Fruits and vegetables must be washed thoroughly before consumption. This also applies to tomatoes, as the red fruit goes through many stages from cultivation to sale where it comes into contact with dirt and germs. In addition, pesticides stick to tomatoes from conventional farming, which have to be washed off thoroughly.
Conventionally grown tomatoes are usually very contaminated with pesticides
1st step: Clean the work surface
Tomatoes are usually cut up before consumption. It is therefore important that you clean the work surfaces well before washing the fruit. This prevents accumulated bacteria from being transferred to the food and contaminating it again.
wash tomatoes
- First clean the fruit thoroughly under running water.
- This is very easy to do by placing the tomatoes in a large sieve and moistening them with water.
- Then take each individual fruit in your hand and rub the skin under the water jet with your fingers.
- Then drain or pat dry.
How are tomatoes cleaned?
"Clean the tomatoes and cut them into pieces" is the instruction in many recipes. But what is there to clean tomatoes?
- First, the base of the stem must be cut out in a wedge shape. Like all green parts of the nightshade plant, it contains solanine, which is toxic.
- Cut out any bruises.
A tomato stalk remover, popularly known as a “tomato shark”, is very practical. With this little helper, the stunk can be removed in no time.
After cleaning comes the gutting:
- Quarter the tomatoes.
- Core the fruit with a knife.
- You can then divide the flesh further if you wish.
tips
Be sure to throw away moldy tomatoes. No noble mold settles on the fruit, as is known from cheese, but rather poisonous mold whose mycotoxins get into the blood and organs through digestion. Here they can cause permanent damage.