly. If you don't have ice then you will just have to replace the cold water more often.

I have found that I can even core and cut out badspots/catface scars before scalding and not have a mess. It is much easier than using a knife on slippery scalded tomatoes. It actually fun to skin elongate paste tomatoes if I cut the top off beforehand. With a little pressure they shoot right out of the skin after scalding so even though they tend to be small the skinning goes faster than with large fruit.

This is my setup. I have a 12 qt stockpot with a spagettie cooking insert. It is like a steamer instert except that it goes all the way to within a few inches of the bottom of the pot.

I fill a cooler with cold water and add a frozen jug (gallon) to help keep it cool.

I keep my second 12 qt stock pot near by, my insert fit in both pots.

I have the tomatoes washed and ready to blanch. I get the water at a full boil, put two layers of tomatoes in the bottom of the insert and lower it into the boiling water. Once it returns to a boil, I boil for 1 mn and then pull it out, let the water drain just a bit and put it in the second stockpot. Give it just a bit to drain, and then take the insert out and dump the tomatoes into the cooler of water - I keep it right beside the cooktop so I'm not hauling hot tomatoes or dripping hot water across the floor to the sink.

Then I put in more tomaotes, and when the water has returned to a boil. put the instert in and start over.

And I keep doing this until I've got all the tomatoes blanched. I do enough for 14 qts (two canners full) at a time.

Once I'm all done with the blanching, I pull a chair up the cooler with a couple of containers, grab a tomatoe and peel - dump the peels in one container and the tomatoes in the other. Once I've got a container full, I move to the counter and cut them up depending on what I'm going to use them for. Then I return to the cooler and refill the container. I usually cut them up into my big container that holds 12 qts - use that and another to get the 14 qts I need (plus some to add for packing). I usually cold pack with no or little juice added.

I bought that pot at a kitchen outlet store, paid under $50 for it and I use it for all kinds of blanching/boiling for canning - any time I need to pull produce out of hot water!

thanks for the advice

Or you can roast them first, with the skins still on... once they cool enough to handle, the skins will slip right off.

Or you can freeze them whole first. Once partially thawed the skins slip right off too.