How To: Peel a Tomato

When you first think about it, peeling a tomato seems peculiarly impossible. Then come the questions: why would you peel a tomato, anyway? What remains after you do it? First, the technique, then some answers.

Peeling a tomato is not nearly as difficult as it sounds if you use this little trick. It is possible to do it using only a very sharp knife, but this way is much easier:

1) Put the tomato in a pot of boiling water for 5-15 seconds. Don't do it too much longer, as the longer it boils, the less flavorful it gets.

When you take it out and let it cool, it should be dead simple to peel off the skin.

Now, back to your questions:

Why would you peel a tomato?

The skin and seeds of a tomato contain most of the bitterness. Further, when you peel the tomato, you remove a lot of its structural integrity, allowing it to easily liquefy.

What remains after you peel it?

Basically a rough, squishy version of the tomato, not entirely dissimilar to the inside of a pear.

So there you have it, a little trick that you can use whenever a recipe calls for a peeled tomato that makes the process significantly easier.