How to peel a tomato like a pro!

After many failed attempts at making spaghetti sauce that did not taste like ketchup, I was finally awarded a family secret from my father-in-law!

However, I'm a stickler when it comes to canned goods, which was in his recipe. Canned goods are not what they used to be 20 years ago.

Anyway, enough of that! Let us peel tomatoes fast like the pros!

For spaghetti sauce, I like to use both Roma tomatoes and hot house tomatoes. Roma for the flavor, hot house for the juice. I get about 3-4lbs of Roma, and 1-1/2lb of hot house (the big fat ones).

Here are my Roma tomatoes.

You will want to start by cutting the fresh tomato stem out. Do this by holding your preferred cutting knife at, ehhh, I'd say about a 45 degree angle and just cut the stem out going in a circle about a quarter inch around the stem. Pop that sucker out and put it in the throw away pile!

Now, flip your tomato over and just cut an X on the bottom. Not too deep, but just enough to break the skin.

•Tip! For larger tomatoes, I like to make four cuts, basically like a pizza cut on the bottom.

Okay! Perfect! Now that all your tomatoes are prepped, boil a pot of water, preferably the one you'll use for the sauce. (Less cleanup!) While you're waiting for the water to come to a rolling boil, get a bowl and fill half with cold tap water and half with ice.

•Tip! I am right handed, but if you're left handed you can reverse this if needed: I like to setup my workspace from left to right. On the left, I put the pot with hot water on a oven pad or mitt. In the middle I will have 3 paper towels in front of me and a big bowl to put the peeled tomatoes in. And on the right I have my bowl of ice water and a cup of coffee. ;)

Now that your water is boiled, using a spoon with drainage holes/slits, put one prepped tomato in! It's never made a difference, for me, in how long you leave the tomato in there, but you don't want to cook the whole tomato through. So I'd say about 10-20 seconds should do the trick!

Alright! Using your spoon, scoop that puppy out of the hot water and submerge it in ice water! Count to 3, if its too hot to handle, don't let the next tomato sit in as long as this one. Once the tomato is able to be held, it should be a bit warm.

So now, where you cut the X's, simply grab a corner and peel! It should come off clean. If it doesn't, just put it back in the hot water for a few seconds, put it in the ice water and try again! :)

Voila! Happy baking!

Also, you can do this with grapes and peaches. :)